Chettinad chicken curry

Chicken - 750gm to 1Kg,

Lemon/tamarind / curd

Onion – 2 big ones sliced

Tomato – 2 big ones, chopped

Turmeric powder - 1/4 teaspoon

Salt - to taste

Oil

Curry leaves,Coriander leaves, Pudina leaves- garnishing

1 bay leaf

Paste:

Green Chillies - 3 nos

Garlic - 2 big cloves

Ginger - 1 inch piece

Poppy seeds - 1 teaspoon (Soak in 1 tablespoon warm water for 10 minutes)

Masala:

Black Pepper - 1 teaspoon

Cumin seeds - 1 teaspoon

Fennel seeds – 1 1/2 teaspoon

Coriander seeds - 1 tablespoons

Dry red chillies - 6 nos ( you can vary this depending on how spicy you want)

Channa dal – 1 table spoon

Cardamoms - 2 no

Cinnamon - 1 inch length

Cloves -2 nos

Nutmeg

mace– a little

Star anise- ½

Curry leaves - 1 string

Coconut- ½ cup, sliced

Marinate the chicken (skinned and washed) with a spoon of turmeric powder, ½ of red chilly, salt and either lemon juice from a ½ lemon or that of tamarind or curd (1 tablespoon) ( helps in marination) for 20 to 30 mins

In the meantime:

In a pan, dry roast the ingredients given for Masala for 2-3 minutes till the pepper and cumin seed crackle (channa dal should just get brown) , cool and grind it to a powder. Keep aside.

Then, make a paste of green chilly, ginger, garlic and poppy seeds.

Heat Oil (1/2 to 1 table spoon) in a bottom heavy pan or a pressure cooker. Add onions and curry leaves, pudina and a bay leaf. Saute them till onions till they are golden brown but soft ( can add a bit of salt to accelerate this process)

Then add paste(of chilly, ginger, garlic, poppy seeds) and saute for a minute or so. Then add the chopped tomato and turmeric powder and stir in for 2-5 minutes for the tomato to cook in..

Add in the marinated chicken cover and cook . Chicken will leave out some water now while cooking and will also cook in its own fat ( hence the less oil initially). Stir in between for proper cooking. Once the chicken is like half cooked, add in the masala and little water and cook till chicken is fully done.

( you could pressure cooker the chicken , adding in masala for like one whistle as well).Once done garnish with coriander leaves.

I love it with Dosa or steamed rice