Curry Chicken

Curry Chicken 

 The truth is that,  I had called one of my favourite cousins over for lunch and what binds us two together is our immense love for food. The universal  truth is that taste is subjective and so when people with the same culinary taste meet up they usually have lunch make merry and dive headlong into culinary discussions. He suggested that I try this delicious recipe handed to him by a former colleague of his who is married to a person from the Southern region of the country. Truth be told India has an impressive variety of cuisines and the Southern cuisine has its own charm with the use of curry leaves, mustard seeds, chilies etc.

I especially liked the recipe since it reminded me of this gorgeous chicken dish which I had when I was in Vizag which was delicious in its own way yet very different from most of the chicken curries I have known and prepared.

And so on a Friday morning I decided that it would be the day when I cooked this dish. To be fair the recipe which had been passed down to me had no specifications of the amount of ingredients to be used and so in a way this is my adaptation of the adapted recipe by this former colleague of my brother's

I am calling it Curry chicken due to usage of curry leaves twice in the recipe.

Serving 7 to 8

Basically what you need is :-

1 kilogram of medium sized chicken pieces

150gm whisked curd
1 tsp turmeric
Salt as per taste
1 heaped tsp red chili powder

12 to 15 Indian medium sized garlic
Ginger the size of half the little finger
3 medium sized onions
20 peppercorns
2 tbsp whole  coriander
7 to 8 whole red chilies
4 to 5 green chilies

1 tbsp mustard seeds

4 stalks of curry leaves
8 tbsp refined oil / groundnut oil

Juice from 1 lemon

Wash the chicken and marinate it with the curd , salt , turmeric and chili powder for 2 hours. In the meantime heat 4 tbsp oil and add the whole peeled garlic , ginger and onions which have been roughly chopped and add the peppercorn, coriander , curry leaves from 3 stalks of curry leaves , whole red chilies and 2 green chilies. Fry till the onions are softened and then let it cool and blend it to a smooth paste.

Now heat the rest of the oil and add the mustard seeds. When they splutter add the rest of the curry leaves , the remaining green chili and then add the chicken and seal the juices on high heat for 5 minutes on each side and then add the spice paste which you have prepared earlier and mix well and taste and add salt if necessary and stir from time to time till the oil separates and then cover and cook on low heat for 15 minutes to 20 minutes till the chicken is cooked inside out and is rendered juicy and delicious. If you find a bit of gravy and prefer the dish to be extra dry simply take off the lid and keep stirring on medium flame till it reaches the desired consistency. Add the juice of lemon and serve it with hot rice.

I for one am in love with this dish.