Chettinadu Chicken Curry

Ingredients and Method
chicken 1 kg
onion 4
tomato 4
red chilly powder 4 teaspoons
coriander powder 3 teaspoons
turmeric powder 1 teaspoons
garam masala powder 1 teaspoon
garlic cloves 7
ginger 1 inch piece
curry leaves few
coriander leaves chopped few
oil 4 tb spoon
salt

For grinding,
red chillies 2
fennel seeds 1 teaspoon
poppy seeds 2 teaspoons
bengal gram / pottukadala 1 table spoon
coconut grated 1 handful
oil 1 teaspoon

In oil fry red chillies, fennel seeds, poppy seeds, Bengal gram / pottu kadala and coconut to a golden brown color and then grind to a fine paste.



Grind garlic and ginger to a fine paste.

Heat oil. When the oil becomes hot add chopped onion and fry for a few minutes until it changes into a light brown colour.

Then add tomatoes which are finely chopped with ginger paste, garlic paste, turmeric powder, coriander powder, chilli powder and fry well until the tomatoes are changed into a fine paste and the oil floats on the surface.

Add the pieces of chicken ,ground paste and enough salt with 1 cup of water.

Cook on medium fire until the chicken is well cooked.

Garnish with coriander leaves and curry leaves.This is a very thick gravy.

I followed the Chettinaadu Chicken Curry recipe of Mrs. Mano Saminathan. Since the amount of chilli is high in the original recipe, I changed it to Kashmiri chilli powder, following Mrs.Mano's suggestions. Mrs. Mano Saminathan is an expert in cooking various dishes and has an experience of forty years in this field. She hails from the famous Thanjavur City of Tamil Nadu. Mrs. Mano , lives in Sharjah with her family, runs the South Indian restuarant "Saffire".