Chicken Roast With A Kuttanadan Touch !

Step 1: Ingredients to marinate chicken:-

• • 1 ½ lb chicken cut into small pieces (Around ½ to ¾ kg)
  • 3 ½ tbsp Masala Powder* (Recipe follows)
  • 1 ¼ tsp freshly ground pepper powder
  • ¼ tsp turmeric powder
  • 1tsp vinegar
  • 3 finely chopped green chilies
  • 2tbsp Oil, preferably coconut oil
  • Salt to taste
  • 1-2 tsp water

  Step 2: Ingredients to roast the chicken:-

  • 2 cups thinly sliced small red pearl onions/shallots
  • ¼ cup finely chopped ginger
  • ¼ cup finely chopped garlic
  • 3 green chilies
  • 1 sprig coarsely chopped curry leaves + 2 sprigs
  • ¼ tsp Masala Powder* (Recipe Follows)
  • Salt to taste
  • 1-2 tbsp water

  Directions:

  • Wash and cut the chicken into small bite size pieces with slits on the flesh. Make a paste with masala powder, pepper powder, turmeric, vinegar, green chilies and salt with 1-2 tsp water and marinate the chicken well and leave for 30 minutes in the room temperature. This helps the marinade to penetrate into the meat.
  • Heat oil in a large pan and sauté small onions until they turn transparent and then add green chilies, ginger, garlic and curry leaves and cook until they are soft. At this stage add the chicken and sprinkle 1-2 tbsp water and cook for around 20 minutes in low heat or until the raw smell goes. Transfer this chicken masala to a pressure cooker and I generally wait for 3-4 whistles.
  • When steam goes and cooker cools down, transfer the pressure cooked chicken with the gravy, back to the large pan and in medium heat, bring it to a boil. There is no need to add more oil at this stage. Sprinkle ¼ tsp masala powder ( to get the aroma of the spices) and adjust the salt and generously use 2 long sprigs of curry leaves and then reduce the heat to low and let the slow cooking begin. Keep stirring, until the gravy is well coated with the chicken and completely dry, making sure that the gravy does not stick to the bottom. This slow-cook-dry-process will take 15-30 minutes depending on the amount of the gravy. Serve hot with rice/Chappathi/Appam.

  

• *To Make the Masala Powder: – (Approx. measurement shown in the picture)

  • ¼ cup fennel seeds/perinjeerakam
  • 12-15 cinnamon/karugapatta
  • 8-10 cloves/grambu
  • 2 cardamom/Elakkaya

  How to: Grind all the ingredients together until it becomes a fine powder. Use sparingly as per the measurement listed in the recipe. There is no need to roast the the masala powder before marinating the chicken.

  Note: The taste of this dish mainly depends on the masala powder used and also on the fresh ingredients. Hence, to get the authentic taste, it is better to stick on to the masala powder recipe given above and also stay away from using big onion instead of small onions and store bought ginger-garlic paste instead of finely chopped fresh ginger and garlic. Also there is no need to add tomato. I have personally tried out all these variations and alternatives, but it does not come anywhere near the original recipe. So trust me!

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