Monday 30 August 2010

Malabar Chicken Curry



This is the most basic and the most widely prepared chicken curry in north Malabar area. The proportion and the consistency would differ from homes and the taste may differ slightly as well. The curry goes well with almost all dishes prepared back home and is mainly served with Ghee Rice, neypathal, Kalathappam , ari pathiri, puttu (steamed rice cakes) and chappathis. It also pairs very well with poori’s, Appams, Ottil Pollichathu, Alisa, Thenga Pathal, Marichedutha Appam, muttassurkki, parotta, nool puttu (string hopper) etc etc. Most of the dishes mentioned are made of rice and some with wheat which are all staple dishes made everyday back home.

Malabar Chicken Curry is very easy to prepare and there is no grinding or any other complicated steps involved. The only time consuming part would be sautéing onions -which is very crucial to the recipe as it forms the basis of the curry and decides the flavour as well. If the onions are not sautéed well, you can end up in a sweat curry and sometimes onions strings floating all over which can be very unpleasant. This curry would be quite spicy, but as I mentioned in notes, you can substitute red chilli powder with paprika powder to bring down the heat without effecting the consistency and flavour of the curry. Using a hot chilli powder is not recommended for this recipe. If using hot chilli powder, reduce the chilli powder considerably, but that would effect the consistency. No matter what, this curry is full of flavour and it pairs with so many dishes, some of which I mentioned above.


Malabar Chicken Curry - A North Kerala (Kannur) Style Spicy Chicken Curry
Serves 6-8

Ingredients:
1 kilo Chicken on bone, cut into medium size pieces
3 ½ medium size onion finley sliced and chopped (around 3 cups)
1-2 tablespoons fresh ginger paste
2 tablespoons fresh garlic paste
2 medium tomatoes chopped (190g, 1 cup)
6 teaspoon Kashmiri Chilli powder (Read notes)
¼ teaspoon turmeric powder
3-4 rounded teaspoons of coriander powder
2-3 tablespoon of coconut oil (Vegetable oil can be substituted)
3 cardamoms
3 cloves
3 small pieces of cinnamon sticks
2 green chillies seeded
2-3 twigs curry leaves
1-1 ½ cup boiling water or as required
salt - as required
Coriander leaves - for garnishing

Preparation:

1.Wash chicken several times and place it in colander to drain of all water. Place a wide saucepan on medium heat and add oil. When it is hot, add whole spices, i.e cardamom, cloves and cinnamon and sauté for few seconds until it leaves aroma.

2. Add chopped onions and salt. Cover and Cook on medium heat for around 15- 20 minutes stirring occasionally until it turns golden colour. Give plenty of time in here for the onion to be sautéed really well as this effect the end result much.

3. Add ginger and garlic and cook for 1-2 minutes or until the raw smell fades.

4. Add chopped tomatoes, cover and cook until it becomes pulpy .

5. Add spice powders – i.e. chilli powder, coriander powder and turmeric powder and sauté for 2 minutes. Tip in chicken, mix well to coat all spices. Cover and cook on medium heat till done. You may add ½ cup of water if the curry gets too dry while cooking. But normally chicken will release enough water to keep the curry moist, with thick masala.

6. When it is completely cooked, add enough amount of water to make slightly thin gravy, as per your taste and the water content in the sauce and boil for couple of minutes. Add curry leaves, garam masala and couple of green chillies, cover and cook for 1-2 minutes for the flavour to infuse.

7. Garnish with coriander leaves and serve hot.


Notes:

1.If your chilli powder is spicy, substitute half or more of chilli powder with paprika. Generally paprika is not used in Malabar cooking but as my chillies are real hot, I substitute half of it with paprika to balance the heat. Here, I used 3 teaspoon of paprika with 3 teaspoon of kashmiri chilli powder. You may reduce it even further to 2 teaspoon of chilli powder to 4 teaspoon of paprika if you want it even milder.

2. At stage 6, you may not add water at all if you like a really thick gravy and even boil off the extra sauce in the pan until the chicken is smothered in onions and spices. More oil is added to this curry at the end. We call this Kozhi varattiyathu and is even more tastier than the water added version or the curry version.

35 comments:

Unknown said...

Wow I luv chicken...this looks so delicious...Perfect for rice n rotis....Beautiful clicks!

? said...

Good to see this familiar recipe Shabs. Looks delicious as usual.:-)
Just a small typo: 'curly' instead of 'curry'?
Plus, is Kashmiri Chilli powder widely used in North Malabar for such dishes?

Suji said...

Amme..,manasu vayikan ariyumoi?> Njninnu vichariche ullu arelum onnu malabar style chicken curry post cheythenkil ennu, yday i had a chat with my friend from payyanur and i was so wanting to eat the chicken curry i had from her home looong back.. Shabs..Thanks a bunch..God bless

Love
Suji

Unknown said...

Nice recipe shabs..I can feel the great taste just by reading.

Dori said...

I wish I had the motivation to cook, I'd make this for dinner... Looks delicious!

Umm Mymoonah said...

Looks very yummy Shabs

Unknown said...

Nice recipe shabs..I can feel the great taste just by reading.:)

Satya said...

malbar chicken curry looks very delicious n inviting shabs

Satya
http://www.superyummyrecipes.com

aipi said...

Delicious chicken curry..beautiful clicks too!!

http://usmasala.blogspot.com/

Sayantani Mahapatra Mudi said...

mouthwatering spices and the chicken looks fabulous. always adore your clicks.

Ria Mathew said...

That name with Kannur in between got me homesick! I love the chicken curries 'Kannur people' make. I am saying 'Kannur people' because we are not orginally from Kannur, so all our curries are different :)

Radhika said...

Gorgeous and 'Will make you drool' pics.I have to try this, bookmarking it. Btw, how are the Ramadan preparations.

Unknown said...

decicious dish...lovely click too....

Shabitha Karthikeyan said...

Delicious gravy..makes me drool. Awesome pics too.. Do you use a light box or something for the pics?? What lens do you use? I'm planning to buy a new lens for my DSLR and I'm researching on it..Any inputs would be great !!

Foodie Ann said...

The curry looks perfect....:) So is the picture

Unknown said...

Delicious looking chicken curry, love it with chapatis, ghee rice and appam..Fabulous pictures!!

Unknown said...

Lovely colour! Enikku aa chorum chickenum kazhikkan kothiyavunnu ;)

Priya Suresh said...

Cant take my eyes from the click, irresistible chicken curry..

My Kitchen Antics said...

shab that looks lovely...im again wishing for the nth time i was stayin somewhere close by :)
but one question...what are curly leaves??? curry leaves aano udeshichathu?

Rihan Farman said...

Have been waiting for so long for this recipe. good that u thought of posting it at last.!!!!thanks

Shabs.. said...

Thanks all....m glad that all like dthe recipe..

@?...thanks for that note, i have corrected it..:)we normally use chilli powder that is make of kashmiri chilli powder...Both at my place and my inlaws....any chillli powder can be used. I use it mainly cos that is mild and it suits our taste.

@suji...try cheythu nokkiyittu parayutto..:)hope u will like it..

@ria......i thought u wre originally from kannur...but recenlty read on FB that ur not, which really shocked me...saaramilla, still u live in KNR.

@Radhika....thanks dear....ramada is going fine, but a bit tiring...Thats all expected anyway...thx for asking..

@shabitha,Thanx for ur comments...i dont use any light box. Its all natural light. I shoot my pics placing next to window, thats y lot lot of light.i use a simpl elens, that came along with my camera....it's 3.5 - 5.6 and 18-70mm...i would suggest you get one lens with real large aperture...i havent yet thought of buying a lens, so no clue about agood one either. for taking pics, there was a real good tutorial @ www.veggiebelly.com. I shoot by that way. Hope it helps...

Rihan, I know that. I was trying to perfect this recipe as much as i can...thats y it took me some time to post...BTW, this pictur ewas shot many months back.....

Thanks to all of u for stopping y and ur inspiring comments...

Love,
Shabs.

Sarah Naveen said...

Adipoli clicks..looks so delicious..ippo kazhikkan thonnunnu...

Unknown said...

Hi Shabs,

Great recipe and great presentation!!!

Sameena@

www.myeasytocookrecipes.blogspot.com

Namitha said...

You have a terrific collection of Malabar recipes..this looks lipsmacking.

Lav said...

hey first time here....wonderful recipes and yummilicious blog :) Do visit my space !!

Lavanya

www.lavsblog.com

Ushnish Ghosh said...

Dear Shabs
I dont know why, I havent got any intimation on your blog posting...But today I saw every post is there on my dash board, when I gave a search!! I have missed all of them after that great chicken fry..
I like malabar style recipes...So will 1st make the egg curry, havent eaten egg curry for ages.
I wish I could vote for the brownie, amazing photography.., keeping the Brownie at the back, out of focus :-), very well engineered...
I liked your comment at my blog ...I feel good.
Have a nice sunday

My Kitchen Antics said...

Shab thanks for the comments ketto..i would have poured the wine in the glass but its only after i took out the bottle i realised i had to use the cork screw and I wasnt too confident doing it myself. So had 2 wait for Ro:)
Header...if i now have 2 change somethin, I have 2 redo it all over again..athukondu im keeping it that way till i get bored.
Wow cherries huh...sho the thing is i will end up eating it all up without doing any cooking with it..sigh!

Joyti said...

That looks really incredible. I don't think I've ever had NORTH Kerala curry. YUM!!!

Meeta K. Wolff said...

oh totally yum! love the flavors of this chicken. i always love a good chicken curry!

Bini said...

I made the curry today... It came out so well tht I've never made a tasty curry like ths before... thank u so much 4 the recipe....

Shabs.. said...

thank u bini....m glad u liked it...

Greesha said...

Hi Shabs,
I tried out your chicken curry recipe last wednesday. It turned out to be really amazing. Guess adding the curry leaves in the end, gives that special kick to the curry. Am all set to try the Mutton Pepper recipe next week...keep posting easy recipes like this...cheers...

Shabs.. said...

Thanks greesha....I am planning to put up my mom's measurements as well,same recipe, which gives even better results:)...m glad u liked it.

Glory said...

I was wondering how you get the chicken to be so moist and tender when cooking chicken curries. Your looks so tender and moist. When I cook chicken curry its hard. Can you tell me how long to cook chicken for and also what heat (low, medium or high) to cook it in?

Shabs.. said...

hi glory,sorry for the late response.i cook chicken for aroumd 30 mins on low to medium flame.

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