I don’t experiment a lot with family recipes. I pretty much follow a step-by-step written formula. Recreating childhood memories is an experience quite special to me. Especially when being this far away, food makes me feel at home and close to family back home.
I come from a family of great cooks. They made some delicious food and some cringe-worthy exotic food too. Curries were almost non-experimental; they cooked what the family liked and that was that. As a result, a couple of next generation home cooks ventured and branched out into different methods of cooking and different cuisines, although the food made on Sundays were some of the best. We learnt the art of making Dum Aloo(potatoes in creamy sauce), chicken tikka masala(needs no intro), hariyali chicken(green curry chicken), aloo posto(Potato dry-bengali cuisne)and many more.
South Indian Curries are always close to my heart though. South India offers a variety of quite spicy curries. The spices are pretty similar in a lot of the curries, just vary a slight bit. But, to my amazement a simple fennel can change the whole flavor of the curry or a few curry leaves. Most of the time a chicken, mutton or even a fish curry is a slow cooked one. This one comes from a place called Chettinad. The local cuisine is simply one of the the most spiciest I’ve ever tried, Chettinad Cuisine.
The spices are slowly roasted and ground up. It’s vital to use fresh ginger, fresh garlic, fresh grated coconut. There’s no shortcut to this curry or any substitutions. The color and the texture will wow you just like they did to me.
Just have a few glasses of water to soothe your burning throat.. ;). If you feel ambitious, you could increase or reduce the number of red chilies.
- 3 lbs whole chicken cut to large pieces
- ½ tsp turmeric powder
- 3 tbsp vegetable oil
- 2 large onions diced
- 10-12 curry leaves
- 2 large tomatoes diced
- 2 tsp garlic paste
- 2 tsp ginger paste
- 1-2 tsp salt or according to your taste.
- 3 tbsp whole pepper corn
- 10 whole red chillies(I used kashmiri chilly for color and spice)
- 1 tsp cumin seeds
- 2 tsp fennel
- 2 tbsp coriander seeds
- 2 tbsp khus khus
- ½ inch cinnamon
- 4 cardamom
- 3 cloves
- 3 tbsp fresh coconut or frozen
- ½ cup water to grind or you can use coconut water
- 1- 2 cups of water for the curry
- Coriander to garnish
- Wash and pat dry the chicken very well. Add turmeric powder and keep aside.
- Dry roast the spices for the Spice paste EXCEPT for the coconut. Use low heat to dry roast it. Making sure not to burn the spices. Take it off the stove and add the coconut and let cool.
- Use a blender to make a paste. Use some water to make a smooth paste. Don't make it too watery.
- In a heavy bottomed pan, add 3 tbsp of vegetable oil, the onion and curry leaves and fry it on medium heat for about 3-4 minutes or until lightly brown. Add ginger-garlic paste and fry for a minute.
- Add the chicken pieces and fry for 2 minutes. Then add the tomatoes and fry for another 3 minutes till the tomatoes have disintegrated.
- Now add the paste and fry the chicken in the paste for 5-7 minutes. Let the chicken be coated in the paste and paste would lose its raw smell.
- Then add 1 cup of water, mix well, cover and cook till the chicken is cooked. Cook on medium flame and let the curry cook slowly.
- Turn off the heat and let sit for an hour or two. If you want the curry to be a bit on the drier side, don't add a lot of water and you will have DRY CHETTINAD Curry.
You can adjust, add little less or more of the pepper and chillies. But, do not omit any of the spices unless you are allergic to it. It will change the flavor.
Add any kind of dried chillies you want. I use kashmiri chillies because it gives a good red color.
WOW, this looks delicious and so authentic!
Thank you, and yes this is as authentic as it gets:).
Love the idea of using poppy seeds in this! Love the spicing, to tell you the truth. This is terrific — my kind of food. Thanks.
John, the poppy as little as the quantity is makes a huge difference. Thanks.
This curry looks divine! The sauce looks so rich and delicious – the perfect kind of curry for me! Yum!!
Thanks for stopping by. It is quite a delicious curry:).
I would love this. Heat and all. But I have to admit the recipe intimidates me as I’ve only made the simplest types of curries. GREG
Oh no, don’t let this intimidate you. It’s just few ingredients and steps but the result is something you would find in a traditional South Indian household.
I love this! Looks terrific! Amazing photos!
Thanks so much my dear.
this chicken curry look amazing!!
Thanks Gloria.
This looks wonderful Ash! I recently read an article that said that while a lot of Western food uses ingredients that are similar. Indian cuisine does the opposite. I love the heady aroma of spices in Indian cuisine 🙂
I agree, it’s strong yet absolutely unique. It can very fast go wrong if the right quantity and method is not used:).
I love learning about different kinds of curries from different regions of Indian from people who actually know what they’re talking about! The sauce for this looks so rich. I wonder if it could be made with paneer (although totally inauthentic) for the vegetarians?
Thank you Joanne. This spice might work with paneer, why not. I’ve used egg and I love it.
Your words and photos just transform me to another place for a few moments, Asha. I loved learning about Chettinad cuisine and I’m so intrigued by that spiciness and wondering how much of it I could handle. : ) This looks utterly delicious. I just want to pull up to the table (with a gallon of water) and give it a try. I know it won’t disappoint.
Oh, that’s so sweet to say. There are so many memories I have of food, I cherish them. It is spicy but not that much that your tongue doesn’t feel anything. Have a great day my dear.
Oh how I love that burn. This looks incredibly tasty, Ash!
Yup, it does burn..:). Love that kind of spice.
I love the color of this curry, Asha! Sounds like Chettinad cuisine is very similar to Sri Lankan – just about every Sri Lankan curry I have had is super duper spicy- and totally delicious!
Sri Lankan food is very very similar to Indian. I’ve eaten some curries where my tongue has gone numb on me….This one is definitely something which is spicy but absolutely authentic.
Thanks and have a great day my dear.
Sounds like you take after your family in the great cook department! This chicken curry looks amazing — you can tell just by look at it how much depth of flavor it has. Beautiful dish!
What a mouthwatering beautiful curry! At one point in time Chettinad was the only curry I would order at a restaurant. The flavours are so powerful. You have certainly taken after your family of great cooks.
Gorgeous curry! So making this tomorrow for lunch. Can’t wait.
I had to laugh when I read about not wanting to change family recipes. When my sister visited me in Australia we decided to make a few old family favorites. She asked if I wanted to add extra garlic to one of my mother’s recipes I looked at her in shock. I told her we shouldn’t mess with perfection.
To be honest, I think my sister was right. I would LOVE this chicken curry.
Scrumptious Chettinad Chicken Curry. An absolutely favorite of my hubby. Thanks for sharing. Will try your version for sure 🙂
I love it spicy…this looks very tasty and appetizing!
I really love that you make your own curry paste; I have never tried, but your photo makes me drooled and want to try making it 🙂 I miss curry that make my throat burn. Love that photos, Ash 🙂
What a fabulous chicken curry dish, Ash! I love the combination of chillies, warming spices, loads of whole pepper corn and fennel! Fennel just seems to bring all the spices together in harmony in a sauce, doesn’t it? I just love fennel, it warms my heart. 😉 Such a gorgeous, deep color of this sauce. Cannot wait to try this one, my friend. Gorgeous, drool worthy photography as always. 🙂 Thanks for sharing! xo
I have a smile on my face seeing this delicious curry dish. My family and I are fans of Indian cuisine and every time that you make an Indian dish I tell myself how lucky I am to have a good recipe to cook from.
Have a great week, my dear!
Just look at that chicken. This looks absolutely delicious. I love it.
Kay of Pure & Complex
http://www.purecomplex.com
I love coming by your site – I get the BEST ideas on what to cook. Even though I don’t meat – most of my family does so love trying these recipes 🙂
Your pics are so beautiful Asha. I make my Chetinaad Chicken Curry pretty similar, I’m sure the ratio will be different, but spices are similar. So are you Madrasi? What part of India are you from?
There’s something so unique about this curry right?..yum yum. I’m from Bangalore Nisha, got married to a Chennaite. So, tell me, where did you learn your curry? You like South Indian food?
Wow. Just wow. We can’t wait this Hindi delight! Thanx so much Ash!
That colour of the chicken curry is to die for. Amazing results from an amazing recipe
Thanks so so much my dear.
My brother and I have sunday cooking sessions! I sent him your recipe and we both had the same reaction to reading it. We could taste that “chatpatta -ness” just by reading it!! Lol!
We made this last night! It was incredible!! Thank you for the experience!!
Sorry to be responding this late but I am so glad to read that you loved it. Only my pleasure that I can share and you made it. xx
I made this last week and the kids loved it so much they have requested it again. Thank you for sharing this awesome recipe!
Thanks so so much for writing. I am so thrilled your kids loved it too, now that is the best compliment. xx