Chettinad Chicken Curry

I am just gasping at the date. Yesterday was a numerically beautiful 11-12-13, though the day was mundane as it should be! Already we are looming towards the end of the year, and before the eye blinks, it's going to be January 1, 2014. I have felt that 2013 was an exceptionally fast year, it has been really fast with only regrets in place of not being able to complete a lot of things that I really wanted to do this year. The silver lining in the dark clouds is definitely this blog baby of mine, I should say. I have no words to describe how this hobby of mine has taken a turn for good and become a part of life, Alhamdulillah. By the Almighty's grace, things have been good, the friends I have received through this little span of blogging have been very close and I take it as a blessing from Him to me. Even though things otherwise have been rocky and difficult more than expected, I guess this is life and all we need is loads of patience to go through the test of life, with His presence to guide us all the way through it all, InShaAllah... The Prophet PBUH has said, "Be in this Dunya (world) as if you were a traveller." It clearly means that there is an eternal life after this snippet that we are going through, so we should be aiming for success there rather than here! May Allah - the Almighty - bless us all with the right decisions moving forward in life!!! Aameen...

About today's recipe, the reason for me to try this recipe was a colleague in my department who inquired if I had any recipe of chicken curry made in Chettinad style. Now the only chicken I had tried was Pepper Chicken which I had made ages back. Since he asked, I had to try one, so I dug into my huge bundle of cookbooks and pulled out one which my HD had given some time back and I had not used it at all. The time I saw the Chettinad Chicken in it, I thought of trying it out. A lovely flavorful curry cooked in its stock - perfect with ghee rice, which I had coupled it up with. Without much ado... off to the recipe...

Chettinad Chicken Curry
Serves 4
Recipe adapted from "The Super Indian Cookbook" by Rakesh Puri


Ingredients:

1 kg chicken, cleaned and cut into medium pcs
1 tbsp oil
4 cloves
3 cardamom
1 small pc cinnamon
6 peppercorns
2 large onions, sliced thinly
1 tbsp ginger paste
1 tbsp garlic paste
3/4 tsp turmeric powder
1 1/2 tbsp coriander powder
1 tsp red chilli powder
2 large tomatoes, chopped
Salt to taste
3 stalks curry leaves
1 tbsp pepper powder
1 tsp lemon juice

Method:

Heat oil in a saucepan. Add in the whole masalas and fry till a nice aroma fill the kitchen, around 2 minutes. Add in the onions and saute till soft. Add in the ginger garlic pastes and saute till the raw smell is gone, around 4-5 minutes. Add in the masala powders and saute till the masalas are roasted well. Ensure that you do not burn the masalas, just saute till it becomes a nice brown color. Now add in the tomatoes and the chicken and cook till the chicken is done. Add little water if needed.

Finally adjust the salt, add in the pepper powder and the lime juice and mix well. Serve warm garnished with curry leaves - with rice, chapathis, porottas - the call is yours!

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