Chettinad chicken

Name: Chettinad chicken
Yield: Serves 4
Cuisine: India
Ingredients: 2 cloves garlic, crushed, or 10 ml/2 tsp garlic purée; 2.5–5 ml/½–1 tsp chilli powder; toasted flaked coconut, to garnish; Plain Boiled Rice, to serve; 2.5 ml/½ tsp ground turmeric; 1 star anise; 2 tomatoes, chopped; 10–12 curry leaves; 5 ml/1 tsp cumin seeds; 5 ml/1 tsp coriander seeds; juice of ½ lemon; 4 large chicken quarters, about 1kg/2¼lb in total, skinned; 5 ml/1 tsp fennel seeds; 25 g/1oz/¼ cup desiccated (dry unsweetened shredded) coconut; 30 ml/2 tbsp white poppy seeds; 5 ml/1 tsp salt, or to taste; 45 ml/3 tbsp sunflower oil or light olive oil; 2 green cardamom pods; 1 large onion, finely chopped; 2.5 cm/1 in fresh root ginger, grated, or 10 ml/2 tsp ginger purée; 2 whole dried red chillies, torn into pieces; 10–12 black peppercorns; 2.5 cm/1 in piece cinnamon stick, broken into smaller pieces; 2 cloves

Preparation info

Serves
4

Difficulty
Medium

Appears in

The Complete Indian Regional Cookbook

By Mridula Baljekar

Published 2017

About

This recipe, Kozhi Varatha Kosambuk, comes from the trading community in the area known as Chettinad. The curry is quite fiery as it uses both chillies and black pepper, but you can reduce these to suit your palate. The chicken is cooked with distinct aromatic spices such as fennel, cloves, star anise, fresh ginger, cumin and cardamom pods for a unique flavour. Creamy-white poppy seeds help to thicken the sauce.

Ingredients

Asia
India
Tamil Nadu: Chettinadu
Main course
Spicy
Gluten-free

Ingredients

Method