Chettinad Chicken

Last Friday I decided to make Chicken Chettinad. This cuisine is from Chettinad region of Tamil Nadu, India which is famous for its culinary delicacies. Chettinad cuisine has distinct flavors and strong aroma favored by freshly grounded spices.

After scoring several recipes online I found this one. It was extremely simple to make and without a long list of ingredients. However the result was nowhere close to simple. It was fabulous!

It is definitely worth trying and easy to make.

Thanks to Greenhouse Cuisine for uploading the recipe. The original recipe is here.

My version goes as below...

Ingredients
Chicken	800 grams
Onion	2 large, thinly sliced
Tomato	2 medium chopped
Ginger-garlic paste	2 Tbsp
Oil	4 Tbsp
Turmeric	1/2 tsp
Coriander powder	4 tsp
Salt	to taste
Red chilli powder	1 Tbsp
Coriander leaves	for garnish
Sambhar or pearl onion	20
Curry leaves	4 Sprigs
Cinnamon stick	2 inch
Cloves	4
Cumin seeds	2 tsp
Whole pepper	4 tsp

*Original recipe calls for all the spices freshly grounded

Heat a pan and add 2 tbsp of oil to it. Add curry leaves and pearl onions and stir fry for 30 seconds. Now add cinnamon, clove, cumin and whole pepper and sauté well. Cool and make a fine paste using little water.

Use same pan to sauté thinly sliced large onions in 2 tbsp of oil until golden brown. 

Add ginger-garlic paste and sauté for 2 mins. 

Add chopped tomatoes, chicken pieces, turmeric and salt. Mix well and cook covered for 5 mins.

Add coriander powder, chilli powder and prepared masala paste and mix well. Add 2 cups of water. 

Bring it boil. Then cook covered on low flame until chicken is done and gravy comes to the desired consistency. Check for seasoning. Garnish with chopped coriander leaves. Serve hot with steamed rice and ghee.