Nadan Chicken Curry - Kerala Style without coconut - Type 1

Chicken cooked in onion, tomatoes & dry roasted Indian spices

All those regular readers of mine would know my love for chicken & how I love to prepare chicken dishes ! So here I am back with a basic & simple chicken recipe. This one is very easy to prepare, do not be taken aback with the number of steps, it's just a pinch of this & a handful of that from your masala dabbas/pantry & voila, you are left with a very flavorful & aromatic side dish that will definitely elevate your mild flavored rice or simple phulkas & leave you contented :) 

This is a personal favorite at home & Deeps loves to prepare this by himself, so as usual, I'm the happy apprentice then. This time we paired it up with 'Nei Choru' & we lost count of how many helpings we took while having lunch with one of our favorite 'House' series on ;) This is just one of the types in which Nadan chicken curry is made at our place. There are many variations to this which I will post in the future. So this time, try this out & let me know how you liked it :)

Other Chicken recipes:

Chettinadu Kozhi Kulambu
Chicken Masaledar | Spicy Chicken Masala

Coorgi Style Chicken Curry

Mughlai Chicken

Baked Chicken Pasta

Spring Roll

Recipe Source: Deeps

 

I Took:

Marination: 30 minutes

Preparation: 40 minutes

 

Serves : 3-4 persons

I Used:

 

For Marination:

Chicken	-	500 gm
Turmeric powder	-	½ tsp
Salt	-	As needed
Lemon juice	-	½ of a small sized lemon

To Roast & Grind:

Red Chilly	-	4 nos
Coriander Seeds	-	1 tsp
Mustard	-	¼ tsp
Cumin seeds	-	½ tsp
Pepper	-	½ tsp
Cinnamon	-	1 inch piece
Cloves	-	2 nos
Cardamom	-	1 no
Star Anise	-	1 no
Bay leaf	-	1 no

For Gravy:

Onion - 4-5 medium sized (sliced) Tomato - 2 medium sized (sliced) Green Chilly - 2 nos Ginger Garlic paste - 2 tbsp Red Chilly powder - 1 tsp Coriander powder - 1 tsp Turmeric powder - ½ tsp Curd - 2 tbsp (optional) Coriander leaves - 2 sprig Curry leaves - 2 sprig Salt - As needed Oil - As needed Water - As needed

To Temper: (optional)

Oil  - 2 tbsp Garlic - 1 pod Pepper - 1 tsp

The Way:

1. Dry roast the ingredients under 'To roast & grind' in a pan. Add little water to it & grind  it to a fine paste

2. Marinate the cleaned & cut chicken pieces with the ingredients under 'For Marination' &  keep aside for 30 minutes

3. In a kadai, heat oil. Add the sliced onions & salt & saute well. The taste of this dish depends on how well you saute the onions. This is the key step & it may take you around 10-12 minutes. Keep sauteing occasionally till it reduces to half & becomes mushy. You can cover & cook as well in between

4. Once the the onions are nicely sauteed, add the sliced tomatoes & slit green chillies & saute well till the tomatoes becomes mushy

5. Now add the ginger-garlic paste & saute till the raw smell goes off. This may take around 2-3 minutes

6. Now add turmeric powder, red chilly powder, coriander powder & saute well for about a minute or two

7. Dunk in the marinated chicken pieces & give a nice stir. Close the kadai & cook in a medium/low flame till the chicken pieces become soft & are half-cooked. This takes about another 10 minutes

8. Now uncover the kadai & you can see that the chicken has let out some water. At this stage add the ground paste & sufficient water (if required) to bring it to the consistency for the gravy that you require. Close the kadai & cook again till the chicken is done

9. Now add in curd & give a stir. This step is totally optional. We like to add curd as it brings a tangy zing to the gravy which enhances the flavour of the dish

10. Add in the chopped coriander leaves & curry leaves & give a stir. Leave it in medium flame for another 30-60 seconds for the flavour of the leaves to sink in

11. Now for the tempering, heat oil in a kadai & fry the garlic pods & pepper separately

12. The garlic pods should slightly change colour & the pepper should just start to crackle. This tempering is also totally optional. We add it as Deeps like the crunch that the tempering adds to the gravy

You can serve hot with Nei Choru / Coconut Milk Rice / Roti / Idiyappam / Appam / Porotta / Chiratta Puttu / Puttu or any mild flavoured rice !

Cheers,

Chitz