Coorgi Chicken Curry with homemade Coorgi Masala Powder | Coorg Style Chicken Curry

Chicken prepared in Coorgi style with freshly ground Masala & sauteed onions

Each of us have our own unique ways of celebrating our special days. Some do it with sweet, some with wine & yet others would be out in the wild :D We do it with chicken, but now you guys would not be surprised as I have already mentioned many a times of our undying & dedicated love for this lovely ingredient. And for those of who are asking what's special today, it's Deeps' birthday. Though he did not want any celebration a.k.a indication that he is older by a year, I wanted to do prepare something simple yet not the regular kind of food for our lunch today. He is not a great fan of sweets nor cakes. so I resorted to our all time favorite, chicken. I did not want to try something very new for the fear of something going wrong somewhere, hence decided on this simple & flavorful Coorgi style chicken curry. 

I had already prepared this awesome gravy (adapted from Sinful Curry) 2-3 times before & every time it received a good review, by Deeps as well as some guests to whom we served this :) So I paired it up with the subtle yet lovely Peas pulav & wrapped it up with a rich creamy custard fruit salad with ice cream. Both mind & tummy full & satisfied :D And coming to the recipe it was originally for pork, but since the strong flavors & the simplicity of the recipe pulled me towards it, I had to replace it with chicken. And also this authentic recipe requires Kanchampuli, the Coorg special vinegar prepared from Gambooge, but since I did not have neither the extract nor the whole Gambooge I used our normal tamarind & extracted the pulp & used it. So nothing else would stop you now from trying out this. Enjoy :)

Recipe Source: Sinful Curry

I Took: 40 minutes + 2 hour(marination)

Serves: 2-3 persons

I Used:

For Coorgi Masala powder:

Coriander seeds  - 3 tbsp Pepper  - 1 tsp Cumin seeds  - ½ tsp Mustard - ¼ tsp Cinnamon  - An inch piece Cloves  - 4 no Green cardamom  - 2 no

To Marinate:

Chicken  - ½ kg Coorgi Masala powder  - 2 tbsp Red chili powder  - 1 ½ tsp Turmeric powder  - ¼ tsp Tamarind Extract - 1 tbsp (Refer notes) Salt - As Needed

To Saute:

Onions	-	1 medium sized - sliced
Shallots	-	5 nos - sliced
Ginger-Garlic Paste	-	1 tbsp
Coorgi Masala powder	-	2 tsp
Mustard seeds	-	¼ tsp
Curry leaves	-	A sprig
Coriander leaves	-	To Garnish
Oil	-	2 tbsp

The Way:

1. In a pan dry roast (without oil) the spices under 'For Coorgi Masala powder' until they turn brown & the aroma of the spices come out. Allow it to cool & then grind it to a fine powder in a mixie. Keep aside
2. Clean & cut the chicken into small or desirable sized pieces. Marinate it with the ingredients under 'To Marinate' & refrigerate them for 1-2 hours
3. Cook the marinated chicken with ¼ cup of water until done. Alternately you can pressure cook the chicken for a whistle or two as well
4. In a pan, heat oil. Splutter mustards & curry leaves. Add shallots & onions and saute them nicely till they turn deep brown. Take care not to burn
5. Add ginger-garlic paste & fry till the raw smell goes off. Now add coorgi masala powder & give a stir
6. Now add the cooked chicken pieces & cook on low flame until they are mixed well & the gravy thickens to your desired consistency. You can also let it dry completely if preferred
7. Garnish with chopped coriander leaves

Serve with Jeera Rice/Peas Pulav/Coconut Milk Rice or Roti/Appam/Idiyappam !

Notes:

• The original recipe calls for Kanchampuli (the Coorg vinegar extracted from kachampuli or gambooge), but since I did not have it I used normal Tamarind
• The original recipe is for Pork, since I do not eat it I used chicken instead

Cheers,

Chitz