chicken chettinad.. well almost :)

I just made chicken curry.. and Scarlett asked me to put up the recipe.. well here it is!!

Refer to ndtvgoodtimes site... go to chak de india and check chicken chettinad recipe.. I really like this show... Aditya Bal (who was apparently a model earlier) tours the country.. tastes all kind of cuisines.. and makes it as well!!! His show is quite good.. tells you about regional cuisines...no city touches to the dish.. and are surprisingly easy to follow.. in the last episode I caught, he walked into a coorgi home and ate boiled tapioca with spinach (fried in onion and garlic).. simple stuff, looked positively delicious!! So anyway, I tried his recipe of chicken chettinad with some small (really small) embellishments of my own :).. for all of you lazy people, here's the recipe :

a) About 600-700 gms boneless chicken.. which when cutting I effectively brought down about 3/4ths!!! I do not know how to cut chicken.. and whatever looks strange to me goes straight into the bin! So anyway, cut them in whatever fancy shapes you want/ like to eat.

b) Cut/ slice about 3 onions (medium sized).. the site suggested 2 but I put in 3.. more onions are always good I say :)... fry it in oil (about 1.5 -2 ladles.. lesser if you want).. oh, before this, put about 4 cloves (laung) and a piece of cinnamon in the oil and then add the onions!

b1) Check FB.. cackle at some people.

c) While onions fry.. put in about 1 tspn pepper corn (more or less depending on how spicy you want it), 1 tsp aniseed (saunf), 1 tspn cumin, 2 red chillies, ginger and garlic (about 2 tspns worth).. grind it all in water to make a paste. Check the site once to check if I havent missed out anything :) But I think thats about it. I checked.. and this it it. Of course this was for 1 kg chicken.. but it tastes awesome, same masala, less chicken!

c1) Put comments on FB.. and then delete the very picture which you commented on!! Hah!!! That will tell them(tell who???? I have no clue). Check to see if your onions are burning!

d) Once your onions are golden brown (mine were!!!), add the paste (mine was slightly watery.. but it doesnt really matter)... and fry it!! Before adding the paste, I removed the cinnamon and laung.. My, arent I sounding chef like :)... but anyway, I did that because I hate getting laung or cinnamon in my mouth when am eating. So there!!! And anyway it smells divine as the oil / onions would have absorbed the flavours of the garam masala (this was the deviation from the recipe).

d1) Have a breezer while you are at it!

e) Chop one tomato finely.. add it to the masala. I fried it till tomatoes disintegrated (I have watched enough cooking shows to know that I should say when fat separates from oil.. but I basically keep a lookout for tomatoes disintegrating, becoming paste like.. I have no idea what fat separates from oil means.. works for us ordinary mortals I guess!!!!)

e1) If you are sulking, then this is the perfect dish.. you can fry as much as you want and not be forced to be in the company of "people".. and sniffle strategically (cutting / frying onions.. what else do you expect).. the dish does not disintegrate because of over frying!!!

f) Here I tasted the masala.. it felt less spicy so I added a 1/4th tspn of red chilly powder.. do it at your risk.. the pepper is really hot.. and you come to know much later when you eat more quantities!! Add salt.. I would advise to put less salt (as compared to whatever you usually put)... I thought I put in less salt but it tasted slightly saltier than I liked it to be!!!

f1) You can of course show "people" how hard you are working by asking them to taste the masala in between the football match!! And politely refuse the offer to make rice(as if that needed making.. hah!!!!).. turn your nose up in the air when you refuse!!!

g) Add the mutilated ( courtesy my chopping skills) chicken pieces... let the masalas coat the chicken..


h) Another deviation.. recipe asks you to add water.. I added chicken stock .. maggie chicken stock..maybe it was more salty because of that.. oh well, whatever!! It tastes good because of the stock!!! :) I also added some curry leaves and 1-2 slit green chillies... (not there in the original recipe).

i) Cook till chicken is cooked and the gravy is thick!

i1) Make up by asking "people" to check if the chicken is cooked.

And voila.. there's your chicken chettinad... for the actual recipe, check ndtv good times site / chak de show.

Turned out to be good.. we finished it and thats a good sign. Goes well with plain rice.. fried rice.. rotis.. whatever is your fancy :))

A very easy dish for the lazy people!!!!! Lazy people of the world unite :)