Kerala Style Chicken Roast
I would like to dedicate the first blog to my mom who passed away after a year-long battle with cancer. I realize how much I miss her during my visits to Kerala. She used to make the following chicken curry a lot. If my mom wanted to serve this curry for special guests she would always add some fried potatoes on top. The inspiration for this recipe came from one of Mrs. K.M. Mathew’s earlier cookbooks handed down from her mom. Now I own that book and the pages are turning brown and brittle, showing its age.
For this recipe, I prefer Cornish hen or organic chicken (Perdue Harvestland organic chicken available at Walmart and BJ’s) which produce very soft meat after cooking.
Hi everyone, my name is Aswathy. I love trying out new recipes but not so much of the cleaning. These posts are mostly about cooking and will include recipes from all over the world.
Ingredients and Instructions
- 10 cloves
- 1 inch piece cinnamon stick
- 2 tbs. black pepper
- 4 cloves of garlic with the skin
- 0.5 tbs. fennel seeds
Roast spices at low heat for about 5 minutes until fennel seeds turn light brown and the garlic cloves look shriveled. Grind all the dry ingredients. Peel the garlic and chop.
- 3 tbs. oil
- 3 medium Red onion sliced
- 3 sprigs of Curry leaf
- 1 tsp. turmeric powder
- 1.5 tsp. cayenne powder
- 1 tsp. salt
Heat oil in a dutch oven. Add sliced onion, curry leaves and 1 tsp salt to the hot oil and sauté until onion become caramelized. To this, add turmeric and cayenne and cook for another minute.
- 4 lbs. whole chicken cut up (preferably organic)
- 2 tbs.vinegar
- 1.5 tsp. salt
To prepare the chicken: remove the skin and cut into small pieces, about 3 by 3 inches.
To the onion mixture, add the cut up chicken, ground spices, chopped garlic, vinegar and salt. There is no need to add water since chicken releases lot of its juice. Cook for about 45 minutes to 1 hour, covered, at low temp until the chicken is cooked through, stirring once half way (cooking time may differ based on the type of chicken you use). Open the lid and continue cooking till the gravy thickens. Transfer to a bowl.
- 1 medium onion sliced
- 2 sprigs of curry leaves
- 3 tbs. oil for frying
Fry the onion and curry leaves and sprinkle on top of the chicken curry. Try not to skip this step because it gives extra flavor to the curry.
