A homestyle chicken curry

What is simple, spicy and truly comfort food? To me it is definitely the cuisine that reflects my heritage-Kerala Cuisine. Although not brought up in the beautiful land of Kerala, I grew up and still survive on the food typical of Kerala Cuisine. There are innumerable dishes and naming my favourites would be a task at hand. Each is unique in their own class.And my palate is definitely partial to this cuisine. Coconut is an essential part of this cuisine and the chicken curry that I have for you today has coconut in it.

Coconut scrapes are fried using spices and shallots/small onions and then ground to a paste. It is this paste that lends the flavour to this chicken curry. Another thing in this recipe that I found novel was the tempering of onions and curry leaves in oil, which are added at the final stage almost in the similar manner of tempering for dhals and the like. She had used potatoes, which weren't used here.

What you need for this chicken curry are
 Note the spice level. Eyeball to suit your taste.

Chicken-1 kg

Onions-4- Chopped

Tomatoes-3 Chopped

Garlic Paste-1t

Ginger Paste-1t

Turmeric Powder-1t

Chilli Powder- 1T

Coriander Powder-2T

Grated Coconut-1C

Shallots/small onions-6 peeled and sliced

Curry Leaves

Green Chillies (slit)-5

Salt

For tempering

Shallots-3 peeled, sliced

Coconut oil-1T

Curry Leaves

Heat some oil. Add the sliced shallots and the curry leaves. When they turn soft and a golden brown, add in the coconut scrapes. Fry until the coconut tunrs brown. Add in the spice powders and saute for a few minutes. Take this off the heat and set aside to cool. Once cool, blend the mixture to a thick paste.

Meanwhile in a pan, to oil, add in sliced onions and the slit green chillies. Saute until soft and add in the tomatoes followed by the ginger and garlic paste. When the oil leaves the sauteed mixture add in the ground paste. Add the chicken and a cup of water and cover and cook until the chicken is cooked.

In another pan, heat oil for tempering. Add in the sliced shallots and the curry leaves. Saute until the shallots are done. Pour this into the chicken curry.

A comforting curry with succulent pieces of chicken cooked to perfection among the spices and onions. Coconut and the curry leaves lend a very authentic Kerala touch to the curry. Anyone who has a favouritism towar this cusine... this chicken will win you over.