I was not a Mallu food fan, but staying away from home made me realise my love for this awesome cuisine along with the memories. As a child I would only eat chicken and no other form of non veg, only chicken. I had this craving to have the authentic Kerala coconut chicken curry with Idiyappam and could not wait till I got home, so decided to give it a try on my own.

My inspirations to cooking are from my mom and Aunts Kitchen who don’t have any fixed measuring chart but instincts to cook. I follow the same pattern, so putting up a recipe with the exact measurement is a task for me , however getting to it and here it goes

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Chicken – 1 kg (with bones)

cinnamon stick – 1 or 2 small sticks

Turmeric powder – 1 tsp

Coriander powder – 2 tsp

Mustard seeds

Curry leaves

Onions sliced – two medium size

Tomatoes chopped – 1 big size

Ginger – one inch

garlic – 4-5 medium sized cloves

Salt to taste

pepper corns – 1 tsp (crushed)

Oil as little as possible

Coriander leaves

To roast and grind

grated coconut – 2 tablespoon

coriander seeds – 2 spoons

Dried red chillies – as per your spice buds

Method

Dry roast coconut, coriander seeds and red chilies till the raw flavour disappears and a very nice aroma starts coming. If needed add one tsp of oil. Let it cool. Grind this in a mixie with some water. Marinate the chicken with this paste, crushed pepper, salt and turmeric powder and keep it aside for half an hour.

In a pan add little oil, when heated up put in the cinnamon sticks & add mustard seeds. Let it crackle then add curry leaves, onions, then crushed ginger and garlic (I prefer crushed than the ready made pastes). Saute till they are cooked now add in  the chopped tomatoes, saute and then add the marinated chicken. If you need add a little bit of turmeric & coriander powder. Add salt as desired. Put in some water and cook with lid on , on  a low heat. For people who can’t wait cook it in a pressure cooker with 3 – 4 whistles, but make sure water content is kept low as chicken oozes out its own juices. Once done add lot of chopped coriander leaves and serve. I like it with Idiyappam.