Tuesday, April 14, 2009

Kozhi kulambu.

Kozhi (pronounce as koli) is the Tamil translation for chicken. Before the arrival of the broiler chickens in India, the home grown chickens would sense a tough time during the festival days .Yes , it is true, there was a time when people would not get chicken from grocery stores. Instead the lady of the house should have a strong mind to process the bird. My mom being a fragile lady, used to instruct the maid to finish all the processing outside our gate and to bring the cut pieces. So having chicken curry would be a distant dream for those chicken hearted people in that period. But getting goat meat was not that difficult, as there would be ample shops selling them.
Nowadays we are very lucky to have chicken in any time of the year.
But definitely we miss the native style 'kozhi kulambu' prepared with country chicken (Nattu Kozhi). Any way I tried to make the most of what I get to bring back those memories.
I prepared this Kulambu for Easter dinner along with rice and deep fried drumsticks.




Ingredients:

Chicken (with bone) - 1/2 kg (1 lb)
salt - to taste / 2 tsp
water - 5 cups
oil - 4 tbsp
Fennel seed (sombu) - 1 tsp

To chop separately:

Red onion - 2 (100 gms)
Roma tomato / vine tomato - 4
curry leaves - 1 brig
cilantro - 1 handful
mint leaves - 1 handful

To Dry roast and powder: 
(we can add 1 tbsp garam masal powder instead of this step)
Pepper corn - 1/2 tsp

coriander seeds - 1 tsp
Fennel seed - 1 tsp
cinnamon - 1 inch
Cardamom (Elakkai) - 2
Cloves (Kirambu) - 4
Cashew - 10


To wet grind:

Ginger - 2 inch
garlic - 4 pearls

To grind(optional)::
coconut - 1 long piece (1/2 cup shredded)
cumin - 1 tsp




Powders :

Red chilly powder - 1 tbsp
coriander powder - 2 tbsp
Turmeric powder - 1/4 tsp

Method:
Wash and clean the chicken pieces in running water.Apply some turmeric powder and keep aside.
Heat 2 tbsp of cooking oil in a deep pan and add 1 tsp fennel seeds (sombu).
After it turns red , add the curry leaf ,chopped onion and fry till it becomes golden brown.
Then add the chopped tomato, green chilli, cilantro , mint leaves, curry leaves and cook till they becomes mushy with oil starts showing up.
Now add the ginger garlic paste and stir it well for 30 seconds.
(Adding the ginger garlic paste after the tomato is a good idea to prevent charring of ginger-garlic paste).
Now put the chicken pieces and stir it for 2 minutes.
Grind the roasted spices along with coconut (optional). We can do this without coconut also. But coconut removes the strong chicken flavor and imparts a sweet smell.
Add water along with the powders, salt.
Then cook the chicken till it becomes tender (simply in a tightly closed vessel).
Check for salt.
The chicken kulambu should be thinner than the chicken gravy .
Kozhi kulambu is ready!


Serving suggestions:

Serve hot as side dish with paratha /Idly / aapam / thicker dosa / ghee rice / coconut milk rice / plain rice.
Serves 6 people.

23 comments:

Ramya Vijaykumar said...

Viki you are tempting me so much kozhi kulambu looks great slurrp!!! I am all drooling over your kulambu...

FH said...

We call the chicken, Koli too in Kannada. Lovely curry, my kids eat Chicken 24/7 if If I give it to them! :D

Chutneytales said...

Kozhi kozhambu sounds yummmm..Lovely recipe,Viki

Priya Suresh said...

Kozhi kuzhambu looks yummy, i too love to add drumsticks in my kuzhambu..thats a delicious recipe viki!

gtyuk said...

naattu kozhi naattu kozhi dhaane, rusiyo russi illa?

see that you had a delicious dinner for easter :)

Cham said...

U know what probably for the reason, my mom never cooked chicken at home. We all learn to eat after marriage and my mom never touch it till these days. But Nattu kozhi tastes like heaven and bit of though to cook. The gravy is absolutely delicous and spicy!

ARUNA said...

vicky, tempting tempting...!

Poornima Nair said...

Thats a great recipe...looks delicious and very tempting.

Lavanya said...

you are tempting me ..i am drolling over your kulambu vicky..nice one!!

Nandinis food said...

Kozhi kozhambu looks tasty and tempting me.I started to eat chicken only after marriage. My mom used to cook the same.I never tried nattu kozhi.Lovely dish!

sathya said...

Oh my gosh, this is very tempting...chicken curry looks wonderful.i have bookmarked this recipe :)

Gita Jaishankar said...

Oh, they look so delicious and tempting Viki, I have to have chicken now :) As a child, I remember my grandma running behind the chicken she used to have!

Deepa Hari said...

Curry looks yum Viki....Nattu kozhi tastes more delicious....u r tempting me now.

Priya Sriram said...

Yummy looking kulambu Viki... I've always loved the home-made curries... Just wanna try this too... :)

Varsha Vipins said...

Oh..looks grt..what is that at the center?piece?looks yum n that deep frie drumsticks sounnds interesting..post it too viki..:)

Anonymous said...

The kozhi curry lokks tempting viki..aroma reaches here !! spicy and yummy !!

Malar Gandhi said...

Naatu Kozhi Kuzhambu is my all time fav' dish, picture looks great.

Please da correct the Tamizh expression, 'ZHA' is the right pronounciation. Tamizhukku 'Zha' azhagu.

Anu said...

Hope am the only one who cant say anything abt the recipe (Vegetarian pa) :D

Loved ur cute story :) Rombo romantic;-)

Priyameena said...

This is my first visit to your blog...all your recepies making me hungry!!!especially this chicken kulambu is yummy!!

Unknown said...

hello Viki!! Thanks for this awesome recipe. I am usually sceptical about using recipes from the net because they rarely turn out to my expectation but your Kuzhambu is a hit everytime!! Yesterday one of my hubby's Madurai clients came home and after a mouthful he said, "Aathadi'!!!LOL! In a good way ofcourse!!! Thanks again!

Unknown said...

hello Viki!! Thanks for this awesome recipe. I am usually sceptical about using recipes from the net because they rarely turn out to my expectation but your Kuzhambu is a hit everytime!! Yesterday one of my hubby's Madurai clients came home and after a mouthful he said, "Aathadi'!!!LOL! In a good way ofcourse!!! Thanks again!

Unknown said...

hello Viki!! Thanks for this awesome recipe. I am usually sceptical about using recipes from the net because they rarely turn out to my expectation but your Kuzhambu is a hit everytime!! Yesterday one of my hubby's Madurai clients came home and after a mouthful he said, "Aathadi'!!!LOL! In a good way ofcourse!!! Thanks again!

amrita said...

we bought a nattu kozhi chicken... i was much confused hw to cook.. thanx for the recipe

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