Monday, January 11, 2010

Chicken sukka varuval and our Christmas cake

Before going to today's post, I would like to share the Christmas cake I prepared for Baby Jesus. I made a fruit cake and frosted it with butter cream icing.


'Happy Birthday Baby Jesus' A Birthday cake for Jesus.

Next comes our Chicken sukka.

Chukka / sukka means a dry curry in a gorgeous dark brown color.Chukka gets its color during the stir fry process. Unlike many other chicken recipes, sukka will not have any mint leaf or cilantro . But the main flavor comes from sesame oil, shallot onion , lots of chilly powder and curry leaf.

This is a fiery HOT curry and one should have the heart of steel to try this . If you are not used to the South Indian spicy food , then reduce the quantity of spices given below as per taste. But the real taste lies in the dominating red chilly-pepper combo.

It is more popular in Chettinad restaurants, a Tamil cuisine known for its spicy and delicious food.

It is always my dad's choice in the Aachi's restaurant in my hometown and hubby's favorite too:)

Here is the famous chukka varuval for you all.



Marination:
Chicken (boneless) - 1 lb (1/2 kg)
turmeric powder - 1/2 tsp
Ginger garlic paste - 2 tbsp.
(ginger - 2 inch, garlic - 5 cloves)
Red chilly powder - 1 tsp
Salt - to taste (1 tsp)
Vinegar / lime juice - 2 tbsp
oil - To deep fry (200 ml)

Select red meat (boneless thigh portion) from chicken , as it will give a juicy texture whereas breast / white meat will yield a hard finish.

Wash and clean the chicken in running water. Cut the chicken into medium size cubes (approximately 2 cm).
Finally rub 1/2 tsp turmeric powder and keep aside.

Grind the ginger, garlic to a fine paste.
Marinate the chicken with all items given above (except the oil) for 2 hrs.

Heat the oil in a wok and deep fry the marinated chicken pieces till it is completely cooked. keep aside.

To Temper (finishing touch)
:
sesame oil - 2 tbsp
fennel seeds - 1 tsp
cinnamon - 3 inch
Shallot or red onion - 200 gms
(I have used red onion here)
Salt - to taste (1 tsp)
Red chilly powder - 2 tsp
Black pepper powder - 1/2 tsp
coriander powder - 3 tsp
garam masala powder - 1/2 tsp
Lemon - 1/2
Finely chopped ginger - 2 tbsp
curry leaf - 2 sprig
Green chilly - 2 (finely chopped)

Chop the onion into thin long pieces.
Heat oil in a wok. Add fennel seeds and cinnamon stick.
Let the fennel seeds become red. Put 1 sprig curry leaves and wait til they get crispy.

Slide in the onion and fry till it gets half cooked.
Add the fried chicken pieces along with salt and all the above said powders.

(Some people add 1/2 cup shredded coconut blended with 1/4 tsp cumin at this stage).

Sprinkle 1/2 cup water and cook covered for 5 minutes till all the masala powders gets blended to give a nice flavor.
Now add chopped fresh curry leaves (1 sprig), green chilly, ginger and mix well.
Stir for a minute and put off stove.

Squeeze lime juice and mix well with the sukka.

Chicken sukka is ready!

Serving suggestion:
Goes well with chapathi, roti and rice.
Perfectly pairs with curd rice also.
Serves 4 people.

35 comments:

Faiza Ali said...

The cake looks yummy yum and oh My !the Chiken sukka is mouthwatering and tempting..i am drooling ;)
I have an award for you on my blog dear, please accept it.

Sailaja Damodaran said...

Love chicken in any form....love to have it with rasam rice

malarvizhi said...

really tempting and mouth watering sukka. delicious dish and nice clicks.

Home Cooked Oriya Food said...

wow yummy spicy chicken...
Love the cake too...

sathya said...

Cake looks wonderful Viki, Mouthwatering chicken sukka !

chakhlere said...

Both looks very yummy!!

Lovely frosting on the cake.

Ann said...

Vicks,hey,drooling here seeing your sukka varuval..It is a real treat especially with the tempering part..slurp !!
(and the cake for baby jesus looks elegant!)

Shama Nagarajan said...

awesome cake....yummy chukka..waiting for ur christmas and new year special feast entries

Pavithra Elangovan said...

Both cake and dish looks awesome.. wish you very happy new year Viki !!!

Anu said...

Wow tempting sukka varuval.. Beautiful cake.. Looks delicious..

Unknown said...

cake looks so pretty..

Sushma Mallya said...

its a beautiful cake viki and chicken too looks delicious and spicy...

Priya Suresh said...

Beautiful christmas cake VIkki, lovely frosting..

Mouthwatering chicken sukka, my favourite dish, i usually order whenever i go to chettinad restaurants...

Yumm!!

gtyuk said...

nice little crib you've got there and saying happy birthday baby Jesus on the cake, lovely!!

your chikken sukka is terrific and absolutely tempting!!! looks fiery hot and excellent!!! just imagining the flavour of sesame oil/fennel and curry leaves on the fried chicken , mmmmmm, must be sooo good!!! nice recipe!!!

Nandinis food said...

What a lovely cake! And the sukka chukka is spicy and hot! Yummy!

Finla said...

Wow such a delcious looking chicken you have got there and the cake is so beautiful especially with the light around it.

Sarah Naveen said...

Yummy cake.Happy birthday baby jesus..i liked it ;)
Chicken looks absolutely mouthwatering...

prasu said...

the cake looks totally yummmmmmm....dear and the chicken is making me drool.............

FH said...

Cake is so cute! Sukka looks mouthwatering.

Saraswathy Balakrishnan said...

Wow wow wow!!Both the cake and chicken looks fanatically delicious and mouth-watering..seems u had a great Christmas Viki..

Aruna Devi said...

nice cake....Chukka varuval wow tempting me...havent tried yet...will try

Namitha said...

the cake is beautiful and really liked the chicken sukka....looks very spicy and yummm

Preety said...

the cake looks amazing and so does the chicken too..

Siddhi Shirsat said...

Hey viki this realy luks very tasty...yummm...nice recipe...i was searching for 1 chetnnad style spicy chicken n gt 1 here...thnx...vl try it sun

Rachana said...

Hey Viki,
The cake looks tempting. A great blog:)

Unknown said...

Mouthwatering recipe!

Cham said...

Hmm I love ur sukka more :)

Tina said...

Both looks fabulous and perfect dear..Soooo tempting...

Urmi said...

Wish you and your family a very happy and prosperous new year.
Thanks a lot for visiting my blog and for your lovely comment. I appreciate for your wonderful presentation. Chicken and cake looks delicious and yummy.

Sunitha said...

Ooh.. yummy chicken curry and nice cake too.. Reading through that chicken varuval was a treat in itself.

San!!! said...

Irresistible chicken sukka,would love to try this dear.Can imagine the combo of sukka with rasam rice or curd yummm.

Rina said...

My husband is from TN, so he recognized this chukka varuval at once..so now I'm bound to follow ur receipe and treat him...Christmas cake looks yum..

Yasmeen said...

Yummy cake.And I love the hot and spicy finishing touch to the chicken :D

Gita Jaishankar said...

I am drooling over the fry dear...so tempting :)

Unknown said...

Nice recipe. Looks delicious.

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