Southern chicken curry

South Indian foods are famous for their spice level and my typical down south dishes can be ranked as highest. Non-veg dishes in my native place are very popular and it is one of the attraction for the tourists there:)One among them is the 'Nellai chicken curry'. We can get this kind of gravy like oily chicken fries in any parotta stall (street side restaurant) in Madurai, Tirunelveli and Tuticorin. The serving would be in a very small cup and it would definitely make the customer crave:) Mom used to make this with sambar and rice because this gravy would be very thick and tasty that it won't be enough to cover everyone's rice:) This is almost the first dish I prepared for hubby dear along with sambar and rice and it is one of his favorites too.

Here is that Spicy 'Tirunelveli kozhi curry varuval' from my kitchen to yours !

To marinate:

Chicken - 3/4 kg
(thighs is best. No white meat for this recipe please, as it will turn rubbery)
Turmeric powder - 1 tsp
Chilli powder - 2 tsp
curry masala powder - 1 tsp
coriander powder - 3 tbsp
Salt - 2 tsp
curd (plain yogurt) - 1 cup

Ginger garlic paste:

Ginger - 1 inch
garlic - 1 whole

other ingredients:

any frying oil - 1/2 cup
Red onion - 2
Tomato - 3
curry leaf - 1 sprig
Fennel seed - 1 tsp
cinnamon - 2 inch long

Method:

Wash and clean the chicken. Remove skin and fat.
Cut it into small pieces.
Add all the items given for marination and keep aside for 1 to 2  hours.

Finely chop the onion and tomato. Keep them separately.

Grind the peeled ginger and garlic to a fine paste.

Heat the oil in a wok. Add the fennel, cinnamon , curry leaf and let the fennel become red.
Then add the finely chopped onion and fry till it becomes golden brown.
Now put the ginger garlic paste and fry till the raw smell goes.
Add the finely chopped tomato and fry till oil separates.

Now add the chicken pieces along with marinade. Stir a few times and sprinkle 1/2 cup water. Cook tightly covered in VERY LOW HEAT for 45 minutes. stir once in 10 minutes. Switch off after the oil starts showing up.

Tirunelveli chicken curry is ready!

Serving suggestion:
Serve as side dish with plain white rice + sambar or rasam.
Also tastes great with any Indian breads like chapati, naan, parotta, pav buns.
If it seems too spicy, serve with ghee rice and lots of raitha.

Garlic chutney

Poondu chutney or garlic chutney I describe here is a raw chutney. It is a native dish in my home town and it is different from the most popular garlic chutney that includes tomato. I have heard that this raw garlic chutney is very healthy for everyone and I used to make this for my dad more often. It is a custom in my home town to take an evening bath also after coming home from office. At that time we can see the mom or wife of that person starting to steam the idlies for dinner. Those were the days we used to take idly or dosa for dinner as well as breakfast, but now it has changed to oat meal for breakfast and chapati for dinner:) In my native we make many kinds of chutneys. One among them is this garlic chutney. It is the most spicy hot dish I have ever tasted. One should not generously dip the food in this chutney because of the spice level, but it will do many good things to our body if we include this dish at least once in a while.

We got a bunch of fresh garlic from hubby's friend Mr.Raynor. Thanks to him I generously added the fresh garlic in many of our dishes:)

I served this spicy garlic chutney with adai.

Ingredients:

Garlic - 1
dry red chilly - 4
cumin - 1/4 tsp
tamarind - gooseberry size
salt - to taste (1/2 tsp)

To temper:

mustard - 1/2 tsp
sesame oil - 1 tbsp
hing / asafoetida - a pinch
curry leaf - few

Method:

Heat one drop of oil in a wok. Fry the red chillies and grind everything under ingredients. Don't add any water. Grind as finely as possible.
Now heat the wok again with 1 tbsp sesame oil and let the mustard crackle. Cover the vessel to prevent the mustard jumping all over the kitchen:)
Add the curry leaves, hing and immediately switch off.
Mix the chutney paste to this tempering.
Raw garlic chutney is ready!

Serving suggestions:

Serve as side dish with idly, dosa,chapati, adai or curd rice.
If it is very spicy, add a few drops of sesame oil while serving.

Note:
This medicinal chutney helps in digestion and cholesterol control.
To control the garlicky breadth, chew 1/4 tsp fennel seeds after meals (again good for digestion and reduces water weight).