It’s a Mangalorean delicacy, Kori means chicken in Tulu, this special chicken curry is served with thin rice wafers, crepes prepared exclusively in their region.
It’s a red-hot spicy chicken curry, prepared with a customized curry base, freshly roasted and ground, balanced with subtle coconut milk and a slight dash of tanginess from the tamarind. Rottis are made from boiled rice, it resembles crepes or wafer in its appearance and texture. They were traditionally prepared at home; it involves tedious and laborious procedure to roast the wafer. Thin boiled rice batter is poured over a hot iron slab-like platform on a tandoor kind of set up, then spread like crepes, folded into wafers once roasted on one side. It’s now available commercially in all shops in Mangalore, and now across the country.
In Karnataka, there are bunts, jains, billavas, mogaveers, etc..all these communities were formed based on their occupation/business. Bunt is a local community of Karnataka that speaks Tulu and they have 93 surnames. Considering the origin of this dish, it dates back to Udupi cuisine, the most prevalently available cuisine across the country. Though there are contradictions in the origin of this dish, with one asserting that it’s from Udupi cuisine while the other defending that it’s being derived from Kundapur (coastal town) of Karnataka. The final verdict would be it’s a dish from Tulunadu, a Mangalorean cuisine, one of the most celebrated cuisines in the country.
The reason to ascertain this dish belongs to Mangalore is because it incorporates all the key, authentic ingredients of this cuisine. To start off with coconut, then chillies, tamarind, nothing has been neglected in this dish. Kori rotti is being served on all the occasions, festivals of Mangaloreans irrespective of their faith.
This dish was introduced to me by a Shetty family in Bahrain. It’s love at first sight… 😍😍😍 after which there was no looking back as I became an ardent lover of this dish. I would like to extend my gratitude to Pushparaj Shetty, a mutual friend of Venita, who helped me in writing the synopsis of this recipe, giving a deep insight into the origin, and history of this recipe and its significance in their Bunt (Shetty) community… 🤝🤝. Now let’s indulge in the recipe… 😍😍
Click here to jump to recipe card!
Heat 1 tbsp ghee in a thick bottomed pan, then add a cup of grated fresh coconut or copra (dry coconut), sauté in medium flame till it turns brown, roughly for 5-6 minutes. Transfer to a mixer jar.
Heat another tsp of ghee, add Kashmiri red chillies and normal long red chillies. Roast till it slightly changes colour, and transfer into the same mixer jar.
Heat the same pan, add Coriander seeds, dry roast it for 2 minutes on medium flame. Then add pepper, fenugreek seeds, and cumin seeds one after the other, roasting each for a minute.
Transfer this to the same mixer jar and dry grind it with roasted coconut and red chillies into a coarse powder. Keep it aside.
In the same pan add another tsp of ghee, sauté ginger, garlic for 2 minutes. Then add chopped onion and sauté with salt till it turns golden brown.
Finally, add tamarind and turmeric powder and switch off the flame.
Transfer to the mixer having the dry powder and grind it along with water to a smooth paste.
Take a deep bottomed pan or kadai, add this ground smooth masala paste, add the cut pieces of chicken, then chopped onion with salt, mix everything.
Close it and cook for 20 minutes on medium flame. Open and stir it in between to avoid the masala getting burnt, maintain a low-medium flame.
Meanwhile, prepare the coconut milk by running the grated coconut with water to extract the first cup of thick milk.
Use the same pulp, add more water and grind to extract 2 cups of second (thin) milk (Refer notes).
After 20 minutes, add 2 cups of second (thin) coconut milk, mix it and cook it for another 10 minutes closed to the same flame.
Later add 1 cup of first(thick) coconut milk and let it simmer in completely low flame for another 5 minutes with the lid open. Switch off the flame after 5 minutes.
For tempering add 1 tbsp of coconut oil in a small skillet, add cinnamon, cloves, and cardamom, then add chopped onion.
Sauté till it turns brown well.
Finally, add this aromatic tempering to the curry.
And Kori curry is ready to serve with Mangalorean special Rotti, either you can soak the curry over the crispy rice rottis or scoop the curry with the rice wafers and have a crispy bite.
The choice is yours, both ways it’s a delightful feast. It’s absolute heaven…😋💝💖❤
Recipe card
Preparation time: 10 minutes
Cooking time: 30 minutes
Cuisine: South Indian
Category: Curries
Yields: 6-8
Author: Manimala
Ingredients:
For curry base/masala:
Ghee – 1 tbsp
Grated fresh coconut or Kopra – 1 cup
Ghee – 1 tsp
Kashmiri red chilli whole – 14
Red chilli whole – 6
Coriander seeds – 1 ½ tbsp
Pepper – ½ tsp
Fenugreek seeds – ½ tsp
Cumin seeds – 1 tsp
Ghee – 1 tsp
Chopped ginger – 1 tsp
Chopped garlic -1 tbsp
Chopped onion – 1 cup
Salt – to taste
Tamarind – small marble size
Turmeric powder – a pinch
Water – to grind
For chicken curry:
Chicken cuts – 1 kg
Chopped onion – 1 cup
Grounded masala
Salt – to taste
Thick(first) coconut milk – 1 cup
Thin(second) coconut milk – 2 cups
For tempering:
Coconut oil- 1 tbsp
Cinnamon – 1”
Cardamom – 2
Cloves – 2
Chopped onion – ¼ cup
Instructions:
- Heat 1 tbsp ghee in a thick bottomed pan, then add a cup of grated fresh coconut or copra (dry coconut), sauté in medium flame till it turns brown, roughly for 5-6 minutes. Transfer to a mixer jar.
- Heat another tsp of ghee, add Kashmiri red chillies and normal long red chillies. Roast till it slightly changes colour, and transfer into the same mixer jar.
- Heat the same pan, add Coriander seeds, dry roast it for 2 minutes on medium flame. Then add pepper, fenugreek seeds, and cumin seeds one after the other, roasting each for a minute.
- Transfer this to the same mixer jar and dry grind it with roasted coconut and red chillies into a coarse powder. Keep it aside.
- In the same pan add another tsp of ghee, sauté ginger, garlic for 2 minutes.
- Then add chopped onion and sauté with salt till it turns golden brown. Finally, add tamarind and turmeric powder and switch off the flame.
- Transfer to the mixer having the dry powder and grind it along with water to a smooth paste.
- Take a deep bottomed pan or kadai, add this ground smooth masala paste, add the cut pieces of chicken, then chopped onion with salt, mix everything.
- Close it and cook for 20 minutes on medium flame. Open and stir it in between to avoid the masala getting burnt, maintain a low-medium flame.
- Meanwhile, prepare the coconut milk by running the grated coconut with water to extract the first cup of thick milk. Use the same pulp, add more water and grind to extract 2 cups of second (thin) milk (Refer notes).
- After 20 minutes, add 2 cups of second (thin) coconut milk, mix it and cook it for another 10 minutes closed to the same flame.
- Later add 1 cup of first(thick) coconut milk and let it simmer in completely low flame for another 5 minutes with the lid open. Switch off the flame after 5 minutes.
- For tempering add 1 tbsp of coconut oil in a small skillet, add cinnamon, cloves, and cardamom, then add chopped onion, sauté till it turns brown well.
Finally, add this aromatic tempering to the curry and Kori curry is ready to serve with Mangalorean special Rotti, either you can soak the curry over the crispy rice rottis or scoop the curry with the rice wafers and have a crispy bite. The choice is yours, both ways it’s a delightful feast. It’s absolute heaven…😋💝💖❤
Notes:
- Using copra has its own flavour. Still, you can replace it with fresh coconut, but roast it finely. I did with fresh coconut as I couldn’t find Kopra.
- This recipe traditionally uses a combination of Harekala chiilies and Byadgi chillies. The former is known for its sharpness in heat, while the latter for its rich colour.
I didn’t get both the chillies, so I used Kashmiri chilli and the normal long chilli. I prefer Kashmiri for its deep colour and normal chillies for its hotness🔥. If you are using only long red chillies, then reduce the quantity, and also your curry will be on the lighter side.
- Here tomatoes are replaced with tamarind, a typical Mangalorean ingredient.
Extracting the coconut milk from fresh coconut differs from the frozen grated coconut 🥥, you need to defrost frozen coconut and then add hot water to grind.
- If you don’t want to take the efforts of grinding and straining, try with the coconut milk powder, follow the instructions in the pack for thick and thin milk.
Adjust the consistency of the curry by adding water if you need it to be thinner. The rotti requires thin curry only to dip and scoop the curry with the wafer and indulge in it…😋😋😋
- Tempering with coconut oil imparts a nutty aroma and taste to the curry. You can add curry leaves if you like.
- You can roast and grind the masala a day before and store it in the refrigerator and use it the next day for the curry.
- This chicken curry goes well with ghee rice, Jeera rice (restaurant style), Jeera rice (one pot method), Turmeric rice even with idli, dosas and rotis like Instant wheat naans, Palak poori, But nothing can replace rotti which is the best match for this curry.
2 Replies to “Kori Rotti”