This is the last addition to the theme of this month, which is “Regional Chicken Cuisine”. I posted Karnataka, Tamilnadu, and Andhra regional chicken recipes- Kori rotti, Chinthamani chicken and Gongura chicken respectively. This week’s post is from our God’s Own Country Kerala. When it comes to Kerala, though I’ve only visited a few pilgrim places there, my bonding with Kerala doesn’t stop there…😀😀. Being in GCC, for more than 18 yrs, needless to say how much Keralites would have influenced me and my cooking…😅😅. I have enjoyed the Onam sadhyas of my Keralite friends, which is one of my favourite gatherings. Now coming to this recipe, I chose this one after a strong recommendation from my Keralite friends from Bahrain, the Precious peahens group, when I asked for their regional chicken recipe. They unanimously voted Naadan Kozhi Varutharachathu..❤❤. Then, I couldn’t argue more as it was my favourite too when I visit restaurants here. As a last note, I thank Veena from Abudhabi who clarified few queries on the history of this recipe. It always helps when you hear from a native. 😍🤝
The story behind the name? Naadan means our own place, you may call it their ethnicity. Kozhi is chicken, and varutharachathu means roasted and ground. In short, it’s their own country style roasted and ground chicken curry. It’s robust with flavours. The curry is packed with aromatic flavours from roasted coconut 🥥 and spices, condiments which are simmered and cooked with chicken slowly imparts all its flavour into the chicken, and the icing on the cake is the tempering with coconut oil which fills your house and heart ❤ with the nutty fragrance. The spiciness from the spices will be well balanced by the coconut.
There are slight variations with their regional touch, and every household has its own recipe. But the basic ingredients and process will be more or less the same. But the roasting and grinding part is inevitable as the name says. The consistency will be semi gravy and it goes very well with appam, parrotta, pathiri, and even dosas. It suits with rotis and parathas as well.
If you are not a lover of coconut oil, you can skip this oil and use any other refined oil, also you can reduce the quantity of coconut used. But the result will not be naadan, will be of any normal chicken gravy.
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Take 1 kg medium-sized chicken pieces with bone, clean it and marinate with chilli powder, turmeric powder, and salt.
Let it marinate for 30 minutes to 2 hours maximum.
Dry roast cinnamon, cloves, cardamom, star anise, mace, fennel seeds, and peppercorns in medium flame for 2-3 minutes till you get a nice aroma,
Transfer to a mixie jar, and grind it into a powder. It yields 4 tsp of garam masala. Keep it aside.
In the same pan, add a tbsp of coconut oil, once heated, add Kashmiri red chilli and normal red chilli, then add coriander seeds, curry leaves, shallots, sauté for a couple of minutes.
Then add grated coconut.
Once they are roasted to golden brown in medium flame for about 10 minutes, finally add turmeric powder, sauté for a minute, switch off the flame.
Grind them into a fine paste with the required water. Keep it aside.
Heat a thick bottomed pan, add ½ a cup of coconut oil or any refined oil (if you don’t like coconut oil), then add curry leaves, green chilli, and sliced shallots, sauté for a couple of minutes.
Then add and sauté finely chopped onion with a little salt.
Once sautéed for 2 minutes, add ginger garlic paste, sauté till the raw smell goes off.
Then add chopped tomatoes with a pinch of turmeric powder, close, and cook for 2 minutes till it turns mushy.
Now add 1 tbsp Kashmiri red chilli powder, mix well.
Then add 1 kg marinated chicken with required salt.
Close and cook for 20 minutes in a low-medium flame, stir in between to ensure it doesn’t catch at the bottom.
After 20 minutes, open and stir, then add the ground masala.
Then add 2 tsp garam masala.
Finally add 1 cup water, mix well.
Close and cook for another 15 minutes in medium flame. After 15 minutes, stir it and switch off the flame.
For tempering, in a small pan add a tbsp of coconut oil and a sprig of curry leaves, then add 2 tbsp sliced shallots.
Sauté in medium flame till it turns brown.
Then immediately transfer to the curry and close it for 2-3 minutes to get the flavours sealed.
Serve this spicy, aromatic, Naadan Kozhi Varutharachathu with appam, pathiri, idiyappam, or even with rotis, idlis, and dosas.
Recipe card
Preparation time: 10 minutes
Cooking time: 30 minutes
Cuisine: South Indian, Kerala
Category: Curries
Serves: 6
Author: Manimala
Ingredients:
For Marination:
Chicken (medium cut) – 1 kg
Turmeric powder – ¼ tsp
Kashmiri chilli powder – 1 tsp
Salt – ¼ tsp
For Roasting:
- To Dry Roast Garam masala-
Fennel seeds – 2 tsp
Cinnamon – 1”
Cloves – 4
Cardamom – 4
Star anise – 1
Mace – 1 thread
Pepper – 1 tsp
2. To Roast coconut-
Coconut oil – 1 tbsp
Kashmiri Red chilli – 8
Red chilli – 4
Coriander seeds – 3 tbsp
Shallots – 6
Curry leaves – 1 sprig
Grated coconut – 1 cup
Turmeric powder – ¼ tsp
For Curry:
Coconut oil – 6-7 tbsp
Chopped Big onion – 1 cup
Shallots – ½ cup
Green chillies – 2 slit
Ginger, garlic paste – 1 tbsp
Chopped Tomatoes – 1 cup
Kashmiri Chilli powder – 1 tbsp
Turmeric powder – a pinch
For tempering:
Coconut oil – 1 tbsp
Shallots sliced – 2 tbsp
Curry leaves – handful
Instructions:
- Take 1 kg medium-sized chicken pieces with bone, clean it and marinate with chilli powder, turmeric powder, and salt. Let it marinate for 30 minutes to 2 hours maximum.
- Dry roast cinnamon, cloves, cardamom, star anise, mace, fennel seeds, and peppercorns in medium flame for 2-3 minutes till you get a nice aroma, transfer to a mixie jar, and grind it into a powder. It yields 4 tsp of garam masala. Keep it aside.
- In the same pan, add a tbsp of coconut oil, once heated, add Kashmiri red chilli and normal red chilli, then add coriander seeds, curry leaves, shallots, sauté for a couple of minutes, then add grated coconut.
- Once they are roasted to golden brown in medium flame for about 10 minutes, finally add turmeric powder, sauté for a minute, switch off the flame.
- Grind them into a fine paste with the required water. Keep it aside.
- Heat a thick bottomed pan, add ½ a cup of coconut oil or any refined oil (if you don’t like coconut oil), then add curry leaves, green chilli, and sliced shallots, sauté for a couple of minutes, then add and sauté finely chopped onion with a little salt.
- Once sautéed for 2 minutes, add ginger garlic paste, sauté till the raw smell goes off.
- Then add chopped tomatoes with a pinch of turmeric powder, close, and cook for 2 minutes till it turns mushy.
- Now add 1 tbsp Kashmiri red chilli powder, mix well, then add 1 kg marinated chicken with required salt.
- Close and cook for 20 minutes in a low-medium flame, stir in between to ensure it doesn’t catch at the bottom.
- After 20 minutes, open and stir, then add the ground masala, 2 tsp garam masala, 1 cup water, mix well.
- Close and cook for another 15 minutes in medium flame. After 15 minutes, stir it and switch off the flame.
- For tempering, in a small pan add a tbsp of coconut oil and a sprig of curry leaves, then add 2 tbsp sliced shallots.
- Sauté in medium flame till it turns brown, then immediately transfer to the curry and close it for 2-3 minutes to get the flavours sealed.
- Serve this spicy, aromatic, Naadan Kozhi Varutharachathu with appam, pathiri, idiyappam, or even with rotis, idlis, and dosas.
Notes:
- Roasting the ingredients is the key step in this recipe. Dry roast the whole garam masalas I mentioned above and grind it as a dry powder. It yields roughly 4 tsp. I used only 2 tsp, remaining powder you can store it for future use or for any curries. You can increase or decrease the powder according to your requirements.
- While roasting coconut with other ingredients, make sure you don’t burn them, as it’ll affect the taste of the curry. You need patience at this point as roasting well to the finest result lies the secret of this recipe.
I add Kashmiri red chillies and normal red chillies while roasting, as I always say Kashmiri for intense colour and normal for the heat of the 🌶.
- I used Kashmiri chilli powder during marination and preparing curry base, if you are using normal chilli powder add accordingly as it may be spicier.
- I highly recommend you to use coconut oil, as it imparts its robust flavour to the curry. To retain authenticity, coconut oil is a must, if you are not used to coconut oil, then you can replace it with any refined oil, but you cannot expect the original taste of the curry.
- I didn’t add water while cooking the chicken and I let it cook in its own juice. After adding the ground masala, I added a cup of water. This results in a semi gravy kind of texture. Generally, the curry must be semi gravy, not too dry nor too thin.
- Tempering adds an extra zing to the curry, especially when you seal the flavours by closing the lid immediately after adding the tempering into the curry.