Chettinad Chicken Gravy (Chicken Chettinad)

Pin It

Chettinad chicken is my fav which is my staple order at restaurants. Its spicy, flavourful and yummy. Hubby who is not very fond of nonveg dishes, like this gravy with rice or even roti. Here is the recipe with stepwise included. It was the first few foodie pics, I tried with my new lens :)

Chettinad Chicken Gravy Recipe- Ingredients

To marinate:

• Chicken - 1 cup cleaned (around 10-12 small pieces)
• Curd - 2 tbsp
• Turmeric powder - a generous pinch
• Salt - as required

To roast and grind:

• Grated Coconut - 1/8 cup
• Dry Red Chillies - 3 to 4
• Coriander seeds - 1/2 tbsp
• Cumin seeds - 1/2 tsp
• Black pepper corns - 1/2 tsp
• Fennel seeds - 1 tsp
• Roasted gram (Potukadalai) - 1 tsp
• Big Onion - 1 chopped roughly
• Tomato - 1 chopped roughly

To Temper:

• Oil - 1 tbsp
• Bay leaf - a small piece
• Cinnamon - 1/4 inch piece
• Cloves - 2
• Cardamom - 1
• Curry leaves - few
• Small Onion - 5 to 7 halved
• Tomato - 1 small sized chopped roughly
• Garlic - 5

Other Ingredients:

• Red chilli powder - 1/4 tsp (optional)
• Water - 1/2 cup
• Salt - as required

Method:

1. Heat a pan and add red chillies, coriander seeds, cumin seeds, black pepper corns, fennel seeds, roasted gram and dry roast till slightly golden brown. Then add onion, tomato and saute till onions turn golden brown and tomatoes raw smell leaves. Finally add in coconut and saute till browned.

2.Cool down and grind it to a fine paste(sprinkle little water). Add chicken, salt, turmeric powder, curd in a mixing bowl and marinate for atleast 1 hour(the more time, the better) and Set aside. In a pressure cooker heat oil, add bayleaf, cardamom,cinnamon, cloves and saute for a minute.

3. Then add onion, tomato, garlic, curry leaves and saute for 2mins. Then add the chicken and saute it for 10mins atleast. Then add the grinded masala paste and mix well. Saute until raw smell comepltely leaves and the chicken blends well with the masalas.

4. Add 1/2 cup water , required salt(add red chilli powder if required at this stage) and pressure cook for 2 whistles in medium flame. Once pressure releases, transfer it to a kadai(in medium flame) and allow it to boil until oil seperates(this may take sometime). Garnish with coriander leaves and switch off as per your required consistency. It gets thick with time so switch off accordingly.

Serve hot with rice or rotis. I love it with both :) The freshly ground masala is so flavourful which is the best in this gravy. Dont hold back seeing the ingredients list, am sure it will become one of your favourites once tried :)

My Notes:

• Instead of adding the whole spices while tempering, you can add them(bayleaf, cardamom,cinnamon, cloves) with roasting and grinding itself.
• Amma always prefers pressure cooking for chicken. Instead you can just cook in kadai with water itself, but chicken will take more time to get cooked.
• Make sure to saute chicken well to get rid of the raw smell.
• The spice level can be adjusted according to taste, we prefer it a bit less spicy.