Chicken in Coconut Curry

The above picture is taken from wikimedia website. I forgot to take pictures of the finished dish.

This is a very traditional Maharashtrian chicken dish, which is typically eaten with fried dumplings called "vade." I cannot believe there is a wikipedia entry to this dish! If you are interested you can read it here and here. Being a reluctant cook I only made the chicken dish and absolutely had no interest to make the dumplings. There is no way I am going to spend the whole day slaving in the kitchen! Anyway here is the recipe as I have learnt it from my mother if anyone cares or is interested to know how to make it.

INGREDIENTS:

One mid-size chicken cut to small pieces.

Marinade:

2 tsp turmeric powder

Juice of two lemons

2 tsp red chilli powder

Salt to taste

Marinate the chicken with the above mixture for atleast an hour.

As I had mentioned earlier I make my own garam masala as i find it very therapeutic. The aroma of the roasted spices takes me to my mother's and grandmother's kitchen.

Garam Masala

Garam Masala:
2 tb sp corriander seeds
3 tsp cumin seeds
1-2 tsp peppercorns
1-2 tsp cloves
1-2 cinnamon sticks
1 tsp green cardamom
5-6 bay leaves
2-3 star anise
1 tsp mace
With a drop of oil, roast corriander seeds and cumin on medium heat. Then add the other spices and roast them well on low heat. After cooling grind it fine on a masala grinder. You can also use a coffee bean grinder if you want.

Coconut & Onion Masala:

1 cup dessicated coconut.

1 finely chopped onion.

Roast the dessicated coconut in a pan till it turns a nice peach/biege in color. Set aside and let it cool. You don't need to add oil as coconut itself is oily.
Add a drop of oil and saute the chopped onions till it turns colorless and then a nice brown color. Set aside and cool.
Grind coconut and onion seperately to a fine paste in the grinder. After that you may mix the two.

Ingredients for the curry:

4 onions finely chopped

1/2 tsp asafetida

2 tb sp ginger paste

2 tb sp garlic paste

2 tomatoes finely chopped

2-3 tsp red chilli powder

1-2 tb sp of the above-mentioned ground garam masala

1 tb sp oil

Salt to taste

Method:
Heat oil in a wok and add asafetida. Add onions and saute them till they are colorless. Then add the ginger and garlic paste. Then add the red chilli powder as that gives the curry that red color as you see in the above image. Add the tomatoes and saute the mixture really well.

Add the chicken pieces and mix very well. Add the ground garam masala and cook for about five minutes. After that add the ground coconut and onion and water as per the desired level of consistency and bring to boil. It takes around 20 to 25 minutes to make this dish.

Garnish with fresh cilantro. This is accompanied by a salad of onions with lemon. We had it with chapati (Indian bread) as the traditional dumplings are fried and don't agree with K's and my slim waistline!

ENJOY!

Please note: The quantities that I mentioned for the ingredients are approximate but accurate enough to give you an idea of proportion.