Chettinad Chicken Curry

     Our little Cuppy Cake is all busy imitating mommy and papa. She is kind of reminding us to be careful with our deeds, because she is keeping all eyes open to the smallest of things that we do.I have a habit of jotting down my grocery purchase list, and now this is what my little girl is excited to do. Every now and then you can see her roaming around with a pen and a paper scribbling and asking us " What you want ? " , and we are supposed to tell her proper lists !!! Even if i don't tell her anything she'll be behind me asking "You want Chicken ? ", so most of the time, its Chicken first on her list.

She loves Chicken , and it is recently that i got to know that she loves BBQ Chicken, and talking about that its been a while we did a BBQ.  Most of the times, its a Chicken fry or a Simple Chicken Curry or may be Varutharacha Chicken Curry at home. But this time, i was damn sure to make Butter Chicken even before i thought of buying chicken. A few days ago, my girl helped me change my decision, i suddenly got to know that she is in love with Parotta now, not any kind, the Special Kerala Parotta / Barotta.
So, i wanted a real spicy Chicken Gravy to accompany it , and found the perfect recipe at  My Kitchen Experiments. Just don't be alarmed by the lengthy procedure , preparing this curry was just a breeze, and im sure to make this one again and again. We loved the Kerala Barotta and Chettinad Chicken Curry Combo and just loved it, will share the Barotta recipe soon .The gravy was so good and as i used the pressure cooker the Chicken came out super soft.

Chettinad Chicken Curry

Ingredients:
1 Whole Chicken ( cut in medium pieces )
1 Red Onion ( sliced ) OR 1 cup Shallots ( sliced )
1 Tomato sliced
1/2 tsp Turmeric Powder
1 cup Thick Coconut Milk
Curry leaves
Salt
Oil

Bowl 1 - Roast and Grind
6 Dry Red Chillies
1/2 tsp Black Pepper Corns
1/2 tsp Cumin seeds
3/4 tsp Fennel seeds
1 1/2 tbsp Coriander seeds
2 Cardamom
1 inch Cinnamon stick
1 string Curry leaves

Bowl 2 - Grind
3 Green Chilies
1 inch Ginger
2 -3 Garlic cloves
1 tsp Poppy seeds ( soaked in water for 10 mins )

Method:

Dry roast everything in Bowl 1 and powder it fine and set aside for later use.
Heat oil in a Pressure cooker and saute onion , and a few curry leaves until it turns translucent.
Grind all the ingredients in Bowl 2 and add with the onions , saute for few mins.
( i added an extra tsp of  Ginger Ginger - Garlic paste at this point, its optional )
Now add in the Chicken pieces , turmeric, tomato and salt- mix well, pour in a cup of water.
Close the pressure cooker lid and cook for 2 whistles on medium to high heat.
Release the pressure and open the lid ; add the ground masala + coconut milk and let it simmer for a while.
Check for salt, add in lots of curry leaves.
Serve hot with Rice or Chapathy.