Chicken Chettinad
A classic Indian recipe, Chicken Chettinad hails from South India and features fiery chilli, spices and coconut. If you don’t like too much heat, you can reduce the number of chillies to still enjoy the lovely flavours of this dish.
How long will it take?
1 hour
What’s the serving size?
Serves 4
What do I need?
- 1 tbsp poppy seeds
- 1 tsp coriander seeds
- 1 tsp cumin seeds
- 1 tsp fennel seeds
- 5 red chillis, finely chopped
- 1 cinnamon stick
- 2 cardamom pods
- 3 cloves
- 50 g grated fresh coconut or 75 g shredded coconut
- 3 centimetre piece of fresh ginger, roughly chopped
- 2 garlic cloves crushed
- 2 tbsp oil
- 10 curry leaves
- 2 onions sliced finely
- 1 star anise
- 2 tomatoes, chopped
- ½ tsp turmeric
- 1 tsp chilli powder
- 8 chicken thighs or drumsticks (bone-in)
- Salt to taste
- 2 limes
- Handful of fresh coriander leaves, chopped
How do I make it?
- Heat a heavy-based frying pan on low heat and dry roast the first nine ingredients for 3 – 4 minutes. Remove from heat, transfer to a bowl and set aside to cool. When cool, use a spice mill or food processor to blitz.
- Grind ginger and garlic together in a mortar and pestle and set aside.
- Heat oil in frying pan set over medium heat and add curry leaves. Cook for a minute or two, then add onions and cook until they are lightly browned. Add ginger and garlic, ground spices and star anise and cook for a minute, then add a splash of water. Add tomatoes, turmeric, chilli powder and salt and stir well.
- Add chicken, cover with a lid and simmer on very low heat for 30 minutes, or until the chicken is cooked through.
- Remove from heat, add lime juice and coriander and serve.
