Mangalorean Chicken Ghee Roast by Shilpa Razniewska
| Serves: 5 | Chef: Shilpa Razniewska | Category: Chicken, Curry | Course: Mains | Machine: Food Processor, Blender | Total time (min.): 135 |
A beautiful blend of authentic Indian spices like dried red chillies, coriander seeds, cumin and juice of tamarind, this chicken curry is traditionally made in the coastal town of Mangalore in South India. As the name suggests it’s made using pure ghee (clarified butter) and lots of fresh curry leaves is what makes this curry so delicious, full of flavour and unique. I’ve used the Kenwood Compact Multipro food processor with the glass jar attachment to blend my masala, just the way I wanted.
Ingredients
- 1 kg 1 inch by 1 inch diced chicken breast
For the marinade:
- 1/2 tsp Kashmiri red chilli powder or mild chilli powder
- 1/2 tsp of ground turmeric
- 1 tbsp lemon juice
- 1 tbsp natural yoghurt
- Pinch of salt
For the curry:
- 10 to 12 fresh curry leaves
- 2 to 3 tbsp fresh ghee (Can be found in any Indian store)
- 1 tsp brown sugar or jaggery
- 2 tbsp Tamarind paste (take about two-inch of tamarind and mix it with ¼ cup hot water, mash well, use this paste - you can add more as per your
taste later) - Salt as per your taste
For the blended masala paste
- 10 dried Kashmiri red chillies (Pls reduce to 4 to 5 if you want it mild)
- 1 tbsp whole coriander seeds
- 1/4 tsp cumin seeds
- 2 whole cloves
- 5 cloves of garlic
- 8 to 10 peppercorns (reduce if you don't want heat)
- 1 pinch of dried fenugreek seeds
- 1/2 cup water to blend
Tools
- Multipro Excel Food Processor
- Thermoresist Glass Blender
Method
- Marinate the diced chicken pieces with the ingredients mentioned under ‘marination’ for at least an hour.
- Using a non-stick pan, dry roast (without any oil) red chillies, coriander seeds, cumin, cloves, pepper, fenugreek seeds. Let it cool down, add water, garlic cloves and blend using your Kenwood Food processor the glass jar and blend into a fine paste. Get all of the ground masalas out of the blender by adding a splash of water. Set aside.
- Heat ghee on high heat in a heavy bottom pan, add the marinated chicken pieces and stir fry for just about two to three minutes, only until the chicken changes colour on the outside, don’t overcook at this stage, remove from the pan and set aside.
- In the same pan, add a tbsp more ghee if needed and add the ground masala paste, add the curry leaves, cook the masala, on medium heat for a few mins until the raw smell goes away, this will take about 3 to 4 mins. Add about 2 tbsp of water if needed.
- Now add the fried chicken pieces, toss well, make sure all the masala is well coated to the chicken, now add the tamarind paste, brown sugar and salt as per taste. Taste the curry and add more of the tamarind juice if needed as per your taste and liking.
- Cover with a lid and let the chicken cook completely for 15 to 20 mins. If there is still some liquid from the meat, remove the cover, just increase the heat and let the water dry out a bit, this isn’t a recipe with a lot of gravy, it is semi gravy.
- Serve with basmati rice or naan of choice