Taste of Madras: Spicy chicken thali

Madras or Chennai is not only famous it's love for Rajinikanth or temples but the spicy Madras chicken curry as well. I have always heard about this curry and the famous Madras curry powder used in it but never got a chance to prepare it. So when I did , the opportunity was grabbed with both hands !!! It's a bit of an elaborate dish comprising three major components; the sauce, chicken preparation and the Madras curry powder. So lets start cooking!!!

As mentioned earlier this preparation has 3 broad components: base sauce, chicken preparation and madras curry powder. You can skip the madras curry powder piece if you are buying a ready-made masala.

Ingredients: For chicken preparation - Chicken ( curry cut with bones) - 1 kg; Ghee - 3 tbsp; Kashmiri chilli ( de-stemmed) - 5;Ginger garlic paste - 3 tbsp; Green chilli ( split from middle) - 3; Tomato puree - 2 medium; Cumin powder - 1 tbsp; Coriander powder - 1 tbsp; Madras curry powder - 3 tbsp; Turmeric powder - 1 tsp; Red chilli powder - 2 tbsp; Chopped coriander leaves - 1/4 cup; Salt to taste

Madras Curry powder- Coriander seeds - 2 tbsp; Cumin seeds - 2 tbsp; Black peppercorn - 1 tbsp; Fennel seeds - 3/4 tbsp; Black mustard seeds - 3/4 tbsp; Cinnamon - 1.5 inch; Bay leaves - 2; Fenugreek seeds - 1 tbsp; Star anise - 1; Curry leaves - 12; Green cardamom - 5; Turmeric - 3/4 tbsp; Kashmiri chilli ( de-stemmed) - 4; Chilli powder - 3/4 tbsp

Roast the dry spices and grind all ingredients to a fine powder. Ideally one should roast each spice separately but I roasted them all together to save time. Above mentioned quantities will give you around 5 tbsp of madras curry powder.

Base Sauce - Ghee - 2 tbsp; Onions ( roughly chopped) - 2 medium; Garlic ( roughly diced) - 4 cloves; Ginger ( roughly chopped) - 1.5 inch; Carrot ( diced) - 1 medium; Red pepper ( diced) - 1 medium; Tomatoes ( roughly chopped) - 2 medium; Turmeric - 1 pinch; Cumin powder - 1 tsp; Coriander powder - 1 tsp; Ground fenugreek seeds - 1.5 tsp

Steps:

Base Sauce-

i. Put a deep bottom pan on medium flame and put ghee in it.

ii. Once ghee has melted add the onions and saute them for 2 mins.

iii. Now add the diced ginger, garlic, carrot and red pepper and mix well for 5 mins.

iv. Once the onions have become a bit translucent add the tomatoes and saute for 5 more minutes.

v. Once you see that all the vegetables have broken down nicely, mix the remaining ingredients and saute well for 10 minutes. Keep stirring so as not to burn the ingredients.

vi. Once cooled grind them to a thick paste. Avoid using water but if needed pour in a little.

Chicken Preparation-

i. Heat up a wide base pan and add ghee into it.

ii. Once the ghee melts add the kashmiri chilli and ginger garlic paste into it.

iii. Saute well until the raw smell of ginger garlic goes away.

iv. Now add the tomato puree and mix well.

v. Once the mixture has been sauteed well, add the chicken pieces into it and mix well.

vi. Add a bit of water but not much as we will be adding the base sauce prepared earlier.

vii. Add some salt for seasoning along with the dry spices ( except madras curry powder).

viii. Mix well and let the chicken cook at medium flame for 5 minutes.

ix. Prick chicken with a fork to see how much they have cooked. They should be around 60% done.

x. Add the base sauce into the pan and mix well. Let everything cook for 5 minutes at medium flame.

xi. Keep stirring every 2 minutes to avoid burning, add salt if necessary.

xii. Once everything has cooked well, add the madras curry powder and mix well.

xiii. Cook everything for 2 more minutes.

xiv. Add chopped coriander and mix well. Turn-off the flame and place a lid on top to let chicken cook further in it's steam.

Serve hot with some steamed rice or chapatis and enjoy!!!