Couple of months ago, V’s maternal uncle and aunt visited us in Kansas. Did I mention I love to have guests at home? Their stay was packed with lots and lots of travel in and around Kansas. In between, we squeezed in some time for food. I baked a cake for them, which aunt requested, and she gave me couple of her signature recipes. This is one of those recipes.
She called this “Marathi chicken”. The specialty of this is the ghee seasoning – she called it “Kaat” – the red ghee seasoning that floats on top. She uses ghee in marinade, for frying onion and for the “kaat“. I used it for only the seasoning.
Ingredients:
1 lb(0.45kg approx) chicken
1/4 cup chopped coriander leaves
1 tea spn chopped ginger
1 tea spn chopped garlic
2 green chillies
2 tbl spns lemon juice
1/2 cup onion
1/2 cup tomatoes
1-2 tea spn ghee
1/2 tea spn chilli powder
A pinch turmeric
Masala :
1 tea spn cumin seeds
1 tea spn coriander seeds
2″ cinnamon
3-4 cloves
1 tea spn poppy seeds (khus khus)
1/2 tea spn chilli powder
1 tea spn fennel seeds (saunf/badishep)
A pinch turmeric
2 tbl spn fresh/frozen coconut
Method:
Make a paste of ginger, garlic, green chillies, coriander leaves and lemon juice. Add this paste to chicken and leave it aside for around 30mins.
Dry roast fennel seeds, cloves, cinnamon, cumin seeds, coriander seeds, poppy seeds. Add coconut, chilli powder, turmeric powder, fry for a minute. Grind with chilli powder, turmeric and coconut to a paste. Keep it aside.
Heat oil and fry onion, add little salt to onion to break it down faster. Add tomatoes, chicken and fry for few minutes. Add the paste and cook till chicken is done.
Heat ghee and add turmeric, chilli powder. Pour over the curry like a seasoning.
Serve with chapatis or rice.
Serves : 3-4
Preparation time : 30mins
Pictorial:
Looks delicious, will definitely try this one out. Thanks Shilpa
Let me know if you try it
Hi Shilpa,
Chicken curry looks yummy and i would love to try it out. Do you think i can replace the khus khus with cashews? would that be a good enough substitute? Poppy seeds is banned in ME.
Thanks
Nisha
I would suggest just leaving it out instead of adding cashews
Hi Shilpa,
Do you add fresh coconut to the roasted masala during grinding? Or do you dry roast the coconut too, before grinding?
I often wonder if the flavouring would differ but haven’t made a acomparison. What do you think?
After roasting the spices, I add coconut and fry for a minute before grinding. This helps in grinding since I normally use cold (refrigerated/frozen) coconut.
Been lurking for a while. I really enjoy your blog and recipes. Made this for dinner last night. Left out the coconut (since I don’t normally cook with it) and the chili powder. It was quick and delish! Thanks!
Thanks Kavita, glad you liked it
hi shilpa,
i made this last night for dinner, it came out tasty and my family members loved it!!!!!!!
Thanks for letting me know. Glad you liked it
The “ghee” does add a very unique flavor to the curry. I guess butter would work too, right?
Yes, butter is fine, it would give a slightly different aroma
Ghee is the magical ingredient 🙂
I tried it out now for lunch now – Turned out amazing — Thanks Shilpa
So glad you liked it
perfectly done n beautiful luking chicken..i luv ur recipes…nice blog vth best recipes..
BTW PLZ visit my space if gets sum time n plz check out my new FB page dear..Hope u vl clik on like on FB page dear.Thanx in advance…
Maha
Hi Shilpa,
Prepared this for dinner last night. We all loved it!!! Ghee is actually the magical ingredient.
A simple and easy recipe for a person like me, who cooked chicken for the first time.
An admirer of your blog. Both me and my husband love your posts and have been following since a long time.
Thanks Navya. Keep reading
I loved reading about this recipe! I think my grandma made something just like it. Possibly without the saunf, because I don’t remember her using that.
I’m taking this opportunity to tell you I love this space you’ve created. I come around to it for advice and guidance on recipes all the time. Thank you for this.
Thank you. Keep reading
Hiya Shilpa,
Totally loved your chicken curry recipe. It seems so easy to prepare, that’s the best part of it! N me being a Punjabi as well as a die-hard chicken lover, this is just perfect for me! Thanks, will let u knw once I try making this 🙂
This looks so tasty!
I’m taking this opportunity to tell you I love this space you’ve created. I come around to it for advice and guidance on recipes all the time. Thank you for this.
i made this last night for dinner, it came out tasty and my family members loved it!!!!!!!
Shilpa, i just stumbled upon your blog today and am loving the look and feel of it. Cant wait to try some of these coconut based recipes. Good luck!
hi shilpa i was looking for a different chicken recipe being so bored of the old one and i found this recipe i made it yesterday and it was very nice thank you.
“… Add the paste and cook TILL CHICKEN IS DONE.”
What would tell me I have arrived here?
— The time it needs to cook, keeping a level of heat (high, medium or low, on a gas flame, that is), and if so, for how long?
— To the eye, the level of browning of the chicken after adding the paste?
— How the meat feels to a fork being introduced into it?
The chicken turns whitish from the pinkish color. You can also try to cut a piece and see if it is cooked.
Hi Shilpa:
Thank you for your graciousness in replying. You must have to deal with a bunch of queries every day.
But would you mind putting a time frame to the ” … till chicken is done” part of the preparation?
Pardon my persistence. My excuse is that I am much intrigued by this dish and wish to cook it soonest.
I would say about 8-10 mins if you are using boneless chicken breast. The time depends on the kind of chicken used, so very hard to say
Hi Shilpa,
Will this still taste good if I leave out the ghee?
Thanks,
Smita
Yes Smita, it will still be good
Dear you are doing great job for house wife.
This dish really looks Yum!