The first time I ate chicken as a kid was at my aunt/my dad’s sisters place as my parents are vegetarian. We would visit my aunt once a month usually on Sundays. Sundays meant meat for lunch. Those days, in most of the homes in South India, meat was consumed only on Sundays. The men folk of the house would generally go and get the meat in the morning. The ladies of the house would start the ritual of grinding the masalas on the stone mortar just after breakfast. I would eagerly wait for lunch time as the whole house would start smelling like flavor town. This curry takes me back to my childhood. Food is nothing but memories. This is my Aunt Sarasu Athamas Kozhi Kuzhambu recipe.
In the below picture, Sarasu athama can be seen decorating snack boxes for the grooms folks during my wedding at mid night. She was so tired that she could no longer sit that day. She is now 80. I pray to god to keep her in good health. Come with me and I will show you how to go to flavor town.
This recipe has one raw masala paste and one fried masala paste. So lets make them. Shall we?
Raw Masala Paste
You will need the following things for the raw masala paste. Grind everything as smooth as possible. You can add enough water while grinding to get the desired texture.
Fried Masala Paste
Heat oil in a pan and add in pepper, cumin seeds, curry leaves, coriander seeds and dry red chillies. Briefly roast for a minute in medium flame. Add in the onions and saute until the onions are slightly brown. Remove off heat. Empty the mixture in the pan to a bowl and let it cool slightly.
Take the empty pan and set on heat again. Do you see those brown bits sticking to the pan? Those are flavor bombs. De-glaze the pan by adding 1/2 cup of water and allowing it to boil for a couple of minutes. Scrape the pan while boiling to remove off all the caramelized bits. Add it to the fried mixture.
Grind the mixture to a very smooth paste. Add enough water while grinding to get a smooth paste.
Now lets start building the flavors. We need to peel and finely chop about half a cup of shallots. Heat oil in a pan and add in 3 sprigs of curry leaves and the shallots. Fry till nice and translucent.
Add in the chopped tomatoes and turmeric and fry till the tomatoes are nicely cooked and juiced down.
Once the tomatoes are cooked, add in both the ground masala paste (raw and fried). Add 2 cups of water or as necessary. Add in the chicken pieces with the bone. Reduce the flame to low and let it simmer on a low flame for 40 minutes. Oh yes. 40 minutes. Stir the curry every 10 minutes once so it doesn’t scorch at the bottom of the pan. Finally add in the salt. My aunt almost always added the salt only at the end for this curry. So I do the same. Now, don’t ask me why?
After 40 minutes, Remove the pan from the heat and serve hot with rice.
- 1 pod Garlic
- 2 tablespoon Fennel Seeds
- 1 inch Cinnamon
- 2 Cloves
- 4 teaspoon Poppy Seeds
- 1 small piece 2 inches Ginger
- 1 tablespoon Oil
- 1 tablespoon Pepper
- ½ tablespoon Cumin seeds
- 1 sprig Curry leaves
- 1 tablespoon coriander seeds
- 3 dry red chillies
- 2 medium Onion, chopped
- 2 tablespoon Oil
- ½ cup shallots
- 3 sprigs curry leaves
- 2 medium tomatoes, chopped
- 1 teaspoon turmeric
- 2 teaspoon salt
- ½ kg chicken with bone
- Grind everything as smooth as possible. You can add enough water while grinding to get the desired texture.
- Heat oil in a pan and add in pepper, cumin seeds, curry leaves, coriander seeds and dry red chillies. Briefly roast for a minute in medium flame. Add in the onions and saute until the onions are slightly brown. Remove off heat.
- Take the empty pan and set on heat again. De-glaze the pan by adding ½ cup of water and allowing it to boil for couple of minutes. Scrape the pan while boiling to remove off all the caramelized bits. Add it to the fried mixture.
- Grind the mixture to a very smooth paste. Add enough water while grinding to get a smooth paste.
- Heat oil in a pan and add in 3 sprigs of curry leaves and the shallots. Fry till nice and translucent.
- Add in the chopped tomatoes and turmeric and fry till the tomatoes are nicely cooked and juiced down.
- Once the tomatoes are cooked, add in both the ground masala paste. Add 2 cups of water or as necessary. Add in the chicken pieces with the bone. Reduce the flame to low and let it simmer on a low flame for 40 minutes. Oh yes. 40 minutes. Stir the curry every 10 minutes once so it doesn’t scorch at the bottom of the pan. Finally add in the salt.
- After 40 minutes, Remove the pan from the heat and serve hot with rice.