VARUTHARACHA CHICKEN CURRY

Varutharacha chicken curry is a traditional chicken dish cooked in a manchatti for enhanced flavors and aroma. Manchatti means flat earthenware claypot used for cooking. Manchatti is commonly used in Kerala, a South Indian state, for cooking in the traditional way. Every household in Kerala owns at least one of these pots which makes the dish tastier.

Varutharacha is a Malayalam word, which means roasted and ground. As the name of the dish suggests, this curry is a perfect blend of dry roasted spices and grated coconut. This blend of roasting spices and grinding them grants a superior quality to varutharacha chicken curry. The dish is unique and special with bite sized marinated chicken pieces cooked in spicy aromatic coconut masala. Varutharacha chicken curry blends well with rice, appam, paratha, chappatti, almost anything. Below you can find the list of ingredients and instructions to prepare this recipe……

Ingredients

For marination

• 1 kg Chicken (remove the skin and cut into medium sized pieces)
• 1 tbsp. Lemon juice
• ½ tbsp. Chilly powder
• ½ tbsp. Coriander powder
• ¼ tsp. Turmeric powder

For roasting

• 2 tbsps. Chilly powder
• 1 tbsp. Coriander powder
• ½ tsp. Turmeric powder
• 1 cup Coconut, grated
• 5 nos. Shallots
• 5 nos. Garlic cloves
• 2 tsp. Pepper Powder
• 1 tsp. Fennel seeds
• 1 small piece Cinnamon
• 2 nos. Onion
• 3 nos. Green chillies, chopped
• 1 tbsp. Ginger garlic paste
• 2 tbsp. Oil
• A sprig of Curry leaves
• Salt, as required

Method

• For preparing varutharacha chicken curry, first wash the chicken pieces and marinate with chilly powder, coriander powder, turmeric powder, lime juice and required salt for half an hour.
• Dry roast the masala ingredients: shallots, garlic cloves, grated coconut, chilly powder, coriander, turmeric.
• After the dry roasted masala is cool, grind firmly by adding little water.
• Take a manchatti or a deep bottomed pan and add oil to it.
• When the oil is hot, add and saute ginger garlic paste, fennel seeds and cinnamon.
• Then, add onions and green chillies and curry leaves. When the color changes to light brown, add the ground coconut masala paste into the pan.
• When it starts to boil, add the marinated chicken pieces and cover with a lid.
• It doesn’t take long for the chicken to cook, say 15 minutes. When the chicken is cooked well, sprinkle some pepper powder on top.
• Serve varutharacha chicken curry with rice, chappatti, appam, paratha etc.