Chicken 65

Ingredients

• Chicken - 1 pound or 1/2 kg
• Yogurt - 2 tbspn
• Soy Sauce - 1/2 tbspn
• Corn flour - 2 tbspn
• All purpose flour - 1 tbspn
• Ginger garlic paste - 1/2 tspn
• Red chilli powder - 1 1/2 tspn
• Garam masal - 1/4 t.spn(optional)
• Lemon juice - 1 tspn
• Salt - 1/2 tspn
• Oil for frying

health tip

Chicken is a white meat low in fat & is a good source of protein.

Chicken 65

method

Chicken 65! How did they name it? Some say 65 ingredients were added to make this dish in the past, others say, it was the 65th item on the menu card of a hotel where they served it. There are lot of stories going around regarding the name for this dish. Anyways, Chicken 65 is such a tasty and popular dish back home in India and has a fiery red color to it. Ajinomoto(MSG) & red food color added to the recipe enhances the taste and color of this dish. My recipe above is devoid of the above two ingredients to be completely home style yet yummy.

1. Wash & cut the chicken into 1 inch pieces. Mix all the other ingredients together in a bowl except oil & marinade the chicken for minimum 3 hours in the refrigerator.
2. Take it out after 3 hours & deep fry the pieces. It does stick to the frying pan because of the lemon juice but lemon juice enhances the taste. If you do not want it to stick, you may eliminate the lemon juice while marinading but instead sprinkle it while serving the dish.
3. That is it. Enjoy the dish as an appetizer or as a side.

Marinating the chicken overnight in the refrigerator will help permeate the flavr into the chicken nicely.

Chicken or Mutton Uppu Kari

Ingredients

• Chicken or Mutton - 1 pound (1/2 Kg)
• Chopped  large onion - 1
• Chopped garlic - 5
• Chopped tomato - 1
• Red chillies - 3
• Chilli powder - 1/4 tspn
• Turmeric powder - 1/4 tspn
• Coconut milk - 3 tbspn tinned or milk from a cup of coconut
• Curry leaves, Fennel seeds, Cinnamon for seasoning.

health tip

Chicken and mutton are both high in protein. Mutton unlike chicken is red meat with more fat. However, mutton is a good source of Iron. It is recommended to go with chicken especially if you are watching your cholesterol.

Chicken or Mutton Uppu Kari

method

Uppu Kari is a Chettinad delicacy usually made with mutton(goat meat). You can use Chicken as an alternative if you are unable to find good goat meat. Where I live, goat meat is hard to find, hence the reason for Chicken in this recipe. Uppu kari is a dry curry cooked in coconut milk spiced with dried red chillies. Majority of the heat in the curry comes from dried red chillies than from chilli powder. Dried red chillies are fried in oil & cooked in coconut milk to make them little bit sweeter. Taste would be even better if you use goat meat or chicken with bone in.

1. Extract milk from coconut & set aside.
2. Wash & cut the meat into small pieces. Break the chillies into half. Dice the onion, garlic & tomato.
3. Heat some oil in a kadai or pressure pan. Since the cooking time varies, kadai may work for chicken but for mutton it is best to use pressure cooker.
4. Add the seasonings to the hot oil. Fry the broken red chillies. Saute the chopped onion, garlic & tomato one after another along with salt, turmeric powder & chilli powder till tomato gets mushy.
5. Add the meat pieces & saute them till raw meat smell goes off. Add the coconut milk & cook the meat with lid closed. When the meat is cooked, open the lid & cook it till the liquid condenses or evaporates. If the meat looks over cooked, separate the meat from the liquid & leave it in a bowl till the liquid reduces to 1/4th of its quantity. Finally, add the meat & let it dry out.

Pepper chicken

Ingredients
Chicken - 1 pound or 1/2 kg
Big red onion  - 1 diced
Tomato - 1 diced
Green chilli - 2 finely chopped
Ginger garlic paste - 2 tspn
Ground black pepper - 2.tspn
Curry leaves

Procedure

Heat 2-3 tspn of oil in a pan. Since chicken will give out lots of oil, you don't need to add a lot. Add curry leaves, ginger garlic paste, green chilli & diced red onion in the same order. Saute till the onions turn translucent. Now add the chopped tomatoes along with some salt & turmeric powder. When the tomato turns mushy add the cleaned chicken. Saute it till the raw smell goes off. Add pepper powder & cook it till all the water in the chicken evaporates & the chicken gets fully cooked. Adjust salt & pepper according to your taste. You don't need to pressure cook the chicken.

 

Chettinad Chicken

Ingredients
For paste
1 tspn each of coriander seeds, cumin & fennel seeds
3 no. red chillies
1" piece of cinnamon stick
2 cardamom pods
2 cloves
2 tspn poppy seeds
4 tspn coconut
3 garlic
1" ginger
4 small onion or 1/4 chopped big onion

For Sauteeing
Curry leaves
Star Anise - 1
Kalpaasi
Onion - 1 large
Tomato - 2
Chilli powder - to adjust your taste
Turmuric powder
Chicken - 2 pounds or 1 kg



Method
Dry roast all the ingredients given above for paste until it gives out a nice aroma. Grind into paste when cool.
In a pressure cooker season the curry leaves; star anise & kalpaasi. Saute the onions &  tomatoes. Add the cleaned chicken pieces & saute them with some salt till raw smell from the chicken goes off. Now add the ground paste, turmeric powder, chilli powder & saute them for 2 more minutes. Add water according to the consistency of the gravy you desire. This dish normally has a semi gravy(not too runny) consistency.  A teaspoon or two of yogurt can also be added at this stage to soften the chicken. Pressure cook in medium for 1 whistle. Open the cooker when pressure goes off and add some lemon juice & garnish it with coriander leaves. Enjoy the chicken with rice or roti. It goes well with almost anything.