The first snowfall of the season dusted the mountains around Vancouver a week ago. It wasn’t much, but it was enough to signal that the glowing fall colours on the trees around will soon disappear. With the temperature dipping into single digits (celcius), this seems like a good time to introduce some meat onto the blog menu! I’ll begin with a simple chicken curry, which, like C Y Gopinath’s very simple rajma, takes very little to produce a deeply satisfying dish.
Visiting my grandparents in Coorg was an education in so many ways, not least in the “where does my food come from” department. Take chicken, for instance. For the generations brought up on sanitized, supermarket poultry of the broiler kind, it might be hard to imagine that there was a time when chicken could be a tough old bird, requiring long stewing or even pressure cooking to tenderize it. Harder still, to stomach the idea that one of the birds that was scratching around in the yard not long ago, pecking at grain that you had scattered for it, might be the main attraction at lunch or dinner the same day. Witnessing the dispatching and preparation of chickens wasn’t encouraged, which of course led the more curious to sneak a peek. I knew where my food came from.
Chicken was always cooked with the skin on, jointed in such a way that every bird would provide at least 8 pieces.The neck and giblets were cooked along with the rest of the chicken, making for a deeply flavoured broth. Ground coconut paste added towards the end of cooking gives the broth substance and a fresh, fragrant finish.
Do try this recipe using a good organic bird, preferably with at least some of the skin left on. The fat makes the sauce incredibly delicious!
A very simple curry
Fresh, subtly spiced, and perfect with paputtu, nuuputtu, or steamed rice.
- 1 kg chicken, jointed (or 1/2 kg stewing goat or lamb meat)
- 2 medium onions, finely sliced or chopped
- 1 tsp turmeric powder
- 1 tbsp coriander powder
- 1/2 tsp chilli powder, or to taste
- 1 tsp very finely ground pepper
- 4 tbsp oil
- Kachampuli or tamarind extract
Grind to a paste
- 2 cups freshly grated coconut
- 5 – 6 cloves
- 2″ cassia bark
- 1 1/2 tbsp grated ginger
- A small bunch of fresh coriander (optional)
Mix the meat with all the dry spices in the first group. Add salt and set aside for 1/2 hour. Heat the oil in a deep pan, kadhai or wok and fry the onions till soft and just beginning to brown. Put in the marinated meat and fry on high heat for a few minutes until the meat is evenly browned.
Add 3 to 4 cups of hot water and cook on medium low (or pressure cook) until nearly done. Add the ground coconut and spice paste and simmer gently until the meat is tender. Add 1/2 tsp kachampuli or 1 tsp thick tamarind paste a few minutes before removing from the heat.
I’m told that people in Coorg who raise chickens and pigs don’t cook with mustard. “The animals won’t thrive” is the explanation given.