• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
Spicytamarind
  • Recipes
  • Meal Plan
  • Diets
    • Gluten-free
    • Eggless Cakes and Cookies
    • Grain-free
    • Refined Sugar-free Desserts
    • Festival Food
    • Vrat/Fasting Food
    • Vegan
  • Collection
    • Indian Pickle Recipes
    • Indian pizza recipes
    • Deepavali or Diwali recipes
    • Durga puja recipes
    • Ganesh Chaturthi Recipes and Festival Meal Plans
    • Holiday Season Baking
  • Ingredients
  • Basics
    • Spice blends
    • Homemade Rice Flour
    • Homemade Butter
    • How to make Ghee
    • How to make thick yogurt (curd or dahi) at home
menu icon
go to homepage
search icon
Homepage link
  • Recipes
  • Meal Plan
  • Diets
  • Ingredients
  • Collection
  • Basics
  • Spice blends
×

Home » Curry & Side dish » Chettinad Chicken Curry (Authentic)

Chettinad Chicken Curry (Authentic)

Published: Oct 27, 2020 · by Shilpa · 4 Comments

Jump to Recipe Jump to Video
Chettinad cuisine is the cuisine of a community called the Chettiars from the Chettinad region of Tamil Nadu state in South India. Chicken Chettinad is one of the most renowned dishes from this region.
chicken chettinad

Chicken chettinad step-by-step recipe with video and photos.

Jump to:
  • About Chettinad cuisine
  • About this recipe
  • Ingredients
  • Step by step instructions
  • Bonus
  • Recipe card
  • Comments
Chicken Chettinad

To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video

Chicken Chettinad

About Chettinad cuisine

Chettinad cuisine is the cuisine of a community called the Chettiars from the Chettinad region of Tamil Nadu state in South India. Chettinad cuisine is perhaps the most renowned fare in the Tamil Nadu repertoire and one of the most popular Indian cuisine. It uses a variety of spices and the dishes are made with fresh ground masalas.

Chettiars also use a variety of sun-dried meats and salted vegetables, reflecting the dry environment of the region. Most of the dishes are eaten with rice and rice-based accompaniments such as dosas, appams, idiyappams, adais and idlis. The cuisine is well known for its complexity of flavours. It is said that the cuisine has the influence of food from Burma, Ceylon, Java, Sumatra, and Vietnam.

About this recipe

Chicken Chettinad is one of the most renowned dishes from this region. This unique chicken dish gets its rich flavour from freshly roasted whole spices. The mouth-watering taste is elevated by the use of poppy seeds and coconut. Though this dish looks pretty similar to a North Indian chicken curry, the taste and flavour are quite different.

This is possibly due to the usage of fennel seeds, curry leaves, coconut and lemon which gives this dish a unique flavour profile. This dish is a perfect marriage of South Indian and North Indian flavours. Serve this with rice or roti for a mouth-watering meal. Here is the recipe for authentic Chettinad chicken.

Ingredients

chicken chettinad ingredients

Chicken: I use chicken thigh and leg pieces for this dish.

Coconut oil: I use coconut oil to make this dish but you may replace it with any cooking oil of your choice.

Onion, ginger and garlic: Use red/pink onions where possible and not white or brown onions.

Tomatoes: I use fresh tomatoes but you may replace them with tomato puree.

Spices: I use coriander seeds, cumin seeds, fennel seeds, poppy seeds, cinnamon, cardamom, cloves, dried red chilli, turmeric powder, and chilli powder.

Other ingredients: Grated coconut, curry leaves, coriander leaves, and lemon juice goes into making this dish.

Click here for more chicken recipes.

Step by step instructions

Dry roast whole spices, then mix ginger and garlic. Add water and grind into a smooth paste (steps 1,2).

Fry onions until golden (step 3).

Add curry leaves and ground paste. Saute for a few minutes (step 4).

chettinad chicken curry steps 1-4.

Add tomatoes, red chilli powder, and turmeric powder. Mix well and saute until the tomatoes and spices are cooked (steps 5,6).

Add chicken and saute for 5 minutes (step 7).

Cover and simmer until the chicken is completely cooked (step 8).

chettinad chicken curry steps 5-8.

Turn off the flame, and add lemon juice and coriander leaves

chicken chettinad
chicken chettinad

Bonus

This dish is:
- unique and authentic
- delicious, flavourful, and spicy
- a good change from regular chicken curry

Serve with steamed rice

chicken chettinad

Recipe card

Chicken Chettinad

Shilpa
Chettinad cuisine is the cuisine of a community called the Chettiars from the Chettinad region of Tamil Nadu state in South India. Chicken Chettinad is one of the most renowned dishes from this region.
5 from 5 votes
Print Recipe Pin Recipe
Course Main Course
Cuisine Indian
Prep Time 15 mins
Cook Time 30 mins
Total Time 45 mins

Ingredients
  

  • 750 grams chicken
  • ¼ cup coconut oil can be replaced with any cooking oil
  • 1 large onion finely chopped
  • 2 large tomatoes finely chopped
  • 2 teaspoon ginger paste
  • 3 cloves garlic finely chopped
  • 2 teaspoon poppy seeds
  • 1 teaspoon fennel seeds
  • 1 teaspoon coriander seeds
  • ½ teaspoon cumin seeds
  • 1 inch cinnamon
  • 3 cardamom
  • 2 cloves
  • 4-5 dry red chilli
  • ½ cup coconut (dried or dessicated)
  • ½ teaspoon turmeric powder
  • 1 teaspoon chilli powder
  • 10-12 curry leaves
  • Salt to taste
  • 1 lemon
  • Coriander leaves for garnish

Instructions
 

  • Clean the chicken and cut them into small pieces
  • In a kadhai dry roast coriander seeds, cumin seeds, fennel seeds, cardamom, cloves, poppy seeds, dry red chilli and coconut
  • Let it cool down, then mix ginger and garlic. Grind into a smooth paste by adding some water
  • Heat oil in a kadhai or frying pan. Add onions and fry until they are golden
  • Add curry leaves and saute for a few seconds
  • Add the ground paste and saute for a few minutes
  • Add tomatoes, red chilli powder and turmeric powder. Mix well and saute until the tomatoes and spices are cooked
  • Add chicken and saute for 5 minutes
  • Add 2 cups of water, mix well and bring it to boil. Cover and simmer until the chicken is completely cooked
  • Turn off the flame, and add lemon juice and coriander leaves
  • Serve hot with steamed rice

Video

Nutrition Facts
Chicken Chettinad
Amount Per Serving
Calories 206 Calories from Fat 144
% Daily Value*
Fat 16g25%
Saturated Fat 9g56%
Cholesterol 34mg11%
Sodium 43mg2%
Potassium 281mg8%
Carbohydrates 7g2%
Fiber 2g8%
Sugar 3g3%
Protein 10g20%
Vitamin A 589IU12%
Vitamin C 41mg50%
Calcium 42mg4%
Iron 1mg6%
* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.
Tried this recipe?Mention @spicytamarind or tag #spicytamarind!

Click here to watch Chicken Chettinad web story.

« Chayote Squash Sambar
Sourdough Pumpkin Bread »

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. YtheWait

    October 29, 2020 at 9:56 pm

    5 stars
    My mouth is watering! ???? Great recipe!!

    Reply
    • Shilpa

      October 30, 2020 at 4:00 pm

      Thank you so much! 🙂

      Reply
  2. doorstep

    June 28, 2021 at 5:07 pm

    5 stars
    Extremely nice! I really liked your article.

    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Recipe Rating




Primary Sidebar

Namaste. My name is Shilpa. Born and brought up in the colourful, beautiful country India, I now reside in Melbourne with my family Read More…

Malabar spinach chutney step-by-step recipe with photos. About this recipe Malabar spinach chutney is an easy and delicious chutney made with Basella alba (basale soppu). Also called 'basale soppu' chutney in Kannada, it is very popular in coastal regions of Karnataka. This delicious chutney can be served with a South Indian breakfast. It can also...

Read More

Ragi bread step-by-step recipe with photos. About this recipe Ragi bread is a healthy and delicious bread made with finger millet flour and bread flour. This millet bread slices well and is perfect for sandwiches or toast. The ragi flour not only adds a unique flavour but also adds a lovely colour to the bread....

Read More

Sprouted ragi flour step-by-step recipe with video and photos. About this recipe Ragi is a gluten-free grain that is associated with several health benefits. Finger millet has gained immense popularity over the last few years and is widely used. I use it regularly not just in traditional dishes, but also for making cookies, bread, etc....

Read More

Footer

  • Privacy Policy
  • Disclaimer
  • About
  • Contact

COPYRIGHT © 2022 SPICYTAMARIND.COM.AU