I recently finished the book The Covenant of Water by Abraham Verghese, which takes place around Kerala in India and I just happened to come across this recipe at the same time, so it seemed meant to be. I loved this complex and flavorful curry, which starts with making a base curry that you then build upon to make the final dish. You can freeze the extra base for making other curries later.
This recipe requires a few key ingredients that you need to buy online or at an Indian market – green cardamom pods, Kashmiri chili powder, curry leaves (ideally fresh, but if you can’t find fresh you can get the dried from the link), tamarind paste, and dried fenugreek. You also need cumin, coriander and fennel seeds as well as black peppercorns, ground turmeric, cinnamon sticks, star anise, and whole cloves, all of which can be found at the regular supermarket. This may seem like a lot of ingredients, but these are used in many Indian and other dishes so once you buy them you can cook so many different meals with them.
This recipe is ideally made over two days, making the curry base one day and finishing the curry the next. You can do it all in one day if you’ve got a ton of cooking stamina but I much preferred splitting it up. This dish is packed with flavor, and then finished at the end with some mustard seeds, curry leaves and shallots fried in oil which really elevates the dish.
Kerala Style Chicken Curry
Ingredients
For the curry base:
- 1/4 cup oil
- 3 lbs onions chopped
- 2 lbs tomatoes chopped
- 5 green cardamom pods
- 10 black peppercorns
- 3 whole cloves
- 2 inch cinnamon stick
- 4 garlic cloves minced
- 4 inch piece fresh ginger peeled and chopped
- 2 tsp turmeric
- 1 tbsp Kashmiri chili powder
- 1 tbsp cumin powder
- 2 tbsp coriander powder
- 1 tbsp kosher salt
- 4 green chiles seeded
- handful of cilantro
- 1 cup water
For the curry spice base:
- 1 1/2 tbsp black peppercorns
- 1/2 tsp cumin seed
- 2 tbsp coriander seed
- 1 tsp fennel seed
- 1 inch piece cinnamon bark
- 1 star anise
- 8 whole cloves
- 8 green cardamom pods
For the curry spice mix:
- 2 1/2 tsp curry spice base
- 1 1/2 tsp Kashmiri chili powder
- 1/2 tsp dried fenugreek leaves
- 1/4 tsp turmeric
- 1/2 tsp salt
For the curry:
- 3 tbsp oil
- 4 garlic cloves minced
- 2 inch piece fresh ginger peeled and minced
- the curry spice mix
- 2-3 serrano peppers
- 5 fresh or dried curry leaves
- 3 cups curry base you made
- 1-2 tsp tamarind paste
- 6 boneless skinless chicken breasts thinly sliced
- 1/4 cup cream or coconut milk
For the topping:
- 1 tbsp oil
- 2 shallots thinly sliced
- 1/2 tsp mustard seeds
- 10 fresh or dried curry leaves
Instructions
To make the curry base:
- Heat the oil in a large pot over medium heat. Add the cardamom, peppercorns, cloves, cinnamon and allow the spices to simmer in oil for 30 seconds. Add the onions. Cook the onions over medium heat, stirring often until the get a nice deep brown. This takes about 30 minutes or so. If the onions start to burn reduce the heat and add some water to the pan.
- Add the ginger and garlic to the pan and stir, then add the turmeric, cumin, coriander and chili powder, along with 1/2 cup water and the salt. Chop the green chiles and add along with the tomatoes and cilantro. Simmer for about 15 minutes, stirring as needed.
- Add another 1/2 cup of water, allow the mixture to cool, and then blend it really well (including the whole spices) until it is smooth and the spices are broken down. Refrigerate or freeze in 1 cup portions for later use, reserving 3 cups for the curry.
To make the curry spice base:
- Heat the spices in a small skillet until they get fragrant. Transfer to a spice grinder and grind into a fine powder.
To make the spice mix:
- Combine the ingredients and mix well.
To make the curry:
- Heat 2 tbsp oil over medium heat in a deep skillet. Add the sliced chicken and cook, stirring occasionally until browned and almost cooked through. Set aside. Heat another tbsp of oil in the pan. Add the ginger, garlic, spice mix and 5 curry leaves and cook for a minute until fragrant. Add the green chiles and the 3 cups of your curry base along with 1/2 cup water if it is fairly thick and the cream.
- Mix well to combine and add the chicken. Simmer this mixture for 20 minutes or so. Add in the tamarind paste and taste. Adjust with additional tamarind paste or salt as needed.
- Make the topping while the curry is simmering. Heat oil in a small skillet over medium and add the shallots, mustard seeds and curry leaves and cook, stirring, until shallots start to brown. Top the curry with this mixture. Remove curry leaves when eating. Serve over hot rice.