Wednesday, November 16, 2011

Chicken Sukka

Before I could realise, my Blog has turned one. For the past one year, blogging has been more than just a hobby for me. I haven't written a hundred post. However every single post is dear to me and I'm just glad that I'm writing them. It gives me immense pleasure on seeing the growth of my blog with a good number of committed readers. However, I must confess that I'm not writing regularly due to time constraints :( Many ideas still remain just ideas. I hope, the new year would bring a good swing in my blog. Lets hope for the best.


This is yet another post for Blog Hop Wednesdays. This time I got to visit Charishma's blog - Cheri's Stolen Recipes. It is a blog she writes together with her mom. So I expected some traditional recipes and I got more than I wanted. Being a Mangalorean, she has posted a lot of traditional Mangalorean recipes. Every dish was awesome and I was literally drooling at the pictures. My husband and I were sitting selecting the recipes and we really had a tough time choosing one, since we had opened five to six tabs just of her Mangalorean recipes. Finally it was agreed that I make Chicken Sukka this time and the rest later one by one. Believe me, I'm not exaggerating!! Thanks Cherie for such awesome dishes :)

The original recipe be found here. I made very little changes and here is what I used. You are free to change the measurements to suit your taste buds.

Preparation Time: 1 hour
Serves: 3 to 4

Ingredients:
Chicken - 1 kg

Cloves - 4
Cinnamon - 2 small sticks
Onion - 1 thinly sliced, 1 finely chopped
Turmeric - a pinch

Cumin seeds - 2 tsp, roasted
Fenugreek seeds - 1 tsp, roasted
Coriander seeds - 2 Tbsp, roasted
Pepper corns - 20, roasted
Red chillies - 5, roasted
Garlic pods - 4 (with skin)

Coconut - 1 cup, grated
Cumin seeds - 1
Garlic - 2 pods

Salt - to taste
Oil - to saute

For seasoning:
Shallots - 4 big, finely chopped
Ghee - 2 Tbsp
Cashews - a few

Method:
Cut the chicken into grob pieces. Wash and clean with salt and turmeric and keep aside.

In a wok on medium flame, heat some oil. Add the cloves, cinnamon, thinly sliced onions and turmeric and saute till the onions turn soft. Now, add the coriander seeds, cumin seeds, fenugreek seeds, pepper corns, garlic pods and the red chillies one by one and saute for about 5 minutes. Remove from heat and let it cool down. After it is cooled, blend this spice mixture to a coarse paste with little water.

Dry roast the coconut with cumin seeds and 2 garlic pods. Preserve this aside.

Heat a wide bottomed pan and add cleaned chicken to it. Now add three fourths of the spice mixture, salt and 1 chopped onion to it, mix and cook with the lid closed for about 10 minutes.

Blend the rest of the spice mixture with the coconut mixture, again to a coarse paste, with enough water. Now, add this to the chicken, close the lid again and cook again until the chicken is well cooked and soft.

For seasoning, heat the ghee and saute the finely chopped shallots and cashews till light brown. Add to the curry and switch off the flame. Chicken Sukka is now ready to be enjoyed.

Verdict:
Just Fingerlicking good!! The relatively clean plates after the meal stand testimony to the taste of the curry. At first, I was quite surprised by the number of red chillies Cherie has used in the recipe, but however later realised that she has used the mild spiced ones. I was still apprehensive, yet I found that the coconut added reduces the heat of the chillies and increases the taste of the curry multifold.

I have observed that in many of the dishes, she has not used any pre-prepared curry powders. Instead, she roasts and blends the spices freshly before using in the curry. Of course it might be time consuming. But, believe me, it is really worth the effort. I could really feel the freshness of the spices in the curry. The taste reminded me of the curries my mother prepares. My mom blends spices every time for most of the curries in a traditional stone grinder (Ammi in Tamil) even to this day.

Note:
  • I did not have the mild spicy Kashmir red chillies. So, I was a little conservative with the use of the red chillies.
  • A combination of boned and breast pieces of the chicken would be fine for the dish.
  • I blended the spices in an electric blender. I recommend blending in a stone grinder for better results.



Garnish the dish with fresh coriander leaves and serve hot with roti or steamed rice.Sending this as an entry to Blog Hop Wednesday-Week 9 event by Radhika of Tickling Palates.

20 comments :

  1. congrats girl n that sukka looks absolutely delish

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  2. chicken sukka looks mouthwatering...really nice to see you try out Mangalorean recipes from my blog...in this 9 weeks of blog hop u r the second person after Shireen from ruchik randhap to try out a mangalorean dish...iam glad you did...you have a nice space here
    cherie

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  3. Slurp, super delicious chicken sukka,highly inviting and makes me h

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  4. Your Chicken Sukka looks really good! I am drooling here :)

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  5. I really really wish you would blog often A. It is such a delight to go thru your write up.

    Ongoing Events :Winter Carnival and
    Let’s Cook : Mughlai Cuisine

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  6. Delicious and yummy looking chicken sukka. Simply stunning pictures.

    Deepa
    Hamaree Rasoi

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  7. Umm... Chicken sukka looks so authentic.! reminded me of my mom's sukka. Yummy!

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  8. First time to your space and liking what I see.I've heard that Germany is such a nice place and your pictures prove it.My father was there for sometime.Following you for more lovely pics.Lovely chicken dish,by the way.Drop in to my space sometimes and hope you like it too.

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  9. Beautifully presented and delicious.

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  10. A beautiful post here, really nice recipe.
    Thank You.

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  11. Wow! It's been a year, can't beleive how fast time flies, Congratulations! Juwa said : Chicken romba nalla irruku amma, enakku ithu senju thariya amma. I think that compliments both recipe and picture :)

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  12. Thank you everyone for all your lovely comments and wishes :)

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  13. wow u r making me hungry now,love this tempting recipe...

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  14. First time here, u have good recipe collections. will be around :)

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  15. sounds especially tasty...love your awesome presentation..
    Tasty Appetite

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  16. 1 year !!! Congrats Aysha !!!! This looks so spicy and hot...an apt recipe for this season :)

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  17. This looks absolutely delicious. Would love for you to share this with us over at foodepix.com.

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  18. Ich komme hier nach lange Zeit,ich vermisse meine Mutter (Ist vermissen das richtige Wort oder nicht?). One has to get on with one's life, and yes like you many of my ideas have remained just that ideas.
    I have been wanting visit your blog but coming to terms with everything was a herculean task.

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