Varutha Kozhi Masala | Spicy Chicken Curry | Chicken Side with Mint leaves

The weekend went busy and I was up and all excited about cooking, :P yes such miracles happen you know. I think I was excited about the fact that it was weekend and hence my taste-buds were craving for a good home cooked meal. This recipe sure did fulfil my taste-buds with its delicious taste. Needless to say my foodie husband was all happy and excited about this dish and he said you have to put this on the blog ;-) so here I go... What really intrigued me about this recipe of the addition of egg in chicken marination and also coconut pieces and coconut oil. I prep'd the chicken by marinating it the previous night and it sure bring loads of flavour to the curry. 

VARUTHA KOZHI KUZHAMBHU RECIPE

Serves ~ 4 generously

Cook & prep time ~ 25 mins

Marination time ~ overnight or minimum 4 hours

Serving Suggestion ~ white rice and rasam

Ingredients

To Marinate (minimum 4 hours / overnight)

Chicken - 1/2 kg, 500 gms

Thick Curd - 2 tbsp

Kashmiri red chilli powder - 2 tbsp

Turmeric powder - 1/2 tsp

Pepper powder - 1/2 tsp

Egg - 1 large 

Salt - 1 tsp

To Grind 

Small onions - 10 nos

Ginger - 1 " piece

Garlic pods - 5-6 nos

Curry leaves - 1 spring

Green chilli - 5-6 nos

For the Curry 

Oil - 4 tbsp (I used refined & coconut oil)

Curry leaves - 1 spring

Mint leaves - 15 leaves

Tomato - 2 large chopped

Turmeric powder - 1/4 tsp

Red chilli powder - 1 and 1/2 tsp or more

Coriander powder - 2 tsp

Pepper powder - 1 tsp

Salt - to taste

Method

• Marinate the chicken with all the other ingredients except egg and set aside in refrigerator overnight or for few hours on counter top. 30 minutes before preparing the curry keep the chicken outside in room temperature  once chicken comes to room temperature add the egg and mix well, cover with lid and set aside
• Now grind all ingredients mentioned under to grind to a course paste, set aside. In a wide large pan heat oil (2 spoons)add the marinated chicken with egg and let it cook in medium heat stirring inbetween for atleast 20 minutes until 90% cooked. Remove from pan and set aside
• In the same pan add some coconut oil ( 1 spoon) and splutter the curry leaves, add the prepared paste and sauté until raw smell goes, now add the tomatoes, salt and cook covered until mushy, this takes 3 minutes.
• Now add all the spice powders - turmeric, pepper, coriander  red chilli and sauté well and cook for 5 minutes until the masala releases oil.
• Add the fried chicken mint leaves and 1 cup water and bring it to a boil and cover lid, after 2 minutes reduce flame to medium and cook for 5-6 minutes until the chicken is done and oil floats.

Serve hot with steamed white rice and curry

Cooks Wisdom 

- Adding egg to the marinate makes sure that the marination sticks to the curry while cooking, this is really worth a try as the chicken pieces were succulent and juicy
- I marinated the chicken overnight without adding the egg and later added egg just before cooking the chicken
- Make sure that the masala is well cooked before adding the friend chicken
- I used coconut oil to give more flavour and also balanced it with refined oil so that the coconut is not too overpowering you can do as you please 
- The original recipe calls for adding coconut bits, I did not add them
- Add the correct amount of mint and not any more as it can overpowder the dish