From Raghavendra’s Dhaba – Andhra Curry Leaves Chicken

You want a hot friend to join your chilled beer. Look no more!

Ingredients:

For Marination:

Chicken – 300 Gms

Curd – 3 Tablespoons

Salt – 5g

Turmeric Powder – 5g

Ginger garlic paste – 2 Tsp

For the dish:

Onion – 3 large

Garlic – 1 bulb (loosely chopped)

Ginger – 2 inch (finely chopped)

Green chilies – 5 (slit in the middle)

Cinnamon stick – 3 inch

Black Pepper 0 1 TblSpn

Cardamom – 3

Cloves – 3

Red Chilli Powder, Coriander Powder, Garam Masala – 1 TblSpn

Turmeric – 1 Tsp

Curry leaves – 25 leaves

Coriander (for garnishing)

Oil – 3 TblSp

Preparation:

Firstly, the usual….marinating the chicken. Mix the chicken in curd, a pinch each of salt, turmeric and red chili powder. Longer the marination the better. Any marination less than 2 hours is useless.

Dice the onions and boil them in water for 3-4 minutes. Make a paste of this boiled onions. This is going to stink a bit. But it is worth it.

Heat oil in the pan. First goes the cinnamon stick, cloves, black pepper and cardamom. Then add green chilies, chopped ginger and garlic. After a minute add the curry leaves. Fry for 30-40 seconds, and then add the onion paste. Saute till the oil separates. Add the masala powders, and 2 spoons of water (not more than that). Give it a roll, add the chicken and salt. Close the lid and cook for 5 minutes. Chicken will leave some water and get cooked.

Open the lid and cook for 5 more minutes. Keep mixing the contents. This is to make sure all the water evaporates and dish becomes dry. Garnish with finely chopped coriander leaves.

Serve hot with chilled beer!

P.S: If you are not a fan of boiled onion (and the smell), you can saute the onions with some mustard seeds and grind to a paste.