Easter Chicken Curry
Nadan Kozhi Mappas, also known as Kerala-style Chicken Mappas, is a traditional delicacy in Kerala's Syrian Christian cuisine. In this dish, chicken is simmered in creamy coconut milk along with tomatoes, creating a rich and flavorful preparation. It serves as an excellent side dish and pairs well with various staples like rice, Appam, Kallappam, Vattayappam, Puttu, and Roti. The recipe, derived from an old magazine, originally featured duck mappas, but a delicious experiment with chicken resulted in this tasty and easy-to-make variation.
Ingredients
- 500 gms Chicken (cut into medium size pieces)
To grind
- 1 tbsp Kashmiri chilli powder
- 1 tbsp Coriander powder
- 1/4 tsp Turmeric powder
- 3 tsp Chopped Garlic
- 2 tsp Chopped Ginger
- 1/2 tsp Pepper powder
- 4 Cloves
- 2 Cardamom
- A small stick Cinnamon
- 1/2 tsp Fennel seeds
- 1/2 tsp Poppy seeds (kashakasha)
For Masala
- 3 medium Onion (finely sliced)
- 6 Small / Pearl onion (finely sliced)
- 1 medium Tomato (chopped)
- 1/4 cup non-sour yogurt
- 3/4 cup Boiling water
- 1/2 cup thick coconut milk
- 2 tbsp Cashew paste
For garnishing
- 1 Boiled egg
- A handful of Fried cashews
Instructions
- Grind the ingredients listed under 'to grind' label, with 2 tbsp water, to a fine paste. Take half of the ground paste & apply to the cleaned chicken pieces. Add salt also to the marinated chicken & keep it aside for half an hour. Meanwhile heat oil in a pan & add sliced onions & salt. Cook till it becomes golden brown in color. Remove half of the cooked onions to another plate & keep it aside. Add small onions to the onions in the cooking pan. Cook for a few minutes. Add tomato & cook till it becomes soft. Add non sour yogurt to this & mix well. Add remaining half of the ground masala & fry it till the oil starts appearing. Add marinated chicken pieces to this & mix well. Add 3/4 cup of boiling water and cover and cook the chicken.
- Add cashew paste and the kept aside cooked onions to thick coconut milk. Stir well. When the chicken is almost cooked, add coconut milk mixture to the curry. Cook till the gravy becomes thick and the chicken pieces are coated well with the masala. The consistency of this curry is semi dry chicken, it has a pasty masala.
- Garnish the cooked chicken with boiled egg & fried cashew. Serve hot with pulao/ghee rice/appam/roti etc;
Notes
This curry is towards a spicier side, so please adjust the measurements to suit your taste. I used coconut oil for this recipe. If you want to make it extra special, you can use ghee.
Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!