Spicy Chettinad Chicken Fry / Chettinadu Kozhi Varuval

We have had an overdose of chicken lately for the past few weeks which made me try out some special chicken dishes and thus ended up with this wonderful recipe. I learned this one from a TV show in which some famous Chettinad ladies showcased their family recipes. At that time I wondered how few red chillies can bring spiceness to the dish, but I should warn you, It was really really hot and awesome. I generally try to avoid Chettinad dishes because of the grinding of the spices involved( as I dont have a smaller mixer), and also because of the amount of coconut involved( as I try not to use coconut in our diet). But after trying out this recipe I started searching for chettinad recipes for each and every vegetable that I had in my refrigerator and the whole week was like a chettinad fiesta. In this process I also stumbled upon Solai's chettinad kitchen blog, very nice blog for people who love spicy food with some fabulous recipes.
Here is the recipe for Chettinad Chicken Fry:

Ingredients

Chicken - 1/2 kg

For Marination:

red chilli powder - 1/2 tsp

turmeric powder - 1/2 tsp

ginger garlic paste - 1 tsp

lemon juice - 1sp
For frying

red chillies  - 4-5
cinnamon - 1 inch piece

cloves - 2 nos

fennel seeds/sombhu - 1tsp

chopped garlic - 2 tsp

chopped ginger - 1tsp

1 medium onion finely chopped

few curry leaves

salt to taste
Method:

Wash and marinate the chicken pieces with chilli powder , turmeric, ginger garlic paste,salt and lemon juice for atleast 1/2 an hour or overnight.

In wide pan heat few tblsp of oil.

Add cinnamon, cloves, curryleaves, sombhu and redchillies to the hot oil.

Give it a stir for a minute and add the chopped onions, garlic and ginger. Fry till translucent. Now add the marinated chicken pieces, stir well, add 1/2 cup of water and close with a tight lid. Cook in medium flame for 10 mins. Open the lid, stir well , check for salt and cook till the water is absorbed(approx 10 more mins). Garnish with chopped coriander leaves. 

Special Note:-Alternatively you can cook the marinated chicken first by adding them to a pot of boiling water along with cinnamon, cloves for about 6-7 mins.Strain well and reserve the liquid for making soup. Then follow the above process by adding little amount of water. Both method works well.

Some pictures of the Chettinad Chicken Kuzhambhu/Curry and Pepper Rasam that I made on the next day for lunch.