What Kerala household can go without Kerala chicken roast? It is everyone’s favourite meal for a reason, bursting with flavors we cherish. While we don’t like to stray from tradition, my recipe of this dish comes with an exciting variation. The unique factor is a little coconut milk that is added to the slow roasted chicken for added flavor. It is also prepared a little differently as the chicken is first fried and the onions are added later.
HOW TO PREPARE KERALA CHICKEN ROAST IN THREE STEPS
- Marinate chicken and fry with spices
- Onions and tomatoes are added to fried chicken
- Coconut milk and spices added at the end for special flavour
WHAT TO SERVE WITH CHICKEN ROAST?
One of the reasons for the popularity of this dish is its versatility. It can be paired with rice, pathiri, appam, Kerala parotta, roti, neer dosa, regular dosa and even plain bread as a delicious main course.
If you’d like to try a similar dish with the softness of mutton and spicy flavour, do check out my mutton ghee roast recipe!
Traditional Kerala Chicken Roast
Ingredients
Instructions
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Wash and pat dry chicken. Add the first five ingredients listed (ginger, garlic, turmeric, chill powder, salt) with a tablespoon of coconut oil.Rub the chicken well. Keep aside for a minimum of 30 min.
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Heat a heavy skillet or uruli with 2 tbsp of coconut oil. Splutter cinnamon, cloves, garlic, 2 sprigs of curry leaves and four sliced green chillies.
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Fry for a min on high flame. Add marinated chicken and toss on high flame for 10 to 15 min until chicken is lightly browned.
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Add coriander powder and kashmiri chilli powder and fry for 2 min
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Now add onions(thirummiyathu)Fry until onions are browned.
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Add tomatoes, 1 sprig of curry leaves, rest of green chillies and vinegar.
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Cook for 2 min on high flame, then lower the flame and cook covered.
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Open the lid in between and stir. Let the vapour(any on the lid) fall into the dish.
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Once the chicken is tender, open and increase the flame to high
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Add garam masala, roasted fennel powder, crushed pepper, curry leaves and a tbsp of coconut oil. Stir for 2 min.
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After 2 min, add coconut milk. Stir until chicken is coated in the masala.
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Garnish with few curry leaves. Rest for 10 min and serve warm.
Note
CHICKEN If chicken is refrigerated, bring it to room temperature before washing. Do not immerse frozen chicken in water to defrost. Wash and drain chicken well. Pat dry with kitchen tissue to save time.
COCONUT OIL I prefer to used cold pressed coconut oil in all my traditional Kerala recipes. This recipe is no exception
GINGER AND GARLIC I prefer Indian ginger and garlic for its strong flavours. Crush them just before adding to the chicken.
SPICES Use organic or home ground turmeric, chilli and coriander powders
FENNEL POWDER Roast the fennel lightly to release the oils and then powder. You can store the powdered fennel for upto a month in a tight container.
PEPPER Freshly crushed pepper adds more flavour to the dish.
COCONUT MILK Add few tbsp of water to ½ of grated coconut and grind. Extract milk, strain and use in this recipe. Coconut milk powder can also be used. Add hot water to 2 tbsp of coconut milk powder to make ¼ cup.
