Hows the Easter preps going on? Waiting to break your lent & gorge on all the meat you could lay your eyes on, eh ;) Here is an Easter special chicken recipe. Now if you ask me, why it’s called Easter chicken, I’m clueless. I got this recipe from my aunt, Tesschechy, during my last vacation. I was hunting for new recipes in her recipe diaries (btw, she has around 10-15 of such diaries) I caught sight of this one. At first glance, I thought it’s a bit complex & lengthy one, so decided not to cut & paste. But she convinced me that this is a must try recipe & she even made it for me to prove her point. She proved her point pretty well!
This recipe is something you wont cook on a daily basis. It’s a rich curry & the cooking time is a bit longer than the usual curries. So I guess it’s called Easter chicken, because it’s usually made on special occasions & whoever came up with the original recipe, made it on a Easter day :) Now, does that make any sense? People often say that my logical reasoning is weird, but I guess it works for me ;)
Btw, I’m not very happy with this picture. I think I wasnt able to capture it well. Hey, did I tell you? We moved to a new apartment & here I’m yet to find a perfect place for my photo shoot. Also “somebody” decided to play around with my camera, so I ended up with all different settings. Now, I just dont know how to go back to the original settings. Too many things to figure out, sigh! Somehow blaming others for all things gone wrong, gives you immense happiness & satisfaction, what say ;)?
On another note, I’m so happy to share with you that this little space crossed the mark of 10,000 + page views per day. It was a great feeling & it’s all because of YOU. Thank You very much for your support & encouragement.
Here’s wishing you & your loved ones a Happy & Blessed Easter! May the risen Christ bless you with peace, happiness & prosperity!
One more thing, just because its called Easter chicken doesnt mean, you can make this only on Easter day. You can make it for any special occasion or make it on an ordinary day & turn that into a special one :) Btw, you can also check out the party menu here, if in case you are still undecided about the Easter menu.
Now, shall we go to the recipe?
- Chicken – 500 gm, cut into medium size pieces
- Kashmiri chilli powder – 1 tbsp
- Coriander powder – 1 tbsp
- Turmeric powder – ¼ tsp
- Garlic chopped – 3 tsp
- Ginger chopped – 2 tsp
- Pepper powder – ½ tsp
- Cloves – 4
- Cardamom – 2
- Cinnamon – a small stick
- Fennel seeds (perumjeerakam) – ½ tsp
- Poppy seeds (kashakasha) – ½ tsp
- Onion – 3 medium, finely sliced
- Small onion (shallots) – 6, finely sliced
- Tomato – 1, chopped
- Non-sour yogurt (pulikkatha thairu)- ¼ cup
- Boiling water – ¾ cup
- Thick coconut milk – ½ cup
- Cashew paste – 2 tbsp
- Boiled egg – 1
- Fried cashews – a handful
- 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 ¾ 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;
