Goan Chilli Chicken

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Goan Chilli Chicken
Prep time: 15 mins + 2 hrs marination time | Cook time: 20 – 25mins |Serves 4


Ingredients:

• 8-9 chicken thighs (approx 900 gms)
• 3-4 tablespoons tomato puree
• chopped coriander for garnishing
• 2 – 3 green chillies cut into roundels (chopped) for garnishing * see notes
• 3-4 tablespoons of oil or ghee for frying
• 1/2 tablespoon vinegar
• 1/4 teaspoon sugar
• salt to taste

For the marination:

• 1 small onion
• 2 inch piece of ginger
• 4 cloves of garlic
• 3 green chillies (medium-low spice variety)
• 4 teaspoons of lime juice

For the spice powder:

• 1 teaspoon cumin
• 2 tablespoons coriander seeds
• 1 inch piece of cassia bark / cinnamon
• 3-4 cardamom pods
• 4 cloves
• 2 long dry red chillies (Byadge or Kashmiri chillies)

Method:
1. Remove the skin from the chicken thighs, wash and drain very well. Pat them dry using a kitchen tissue
2. Grind all the ingredients mentioned under ‘For the marination’ to a fine paste – try not to use water while grinding but if you must, use very little or you will end up with a watery marinate.
3. Add the lime juice and salt to taste (I used approx 1 level teaspoon) to the ground paste and marinate the chicken for at least 2 hours with this marinade (refrigerate it preferably)
4. To prepare the spice powder, dry roast each of the ingredients mentioned under ‘For the spice powder’ on a hot tawa/griddle – take care not to burn any of them so maintain the heat at a medium high. Remove the spices onto a plate to cool completely, then grind to a fine powder (don’t use any water – we need a dry powder, not a masala paste)
5. Heat about 2 tablespoons of ghee in a large wide based pan/wok and fry the chicken pieces on a high heat – take care to see that you don’t overcrowd the pan or else the chicken will begin to steam instead of fry. Fry until the pieces turn light golden on both sides and are partially cooked.
6. Now reduce the heat and add the spice powder and mix well.  Add the remaining ghee, tomato puree and let it cook.
7. Add the sugar, adjust the salt and cook till the chicken is done. Stir in the vinegar, mix and remove from heat.
8. Garnish with chopped coriander and serve hot with rice or chapathis.

Notes:
1. This recipe calls for a lot of green chillies – I used the medium-low spicy ones and so the heat was tolerable. If you are using the smallest variety of green chillies note that they will be deadly in terms of spice – so either deseed them and use or simply reduce the total quantity of chillies used. If you wish you can increase the quantity of dry red chillies and reduce the quantity of green chillies used.