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Ruchik Randhap

Food & Memories of Mangalore

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Kori Rotti | Mangalorean Bunt Style Spicy Chicken Curry


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Hello folks, I am back with another tantalizing Mangalorean dish – Kori Rotti – from one of Mangalore’s sub cuisines – Bunt cuisine which is one of India’s most desirable and delicious cuisines. Well, as you know ‘Kori Rotti’ is a combo dish. Its a spicy chicken curry eaten with flat, crispy and wafer thin rice crepes. Traditionally, these rice crepes used to be prepared by ladies in their own homes, however due to mechanization and modernization, they are manufactured and sold commercially. Since a pack of ‘Rotti’ is available at a nominal price in Mangalore, people resort to using store bought stuff these days.

This dish is my all time favourite and I hope you enjoy it too!

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Kori Rotti Chicken Curry

Succulent pieces of chicken cooked to perfection in a delicious, spicy, creamy coconut curry base, ready to be mopped up with crispy rice flatbreads, a traditional Mangalorean dish that will have you licking your fingers
5 from 5 votes
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Course: Main Course
Cuisine: Mangalorean
Keyword: Chicken Curry, Kori Rotti
Prep Time: 45 minutes
Cook Time: 20 minutes
Total Time: 1 hour 5 minutes
Author: Shireen Sequeira

Ingredients

  • 1 kg chicken on the bone
  • 1 medium sized onion finely sliced
  • 1 coconut to extract 2 cups thin milk and 1 cup thick milk * see note#1 for substitute
  • 1 inch cinnamon stick
  • 1 cardamom slightly bruised
  • 2 cloves
  • salt to taste
  • For the masala
  • 5 short red chillies * see note#2
  • 10 long red chillies * see note#2
  • 1-1/2 tbsp coriander seeds
  • 1/2 tsp peppercorns * see note#2
  • 1/4 tsp fenugreek seeds / methi
  • 1 tsp cumin seeds/jeera
  • 1/8 th tsp turmeric powder
  • 8-9 flakes of (Indiagarlic with skin
  • 1 medium sized onion sliced
  • 1/2 lime sized ball of tamarind
  • 1/2 a coconut or 1 cup grated coconut
  • 2 tbsp ghee or oil
  • For the seasoning
  • 1 medium sized onion finely sliced
  • 1 tbsp ghee

Instructions

  • Cut the chicken into medium sized pieces, wash and allow to drain on a colander.
  • In a heavy bottomed pan/kadhai heat 2 tbsp ghee or oil and roast the red chillies, coriander seeds, peppercorns, fenugreek seeds & cumin seeds one by one. Each of them should be roasted on a slow flame for a few seconds until you get a nice aroma * see note # 3
  • Next fry the onion and garlic and remove and add the coconut, turmeric powder and tamarind to the same pan, roast and remove.
  • Grind all the roasted ingredients to a fine paste using a little water. Reserve the masala water.
  • In the same pan add the ground masala and the sliced onion. Mix and add the thin coconut milk. Leave the pan uncovered & bring the curry to a boil, add the chicken pieces and salt to taste. Cover the pan now and cook the chicken till tender on a medium flame. When the chicken is cooked, simmer and add the thick coconut milk and bring it to boil for just a couple of seconds. Turn off the flame.
  • In a smaller pan, heat the ghee for seasoning and toss in the cinnamon, cloves, cardamom pod and the sliced onion, fry till golden brown and add this to the curry. Cover the pan immediately to trap the aroma of the seasoning.
  • Serve hot with crispy rice Rotti - let the curry soak up the rotti a bit before you eat it. Alternatively, you can serve the curry with rice, pan polay (neer dosa), appams, sanna, mutlim (rice dumplings), polay (dosor chapathi

Notes

1. A large coconut yields approximately 2 cups thin milk & 1 cup thick milk. Here's how to do it & the substitute for it. If you do not wish to use coconut milk in your curry just use 1-1/4 cups of grated coconut instead of 1/2 cup and skip the coconut milk altogether. But you may need to adjust the spice a bit here.
Extracting fresh coconut milk
Grate the flesh of one coconut and transfer it to a mixer grinder. Add about 1/2 cup of warm water and pulse the mixer grinder for a few seconds.
Line a bowl with cheese/muslin cloth and transfer the ground coconut into it. Cover the cloth into a bundle and squeeze to extract thick milk. Keep aside
Add a little water (depending on how much thin milk you desire) and repeat process. This is the thin milk.
Preparing coconut milk from coconut milk powder (I use Maggi)
To make approx 2 cups thin milk - Dissolve 6 tbsp coconut milk powder in 1-1/2 cups warm water
To make approx 1 cup thick milk - Dissolve 6 tbsp coconut milk powder in 3/4th cup warm water
2. Mangaloreans, especially Bunts use short red chillies which are also called as Harekala chillies - these are quite spicy. The long dry chillies that are used are called the Byadge/Bedgi chillies. Click to see pictures. You may use a combination of both or just use the Bedgi variety. To reduce the spice adjust the quantity of peppercorns and use the chillies partially deseeded. For a mildly spicy curry you can use Kashmiri chillies. The original recipe asked for 22 chillies & 1 tsp peppercorns. I reduced them to 15 chillies and 1/2 tsp peppercorns which yielded a medium spicy curry. A lot of the spice gets balanced out when the coconut milk is added, so please use your judgement here.
3.While roasting the spices take care to ensure that they don't burn or turn black - this will lend a bitter taste to the curry which is avoidable. Ensure that roasting is done in a good quality heavy pan

Disclaimer

The nutritional values are only indicative.

Tried this recipe?Please leave a comment & rate the recipe below or share a photo on Instagram and tag me @ruchikrandhap

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Comments

  3. Swati Sapna says

    I'm slowly discovering Mangalorean cuisine and kori rotti is really one of the most popular dishes! I have never tried cooking it myself… and hey, I love Sailu's website! So cool that you are writing a guest post for her! Will definitely check it out 🙂

    Reply

  4. Cardamom Hills says

    Hi Shireen, I was looking for some authentic manglorean recipes and guess I have stumbled up the right place! Will be digging around 🙂 Nice to meet you. I blog at Cardamom Hills.
    Cheers!
    Mj

    Reply

  6. Andrea Rebello says

    Hi Shireen, Absolutely LOVE your write up about Mangalorean cuisine on Sailu's blog. Its so nice to know a bit of history about our food and the cultures that contribute to it .. !!! Love your blog as well… p.s: your Zebra cake recipe is still a favourite at home 🙂 — Andrea, London xx

    Reply

  7. Shireen Sequeira says

    Hi Andrea! Thank you so much for your lovely words of encouragement! So good to know that you liked the write up and the history behind our food 🙂 Stay tuned for the last and final part of the article on Sailu's food. So good to know you liked the zebra cake as well. Do join me on Facebook and send in your picture when you try it again, i will display it in the Tried & Tested folder, thanks!

    Reply

  8. Anonymous says

    Do you have the recipe for making the rotti? Since we do not get it here, I'd like to know how to make it at home. I've searched for it on the net, without success.

    Reply

  11. Unknown says

    Hi Shireen,
    Thanks for this recipe. It's great.
    I have short red chillies and Kashmiri chillies with me. Could you please suggest how many I could used for a medium spicy gravy? Thanks.

    Reply

  12. Shireen Sequeira says

    @ Unknown: Well, since short red chillies are really spicy you could use about 4 and use about 6-7 kashmiri chillies – I am not sure if you are used to having Mangalorean cuisine so I guess if you are concerned about the spice you could deseed the chillies and then use them, in which case you can use 5 short red chillies and 8-10 kashmiri chillies all deseeded. This way you will be able to get adequate masala and tone down the spice. In any case if you feel that the spice is more you could add some extra coconut milk – this will really balance the spice.

    Reply

  13. Resultant says

    HI Shireen, I didnt know that I am cooking your recipies…wonderful dishes….Hats off to you…. for having well planned Mangalorean recipies that too some of them are quite unique! I am followin your site almost 6 months and i came to know today its you who is having such a wonderful blog for cooking….I thank you for your recipeis. Helps me a lot….Cheers! Lynel your choir mate…lol.

    Reply

  17. Vanita says

    Delicious chicken curry shireen. My family really enjoyed it. Thanks for sharing the recipe. I never have to think twice when trying out your recipes. They always come out good.

    Reply

  22. Shireen says

    @ Dency: Sorry I have no idea what you could have done wrong. Plus I don't know how crab curry you make tastes like…if you have followed the recipe to the T then it should turn out fine

    Reply

  24. Susana Yadav says

    Hi Shireen,

    Tried my hands at your kori rotti recipe today…loved the dish whenever I had had it at some friends' place but never made it as I could not get the rotti. Luckily for me one of my friend's sister who is visiting her brought it for me from Mumbai and I could not wait to make it. I stumbled upon your recipe and it turned out so yummy, my first attemptat kori rotti was so good thanks to your recipe.. Susan

    Reply

  28. Mark says

    Hey Shireen,

    Thin coconut milk and chicken just cooking however I feel the colour is a bit of dull yellow instead of the more orange. I did put the 1/8 turmeric powder as mentioned. Any clues?

    Thanks
    Mark

    Reply

    • Shireen Sequeira says

      Hi Mark!

      Well, the colour greatly depends on the type of red chillies you have used. If it tastes spicy enough then it is okay – the colour won’t really matter, if not, please add 1/2 teaspoon of Kashmiri red chilli powder as they will give a good colour without adding to the spice. Hope this helps!

      Reply

  29. Gopal says

    A question about the sliced onions Shireen. Do I blend the sliced onions after roasting them with the garlic ? The recipe also calls for sliced onion to be added to the ground paste. Thank you for your work. Best wishes.

    Reply

    • Shireen Sequeira says

      Hi Gopal,

      Yes, you need to grind the fried onions mentioned in step 3 “Next fry the onion and garlic and remove and add the coconut, turmeric powder and tamarind to the same pan, roast and remove.” with the rest of the roasted ingredients.

      The sliced onion mentioned in step 5 will also be added to the ground paste and cooked a little before the chicken is added. Hope this clarifies your doubt. Do let me know if you have more doubts!

      Reply

  30. Jyoti says

    This recipe is so perfect. I made it. And it was so tasty. The only problem I had was that the gravy was thicker and i wasn’t sure whether to add water or not. So how do I go about it? I added coconut milk as mentioned.

    Overall it’s my favorite dish.

    Reply

    • Shireen Sequeira says

      Hey Jyoti,

      So glad to note that you liked the kori rotti chicken curry! Well, yes you can add some water and give it a boil. Then add the coconut milk as per the recipe. If you plan to eat the curry with chapathis then the thickness of the gravy won’t matter much. Do try it this way next time! Thanks for your feedback!

      Reply

    • Preema says

      Hi, Today I try this korirotti curry recipe it came wanderful. My house every one liked. Really I know this, but little bit different, but this recipe was very tasty, thank you so so so much

      Reply

  32. Ramya says

    Hey Shireen- Any substitute for the short red chillies please? Don’t get the Harekala chillies where I stay..Thanks

    Reply

  34. Sherry says

    Hi Shireen,

    I managed to source grated coconut, but if I’m using tinned coconut milk, how much of it can I use? I’m not sure which is thin and thick in there..

    Reply

    • Shireen Sequeira says

      Hi Sherry,

      When you use tinned coconut, it is usually of thick or medium thick consistency. So you can simply use the can – the quantity of which should match the requirement of thick coconut milk as mentioned in my recipe. In addition to this, add some water to the gravy to achieve the desired consistency (which would be slightly on the thinner side as you need thin gravy to pair with the rotti – also, the use of commercially available coconut milk renders a thicker gravy)

      Reply

  38. Sarah Chakravarthi says

    Your receipes are my all time favourite go to and the entire family including my lil ones love them all! Especially the fish curry seer receipe!

    Reply
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