Topic: Chicken Kovalam

[Muttley]

Chicken Kovalam

Ingredients

2 Chicken breasts cut into pieces
1 good handful of corriander
8 Chillis, deseeded, despined and washed
6 tbls Muttly's basic curry sauce
1 med onion finely sliced
2 tsp Starting spices
1 cube frozen pureed garlic/ginger

Method

1 Fry onion until golden
2 Add defrosted garlic/ginger and fry for a minute
3 Add starting spices and fry for half a minute
4 Place corriander (stalks included) with chillis in a blender with just enough water to get it to puree, and blend
5 Add this puree together with the basic sauce, and allow to cook for a couple of minutes
6 Reduce heat to a bare simmer and add chicken pieces
7 Cook until chicken is don (about twenty minutes)

Notes

This is not actually an authentic dish, but it isn't a resturaunt one either.

Some time ago, I discovered that the heat from a chilli actually comes from the spines, rather than the seeds as is commonly supposed. I've always loved the flavour of chillis, but had to accept very hot dishes if I wanted to get it. With the discovery mentioned in the thread; "A Note about Chillis", I have managed to produce a dish with a very strong chilli flavour, but far less heat than one would expect.

Although this is certainly not a resturaunt dish, it does contain some of my basic curry sauce.

It is named after a place I stayed at in Kerala a few years back, and after which I can find no other dish named.

The best chillis to use for this dish (IMO) are the thin ones, about 2-6 cms in length.

See seperate thread for "starting spices"

I have not found it necessary to add any garam masala at the end of this dish, as the flavours of the corriander and chilli are enough for me, but you may care to experiment with this. I intend to in due course.

I have also made this dish with chick peas instead of chicken, and it proved to be a popular accompanyment.