R040Nadan Kozhi Curry
The everyday country chicken curry
Photograph: Adobe Stock · representative of the dish
The re-engineeringCoconut oil down from about 45 g to 14 g and coconut slivers from 150 g to 60 g. The dryness that traditionally comes from cooking meat in a lot of fat here comes from reducing the gravy completely and then roasting in the pan's residual heat — which is what ularthiyathu means in the first place.
Ularthiyathu — "dry-fried, roasted down" — is a technique, not a recipe, and it is the best one Kerala has for making a small quantity of meat taste like a lot. The pieces darken, the masala clings, and the coconut slivers toast to something between a nut and a crisp. Chicken takes to it as well as beef does and cooks in a quarter of the time, which makes this the weeknight version of the chapter's centrepiece.
Before you start: Cut the coconut into thin slivers about 2 cm long — thenga kothu — rather than grating it. Grated coconut disappears into the masala; slivers stay as texture, which is the whole point.
Chicken Ularthiyathu
Active 35 minutes Total 45 minutes
Scale
4 servings
Ingredients — tap to tick off
- ✓700 g bone-in chicken, skin removed, cut into 12 small pieces (about 500 g edible meat)
- ✓20 g (1 tbsp) ginger-garlic-green chilli paste (M16)
- ✓21 g (3 tbsp) nadan chicken masala (M04)
- ✓2 g (⅓ tsp) ground turmeric
- ✓3.5 g (⅔ tsp) 70:30 salt (M07)
- ✓150 ml water
- ✓14 g (1 tbsp) coconut oil
- ✓60 g (about ⅔ cup) fresh coconut, in thin slivers
- ✓120 g (about 12) shallots, sliced
- ✓25 fresh curry leaves
- ✓4 g (¾ tsp) coarsely crushed black pepper
- ✓4 g (¾ tsp) Kerala garam masala (M01)
Allergens: None of the major allergens as the recipe is written. Sesame or peanuts — whichever of the two oils you use (it reaches the dish through M16).
Equipment: Heavy 28 cm pan or cheena chatti; flat wooden turner (chattuvam). Substitute: a thin pan will scorch the coconut before the chicken dries. Cast iron is ideal.
Per serving (estimated)
| Energy | 372 kcal |
| Protein | 28 g |
| Fibre | 5 g |
| Net carbohydrate | 8 g |
| Total carbohydrate | 13 g |
| Sugars | 4 g |
| Fat | 25 g |
| Saturated fat | 13 g |
| Sodium | 330 mg |
From ICMR-NIN IFCT 2017 and USDA FoodData Central. Per-serving figures stay the same when you scale.
Method — tap a step to mark it done, tap a time to start a timer
- Marinate the chicken with the M16, M04, turmeric and salt for at room temperature.
- Bring the marinated chicken and the water to a simmer in the pan, covered, and cook until the meat is just done and the liquid has reduced to a thick sludge around it, . Stir twice. There should be almost no free liquid left.
- Push the chicken to one side, add the oil to the cleared space, and let it heat for 30 seconds.
- Add the coconut slivers, shallots and curry leaves to the oil. Cook, stirring the coconut rather than the chicken, until the slivers turn from white to the colour of pale toast and the shallots soften, .
- Fold everything together and raise the heat. Now roast, turning with the flat turner every 30 seconds, until the masala has gone from paste to crust, the chicken is dark and dry, and the coconut is deep gold — . The pan will start to sound dry and the smell will turn from spice to toasted coconut. Take it off within a minute of that.
- Add the pepper and M01 off the heat, toss for 30 seconds, and serve hot. This dish does not improve by sitting.
Why this worksTwo browning reactions run at once. The meat's surface proteins and the shallots' sugars undergo Maillard browning above about 140°C (285°F), which is only possible once all the free water has gone — hence step 2 before step 5. Meanwhile the coconut slivers render a little of their own fat as they toast, and that rendered fat carries the roasted aromas across everything else in the pan. The 14 g of added oil is a starter, not the cooking medium.
Sourcing note
Slivers need fresh coconut, or at least frozen grated coconut pressed into a block and sliced, which is a poor second. Desiccated coconut cannot be slivered and will burn. If no fresh coconut is available, use 40 g of coarsely chopped raw cashews instead: different, good, and about 2 g less saturated fat per serving.
If you are watching…
Blood sugar: 8 g of net carbohydrate. A dry roast is glycaemically the safest way to eat meat, and its danger is entirely in what it makes you want to eat it with — parotta, usually. Matta rice at 150 g, or better, R004 puttu.
Blood pressure: 330 mg. Down to 3 g of M07 gives about 295 mg and the pepper covers it.
Cholesterol: 13 g of saturated fat, of which about 7 g is the 15 g of coconut each serving carries and about 1 g the oil. Cutting the slivers to 40 g takes about 2.5 g out per serving and costs the dish some of its texture. Halving the oil saves 0.6 g and costs you the browning; take it out of the coconut, not the oil.
Swap it
Beef → see R048, which is this technique done properly with beef and 90 minutes.
Cashews for coconut slivers → 40 g. Less saturated fat, more monounsaturated, and a sweeter roast. (Allergen: this swap introduces tree nuts (cashew).)
Add 200 g of green plantain in 2 cm dice at step 4 → stretches to five servings, adds fibre, and is what a Travancore household does when the meat is short.
Boneless thigh → 500 g, and step 2 drops to 10–12 minutes. Convenient, and the dish loses the gelatine from the bones that helps the masala cling.
Make ahead · store · freeze
Complete step 2 up to a day ahead and do the roast fresh — this is the best way to make it on a weeknight. Fridge 3 days. Freeze 2 months; texture survives well because there is no emulsion. Reheat in a dry pan, 3–4 minutes, until it sizzles.
Leftovers
Chop small, fold into an omelette, or stir through R061 chana masala. Cold, in a pathiri, with raw onion and lime, it is better than the first serving.
Troubleshooting
Coconut burnt, chicken still wet: the slivers went in before the liquid had gone. Step 2 must finish before step 3 starts.
Masala pasty rather than crusted: the flame was too low at step 5, or the pan was crowded. Roast in two batches.
Chicken dry and shredding: 5 minutes too long at step 5. The cue is the sound, not the clock.
Serve with
R004 Puttu · R015 Matta Rice · R059 Sambar · R107 Sambharam
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