Serves at least 4, takes about 30 minutes
On our trip to Kerala in India in the summer of 2009, we spent a few hours at Leelu’s Homestay house (see Links), watching her making several different curries and taking copious notes. Then we sat down and ate a lovely lunch of this one, served with Chapatis, Pachadi, Pumpkin Curry and Potato Thoran. This is delicious, a succulent, flavoursome dish, with a perfect balance between sweet and sour. We’ve made it with beef too, and it was equally gorgeous
Generally Keralans use a much lighter version of the coconut milk we buy in tins in the UK. We've found that if you buy the reduced fat coconut milk, open the can without shaking it, pour off the liquid part and use that, it works well. Then you can dilute the remaining thicker half with a little water and freeze it for next time. We've also recently found Maggi powdered coconut to be excellent for making this curry, though the packet instructions are a little heavy handed; we found 35g of powder to 300mls of water to be perfect
2 tsp Kerelan Spice Mix
1/2 tsp turmeric
1 tsp chilli powder
4 tsp coriander powder
1kg chicken, skinned and chopped into rough chunks
2 onions, chopped
1/2 thumb of fresh ginger, chopped
8 – 10 cloves of garlic, chopped
1 – 2 fresh chillies, chopped
1 big tomato, sliced
1 big potato, in 5cm dice
200ml coconut milk (see above)