Masala Dabba and Chicken Varutharachathu

A masala dabba is a metal spice box containing all the common spices for Indian cooking. This is something I use frequently in my kitchen because I make a lot of Indian dishes. There are no specific spices to be found in the dabba, but mine contains the following, which are all the spices most often used in curries: garam masala, cumin, coriander, kashmiri chili, turmeric, cumin seeds, mustard seeds.

Here is a basic chicken curry dish from Kerala which uses a lot of the spices in the dabba. "Varutharachathu" means sauteed and ground. Fresh coconut is browned with spices and ground to make the curry sauce. This is a very spicy chicken curry and should be served with rice or any type of Indian bread.

CHICKEN VARUTHARACHATHU CURRY

Ingredients:

Chicken (boneless thighs) 1pkg. (a little over a lb.) cut up into small chunks

Coconut - 1 cup grated Garlic (smashed) - 1 tsp Cinnamon - 1 inch length stick Cloves - 4 nos Fennel Seeds - 1 tbsp. Shallots, chopped - 1 tbsp

1/2 tsp. Kashmiri chili powder

2 tsp. coriander powder

1/4 tsp. turmeric

1 large onion finely chopped

Garlic - 1 clove smashed

Ginger- 1 tsp. grated

1 tomato chopped Garam Masala - 3 tsp Water - 1 cup Oil (coconut oil is best) Salt for taste

Preperation Method

1) Take a pan and add coconut, cinnamon, cloves, fennel seeds, shallots, and garlic to it. 2) Continuously saute these on medium flame until the mix turns brown in color. 3) Add 1/2 tsp chili pwdr, 2 tsp corinader pwdr, 1/4 tsp turmeric and saute until the mix turns a little browner in color. Keep this aside and allow the mix to cool.

4) Grind the mix into a fine paste. 5) Heat about 3 tbsp. of oil in a pan and add onion, smashed ginger, garlic and saute until color changes to golden brown. 6) Add tomatoes and saute for a few minutes. 7) Add garam masala, chicken, and salt to the pan and mix well. 8) Add the ground coconut mix and saute for 2 min, then add water and mix. 9) Cover the lid and allow it to cook for 7-10 min.

#chicken #curry #kerala #indian #masaladabba