Chicken Fry - Kozhi Porichathu - Thrissur Style

When it comes to cooking, I had always been an onlooker. However, don’t know why and how, after marriage this compliment(!) continued glarin at me whenever some of JKs’ relative spoke to me – “Liya nannayi cook cheyyumnu kettu?” (heard tht you cook well?) and I would go ‘aaaaaaah’ – while questions like “ask who told” “don’t say no” “should I say no?” go dancing in my mind. Anyways those compliments were a confident boost and I used scribble in my dairy – “if I get compliment even before getting into the field, what could it be when I do?” Errr.. no self praising intended.. why I took the pen today is to write about the “chicken fry’ I made yesterday. It did come out well, and I would like to share it here.


Here goes the recipe:

For the first-phase marinade:

Chicken Drumstick (Leg Piece) – 8 nos
Turmeric Powder – ½ tablespoon
Salt – as needed

Second-phase marinade:

Turmeric Powder – ¼ tablespoon
Salt – as needed
Ginger paste – 1 ½ tablespoon
Garlic paste – 1 ½ tablespoon
Kashmiri Chilly Powder – ½ tablespoon
Lemon Juice – of 1 lemon
Coconut Oil – 2 tablespoons

For Frying:

Coconut Oil – for frying
Curry Leaves – just a handful

For Pricking:

Toothpick – 1 no (take 2 or even 3, if the toothpicks are light) ;)

For Garnishing:

Thinly sliced onion - 1
Lemon cut in wedges - 1
Procedure:

First Phase Marinade:

I read somewhere that marinading the chicken with turmeric powder and salt overnight could help getting rid of the raw flavor of chicken. I tried it in this recipe and it did workout! Make a paste of turmeric powder, salt and water and apply to the chicken legs.

The Pricking Phase:

Arm yourself with the toothpicks and make gentle pricks here and there on the chicken legs. Make sure that the incisions are deep and not wide. This is for better absorption of the flavors. Once the pricking is done, refrigerate the chicken legs overnight.

Second Phase Marinade:

Take out the marinaded chicken and gently wash it in running water. Drain the chicken pieces of excess water. Mix the ingredients mentioned in the second phase marinade and make a fine paste. Apply this to the chicken legs and leave it at room temperature for 30 minutes.

Fry:

Heat pan and add oil, gently fry the curry leaves and remove from the oil. Now add the chicken pieces and cook until done. The curry leaves are fried in the oil for an added flavor. You can use this with sliced onions for the final garnishing.

Just give it a try and do let me go, how it came out.