Chicken Ghee Roast

Chicken Ghee Roast, Mangalorean Chicken recipe whose origins go back to a small town, Kundapur, close to Mangalore. Chicken Ghee Roast has a fiery red, tangy and spicy with an unmistakable flavor of ghee roasted spices. Easy to prepare and more delicious than expected.

Many variations are there with the ingredients added to prepare the masala paste, in which the chicken is cooked. This is simple and close to the original recipe. This is served with roti, paratha,appam or white rice.

Mangalorean dishes always have a slight sweetness in the recipe, either by using sugar or jaggery. I avoided adding jaggery to the recipe to maintain the spiciness of the recipe. Looks like a starter recipe, but actually, the cooked paste retains the semi gravy state of the recipe. You can also try this recipe with Mutton.  Since the chicken is cooked in the spicy paste, the chicken remains juicy.

Ingredients : 

• Chicken cubes - 1/2 kg 
• Curd - 3 tsp 
• Cumin seeds - 1 tsp 
• Fennel seeds - 1 tsp 
• Black peppercorns - 1/2 tsp 
• Coriander seeds - 1/2 tsp 
• Dry red chilly - 10 nos 
• Grated coconut - 2 tsp 
• Ginger - 1 inch piece 
• Garlic - 4 nos 
• Turmeric powder - 1/2 tsp 
• Lemon juice - 1/2 tsp 
• Salt For taste 
• Curry leaves - 1 string 
• Ghee - 3 tbsps 

For spicy paste : 

1. In a pan, dry roast cumin seeds, fennel seeds, black peppercorn and coriander seeds in medium flame for 2-3 minutes 
2. Add grated coconut and fry till golden brown 
   
3. Add dry red chilly and fry in low flame for 3 minutes till they start turning brown and leave a strong aroma.
4. Add ginger nad garlic and keep the flame low 
   
5. Add some curry leaves and remove from flame 
6.  Let it cool down a bit
   
7. In a mixer, add the dry ingredients and add water to make a thick paste 
8. Add curd and turmeric powder and blend well 

For marination : 

1. Clean and wash the chicken well. 
2. Cut into equal size (I have used boneless chicken) Add the chicken pieces to the grounded masala paste 
3. Add salt required for the chicken 
4. Leave in the refrigerator overnight but a minimum of 4 hours if you don't have time. 

For roast : 

1. In a pan, add ghee and add some curry leaves 
2. Add the marinated chicken to it. 
3. Cook for about 10-15 minutes in low flame till the chicken cooks well in the masala paste 
4. Roast for about 5-6 minutes constantly stirring so that it doesn't get burn. The aroma at this point will be amazing, 
5. All the masala paste will be coated to the chicken
   
6. Remove from heat and serve hot :)  

Serve hot with neer dosa, as a starter or simply with phulkas :)