February 13, 2008

Ulli Kozhi/ Chicken Cry With Lots of Onion


Its cold out there (below zero..brr..r.)and it snowed yesterday. It's slushy and snowy and the roads are horrible. The schools are opening late so the kids are loving the weather but for the poor commuters, its havoc on the streets with accidents and delays.

Thankfully I am home, wrapped up in a warm clothes but still chilled to the bone. Anyway, it's the perfect season to make this yummy spicy chicken cry (a cross between a curry and a fry)and some parathas or madikki pathiris. This is my friend's recipe and though I kept making it, never got around to blogging it before. Thanks Ki! You are right, it goes well with almost everything.

For those who like the gravy more than the meat (and scrape up the gravy leaving the pieces behind :)), this is a perfect dish as you can't really separate the two with the gravy clinging so happily to the meat that there are no bland spots left. The coconut oil and curry leaves reminded me of some of the Kerala Resort style cooking. If made with boneless chicken, can be a rich appetizer. Yum!!

Notes: Use small pieces of chicken and do fry the tomatoes too. The oil daunted me a bit earlier but its not really a lot if you consider how much gets used up in frying. You could microwave the onions in a microwave safe plate for 5 minutes or so to cut down the frying time if you want to.

You will need:
Chicken -1 kg cut in pieces
Onion- 4 medium sized ones (2-3 cups chopped)
Tomato- 3 medium sized ones diced
Lemon Juice- 1 lemon’s juice.
Salt to taste

Spice Masala(to be ground together)
Red chili powder- 2 1/2 tea spoon
Turmeric- ½ teas spoon
Ginger- ½ inch piece
Garlic- 4
Cinnamon- 1 inch piece
Cardamom -3
Pepper -1 table spoon
Oil (coconut oil tastes the best.) But any oil can be used-1/4 cup more or less
Curry leaves- A handful
Coriander leaves – A Handful

Preparation:
After cleaning and cutting chicken , wash it well and let it drain in a colander. Marinate the chicken with ½ teaspoon each of the chill powder, turmeric and salt , lemon juice for 1/2 hr.

Slice the onion into thin long slices. Heat oil, add the onion and fry them on medium heat till golden brown and crisp. This should take about 8-10 minutes. Make sure they don't burn. The less the oil you use, more chances of it getting burnt.

Remove the onions and keep aside. After keeping aside 1/4th of the fried onions for garnish, crush the rest with hand or give a quick whip in a processor. (Don’t make it into fine paste) Just one pulse should be enough.

In the same oil, fry the cut tomatoes for about 3-4 minutes and keep aside.
Then add the ground masala and fry on low heat until the oil runs clear. Now add the marinated chicken, fried tomatoes, crushed onions to the masala ,mix well and let the water come out of the chicken. If there is not enough water, add ½ cup water to cook.

Cover and cook on low heat. The chicken should get cooked in about 15 minutes on low heat, but keep checking and stirring.

Add more salt and adjust taste as necessary.
Don't add too much of water as this not a gravy dish, more like a cry and tastes best with the whole onion masala sticking nicely to the chicken. Garnish with fried onion, curry leaves and coriander.
Goes well with almost everything…appam, puttu, paratha….

52 comments:

Finla said...

Yummy. Will all those onions it has to be delicious.
Can imagine eating them with appom.

FH said...

Hello Mallugirl, long time, no see!! I know you are busy. We have pretty warm weather here, sometimes gets chilly and back to normal the next day! Freaky!:D
Chicken cry (typo there?)looks delcious, will make it, bookmarked. Lots of onions are always welcome!:)
Take care, hugs.

Revathi said...

Now thats what I say is Malabar dish !!!!! Looks awesome..

Shilpa said...

The name chicken cry is perfect!!! Looks like you start crying after eating that spicy curry :D. Looks great.

Anonymous said...

well ..u can count me on this ....i like chicken gravy more than chicken pieces....i love onions..lot and lot of it in the gravy...mouthwatering...will try this weekend or next week .....cannt wait to try it out...

Mishmash ! said...

so cry must be something like chicken piralan/varattiya consistency right.....kandittu kothi varunnu....:)

Rajesh &Shankari said...

Welcome back..I try most of your chicken recipes and I most definitely will try this. I have Rajesh do the crying (chopping onions) and I will do the rest:).

vimmi said...

I thought u had written cry by mistake, but then saw the curry and fry combo. It looks so yummy. will try. Love chicken and the spicier the better

Ashwini said...

MalluG I am so glad to see you blogging again. Hope all is well (what's that about home wrapped up?).
When I read chicken cry I thought it was because the spiciness would bring tears to our eyes. But a cross between curry and fry sounds perfect - will make everyone happy.
I will try it and let you know.

Rina said...

Hi, I made something similar with steak meat yesterday.. Love your too.

Pooja V said...

Yummy ...its so cold here n this sounds just so perfect. Loved it.

Anonymous said...

Yeah commute has been horrible. That chicken looks really good. I am going to try this.

Pravs said...

gosh,looks so tempting with that deep color.Absolute must try! Nice name chicken cry :)

Coffee said...

I read somewhere that you have closed down your blog! GULP!
Glad you are here again. :)

Miri said...

The chicken cry is meant for people like me - you said it, gravy more than the meat! Looks delicious!

Meeta K. Wolff said...

I bet this dish made you all cried out. But I am sure it's what added to the flavor of the chicken too. Looks great. Nice to see you back!

Swaroopa said...

looks gr8! thanx 4 sharing...

Anonymous said...

Drooling...drooling...
Where is the new template?

venu said...

hi shaheen

Long time no see !

I know how hectic life with you and the harsh winter too:)
But here too its terrible fed up with this much of snow around and the bone chilling cold.

Ulli Kozhi/Chicken Cry or Fry ?? :)

Looks so yummy yumm.. must be really soooo tasty. I will sure try this dish this weekend.
Take care and tks.
Venu

Anonymous said...

hi mallugirl thanks for putting another chicken recipe for me to try. I have tried many recipes from your blog which always came out well and wanted to thank you for those. i have a picture of your malabar chicken curry in my blog that i couldn't help but start after reading all these wonderful blogs around for the longest time!

Anonymous said...

i tried this tonight. going to have with pathiri. it tastes so good that i had to post comment before i forget. the onion in it is the best thing. yummo!!!!!

Archana Doshi said...

Oooo, that looks delish. But I am a vegetarian. I keep forwarding great meat recipes to my brother, as he loves to cook his non veg food.

D for Dawn said...

That was delicious. Made it yesterday for a special dinner. Husband thinks that is the best dish I have ever cooked. Thanks a lot!
I always find the best recipes on blogs. Have to thank you for many more that I have tried before. :)

Anonymous said...

mmmmmmm;)
ki

Anonymous said...

Its very cold at my place too. Love all chicken recipes, Will try this one too. Thnx for sharing.. Keep yourselves warm.

www.zaiqa.net

Shah cooks said...

guys and gals.. all ur wonderful comments should go to the last commentator..ki, whose recipe this is and i am just the vehicle for posting the yummy recipe..:) no credits due to me on this one.
i did mean it as a cry.. its a colloquial term we use at home for a dish that is somewhere in between a curry and a fry.
just make sure there is enough spice to counter the sweetness of the onions in it.
see what a winner it is? ki.. how abt some more from u?

Macadamia The Nut said...

Ummm.. the previous comment was by me... :D I forgot to sign in

Sia said...

shaheen, i am so glad to see ur post:) and i am shedding 'happy' tears:)

mathew said...

thanks for the recipe..i tried this out and came out good..i have linked to your blog in my version of the same..

Kalai said...

This chicken looks great!! Am always on the lookout for new chicken dishes and this would be so wonderful in the cold weather we've been having. Thanks for sharing! :)

Linda said...

Hey S, hope you're doing well down there. We nearly saw 60F today. Spring is on the way! The ulli kozhi looks great. I am totally off beef now, this might be just the ticket :)

Anonymous said...

hi,
i am a regular reader of u r blog and i enjoy the experience throughly. pls dont ever block u r blog to select readers. i try most of u r recipes.u r my cooking guru. keep posting yummy recipes.thanks a lot...

Shah cooks said...

Thanks for trying it and the vote of confidence, mathew!
linda, isin't the weather weird.. now its cold again..hey why off beef?

Pravs said...

Just check out my blog...i have something for you :)

Anonymous said...

Glad to find you accessible again! I was wondering what I was going to do about learning about Kerala cuisine!
Stay warm; the spice will help!

Sagari said...

love your chicken curry recipe yummyyyyy

Bharathy said...

Very very warm nadan recipe,mallu girl!:)..
I have tried the same nadan dish with small onions.Addition of big onions would be easier, means lesser hassle in peeling comparitively and i will defffinitely try this method next!..coz this one seems to be Quite yummy! :)
Thanks for dropping by!:)

Anonymous said...

This looks really yummy!!! Great pic too.

KF said...

Awesome!!I am drooling over you picture...It will a better conbination with hot porotta...

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VINI said...

onion and chicken...got to be a HIT!! must try this out. Tired of making the typical malabari chicken recipes.

J said...

That picture looks so delicious, never mind if the ulli makes you cry!!

sapna said...

your ulli kozhi looks absolutely yummy. I wanted to know if we could try out the same dish with mutton.

Mishmash ! said...

Njan try cheythuu.....enikku othiri esthapettuu ....dankuuuu :) i dint crush the onion...was too lazy for that.....still it was good....:)

Zo-Ya said...

Tried the ulli chicken this weekend-loved it:)thank you!

Cheers

Shobha said...

Hello,

I tried ur recipe N it was Yummy!! My husband and girls enjoyed ur recipe. Thanks a lot.

Anonymous said...

Hi!Thanks a ton for the recipe.It came out as shown in the picture and yummy too.My Swedish friends just loved it.I ended up making it again for them :)

seltzer said...

Hi Shaheen!!!

Made the Ulli kozhi today...its so yum. Its tasting like out of the world. Because of your site i've become a good nonveg cook. Thanks a ton to u.

Anonymous said...

Thanks Mallugirl,
Tried the chicken cry ,it was good and easy and fast as I used the readymade fried onions.

Mini said...

I made this & it was just fab!

Anonymous said...

hi..
i hav'nt made this in a long time and forgot d recipe..so had to tke frm yrs 2day;)
ki

kavitha said...

the best chicken recipe and the best one I made. Thank you. I frequently visit your blog and try out the recipes. Beautiful site and presentation and content

Kavitha