Instant pot Chettinad Chicken Curry | Chettinad Chicken Curry

Here I am with another recipe from my favorite Chettinad cuisine, Instant pot Chettinad Chicken Curry. I’m sure you can’t stop eating this curry. Hope you will try this.

Chettinad Cuisine

Chettinad Cuisine is the most renowned and popular cuisine of Tamil Nadu, South India. It uses a variety of spices and the dishes are made from ground masalas. Most of the dishes are had along with rice or rice-based dishes like Idli/ Dosa, Appam, Paniyaram, Idiyappam/ String hoppers. Chettinad cuisine offers a variety of vegetarian and non-vegetarian dishes. The spices mostly used in this cuisine are, 

1. Star aniseed
2. Peppercorn
3. Fennel seeds
4. Fenugreek seeds
5. Chili
6. Cumin seeds 
7. Cloves 
8. Cardamom 
9. Cinnamon 
10. Bay leaf

Chettinad Chicken Curry 

I have already tried Chettinad Egg curry and I loved it to the core. So this time I made this Chicken curry and the flavors are the best. This Chicken curry tastes best with rice, chapati, or paratha. If you don’t want the curry spicy, try using Kashmiri dry red chili in the place of normal ones. The Kashmiri chilies give you a nice bright red color but less heat.

How to make Chettinad chicken in Instant Pot?

Making this Chettinad chicken curry in Instant Pot makes the whole process a lot easier. You don’t have to keep stirring the curry and you don’t have to keep on checking if the chicken is cooked. 

The whole spices roasted till aromatic and then add grated coconut. Grind it coarsely with a small amount of water. In an Instant Pot, heat oil and add bay leaf, then onion and tomato. Saute it. Then add the ground coconut masala paste and chicken. Mix the chicken thoroughly in the masala and then add the required water and salt. Close the Instant Pot with the lid and press the poultry button or press the manual button and press cook time for 15 minutes. When the curry is ready, serve it with roti, chapati, or rice. 

A short video to make Chettinad Chicken Curry

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Can I make this curry on the stovetop?

Yes, of course, you can cook this on the stovetop. Use the thick-bottomed deep pan to cook this chicken curry. Once you add the chicken, let it cook in its own water. Add water only if it is required. Keep stirring at regular intervals, so the chicken gets cooked evenly. 

Can I make this vegan?

If you don’t want to use chicken, you can use Mushroom.

Shhhh secret cooking challenge.

This Chicken Chettinad is my contribution to the Shhh Secret cooking challenge FB group. This month’s theme was cuisine from Tamil Nadu where I was paired with fellow blogger Sasmita. She gave me two secret ingredients, Fennel seeds, and coconut. With those ingredients, I made this delicious curry. I gave her potato and onion and she made delicious paniyaram.

If you like this chicken curry, you may also like

2 in 1 Mom in-laws chicken curry

Kashmiri Chicken curry

Andhra Chicken Curry

You also don’t want to miss Best Indian Curry recipe Collection.

Recipe to make Instant Pot Chettinad Chicken Curry

Ingredients

Chicken – ½ Lb

Onion – ½ Cup – chopped

Tomato – 2 Medium-sized chopped

Bay leaf – 1

Curry leaves – few

Salt – As required

Turmeric powder – ¼ tsp

Cilantro – few

Oil – 2 tsp

To roast and grind

Cinnamon stick – ½ inch

Cloves – 2

Fennel seeds – 1 tsp

Coriander seeds – 2 tbsp

Poppy seeds – ½ tsp

Ginger – 1-inch piece 9 cleaned and chopped)

Garlic – 3 pods

Dry red chili – 3

Coconut – ½ cup grated ( I used frozen)

Method

• Clean and cut the chicken into small cubes. Add turmeric powder and mix thoroughly. Keep aside.
• In a heavy-bottomed pan, add 1 tsp of oil. Add all ingredients except coconut under the title ‘to roast and grind’. Gently saute it till a nice aroma arises.
• Then add grated coconut and saute till it turns golden.
• Switch off the heat and let the mixture cool down.
• Once cooled down, grind the coconut mixture to a coarse paste with a little amount of water.
• Switch on Instant Pot. Add another tsp of oil.
• When it is hot, add a bay leaf.
• Then add chopped onions and curry leaves.
• Saute till it turns translucent.
• Add chopped tomatoes. Mix it. Let it cook for 2 minutes.
• Then add the ground coconut paste and mix thoroughly.
• Add the chicken cubes and mix with the coconut paste. Let the masala nicely get coated in the chicken.
• Then add the required water and salt. Check for the spiciness. If it is low, you can add pepper powder or red chili powder.
• Close the lid. Press the manual button and then set cook time to 15 minutes.
• Once cooked, let the pressure release naturally.
• Open the lid and add chopped cilantro leaves.
• Serve.

Notes

1. You can roast the whole spices in the Instant Pot itself instead of using the pan.
2. If you don’t want too much spicy curry, instead of normal dry red chili, use Kashmiri red chili. It gives a nice red color but it is less spicy.

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