Kerala style spicy Chicken Fry ... and a thank you for 100,000+ hits!

To be honest, I'm seriously getting tired of this winter. When you think it's gonna get over, it snows :-) Having lived all my pre-married life in the Middle East where it's almost always summer, bearing this icy cold winter is like a nightmare for me. But on the bright side, Spring is just a few weeks away and I'm eagerly waiting for it.

I love the way we can see the changes in the 4 seasons here in US. I still remember how my 5th grade teacher used to describe her US vacations with so much pride and I guess we were studying something related to seasons in geography and she used to draw such a beautiful picture in our minds of how Spring, Summer, Autumn and Winter looks so picture perfect in this part of the world and for us little kids, it was like dreaming of dreamland :-) And I'm living in it now ...lol!!

Here are a few glimpses of this winter I captured on my Iphone.

On a snowy day, a shot from our patio.

Before heading to office one fine morning, the snow clad trees looked so pretty I couldn't resist taking a snap.

Another quick pic taken before dropping lil'Appu at his daycare...he wasn't very happy with all the cold wind on his face first thing in the morning...but was a darling to pose with Papa :-) This is one of my favorite pics.

The best ways to beat this cold is to actually take part in it. Do winter activities like snow tubing, skiing, ice skating , make a snowman or simply throw snowballs at each other. Though I haven't done any of this b'coz I don’t think I have the courage to stand out in the cold for that long, even with 5 layers of winter cloths on, it definitely sounds like fun and many of my friends are enjoying it with their families. Maybe next year when lil'Appu is a bit bigger and may actually enjoy playing in the snow, I might dare to try making a snowman :-)

Another good way to beat this cold is eat some comforting homemade food. I won't lie to you by saying I only eat homemade food, I do enjoy my share of take-outs and dine-ins at restaurants. But nothing beats homemade stuff, does it?

Chicken fry is a rare treat at our home as I usually never make stuff that includes frying in a lot of oil. Most of the time it'll be grilled or baked chicken or chicken curry. But sometimes frying adds a certain flavor and taste that cannot be obtained by grilling or baking. And how about a typical Keralite version – fried in coconut oil? Delicious!!

My mom never used too much coconut oil in her cooking for as long as I know, so even I got used to the habit of using vegetable oil for my cooking. But the memories of the taste of food that we ate while vacationing in Kerala makes my mouth water and crave for some typical naadan kerala style food cooked in this aromatic and flavorful oil.

And so, when I prepared the Kappa Masala with cilantro-coconut chutney for a weekend lunch , I decided to pair it with some spicy chicken legs fried in coconut oil and garnished with crunchy curry leaves. The taste is beyond explanation and paired extremely well with the Kappa and chammanthi. (I shallow fried the chicken legs, you can deep fry if you want to :-) )

Kerala style Spicy Chicken Fry in Coconut Oil

You’ll need

Chicken legs – 4

Red chilli powder – 1 tblsp

Pepper powder – 1 tblsp

Turmeric powder – 1 tsp
Garam masala powder – 1 tsp

Ginger –Garlic paste –  ½ tblsp

Salt – to taste

Water – enough to make a smooth paste of the spice mix

Coconut oil – ½ cup (for shallow frying – I used Parachute brand)

Curry leaves – 1-2 sprigs (about 8-10 leaves)

Directions:

1. Wash and clean the chicken legs and pat them dry with a paper towel. Make 2-3 slits over the chicken legs with a sharp knife.

2. Make a smooth paste with the spice mix and salt. Do a gentle taste test of the mix to make sure its seasoned well. ( Be careful – its spicy!!)

3. Apply the spice marinade over the chicken legs evenly making sure to get the marination in the slits and all. Refrigerate and marinate for 15-20 minutes.

4. Heat the coconut oil in a frying pan and fry the curry leaves until crunchy and keep it aside.

5. Now fry the chicken legs in the same oil until its well done and browned slightly on both sides.

6. Garnish and serve with the fried curry leaves on top.

Frying the curry leaves first was actually done by mistake, but it added a lovely curry leaf essence to the oil which gets absorbed by the chicken legs while frying , so I modified my original recipe to do that as the first step. Make sure you do not burn the curry leaves :-)

It’s a simple preparation. The same marination can be used while grilling or baking. And the coconut oil imparts so much flavor , if you haven’t tried it yet, then you must!

Oh and before I stop rambling, I wanted to share the joy of my blog hitting 100,000+ pageviews Yaaayyyyy!!! Thank you all for supporting me and my blog and sharing such lovely comments and feedback . I’ll try to do my best to give you quality posts and delicious recipes collected from my family, friends , books and web + some of my own creations ;-)  

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And you can always contact me via email : manjuseatingdelights@gmail.com or use the 'Contact Me' page. Have a good day everyone.

-Manju