Chicken pieces in a creamy thick sauce of coconut milk, spices and vegetables. A delicious side dish for steamed rice, bread, appam or string hoppers.
Kerala Chicken Stew is a mildly spicy dish but rich in flavors. It is a traditional dish from Kerala, a southern State in India.
Kerala Cuisine is known for its vast options for everyone, whether it is vegetarian or non-vegetarian. Forms of coconut, like its meat, water, milk and oil, Jaggery or palm sugar, spices like green chilies, curry leaves, cardamom, etc. are commonly used. Rice is a staple throughout the State and have a variety of dishes, snacks and desserts using rice and rice flour.
What is Kerala Chicken Stew?
Kerala Style Chicken Stew is a rice flavored curry, cooked in coconut milk and has a perfectly balanced taste from whole spices and vegetables. It is a must have dish in Kerala Christian household for any special events or occasions. Mostly it is served with Palappam and/ or string hoppers as a breakfast dish or as an appetizer for wedding receptions in Central Kerala.
You can serve this dish with steamed rice and bread like flat bread, naan bread, etc.
What Can we Use Instead of Chicken?
We can substitute chicken with mutton, goat, fish, egg, shrimp/prawns.
To make it vegan or vegetarian, avoid meat and simply cook your favorite vegetables by following the cooking instructions.
Which Vegetables to Use?
In this recipe, I have used carrot, potato and green peas. But you can add string beans, cauliflower, broccoli and mushrooms.
Why Use Coconut oil and Coconut milk?
Kerala cuisine is famous for its use of coconut. In order to get that authentic, traditional flavor it is a must to use coconut oil and coconut milk.
I have used canned coconut milk in this recipe.
How to Make Coconut Milk?
Using fresh homemade coconut milk in the stew will enhance its taste. To make fresh coconut milk we need 1 cup fresh grated coconut. Add 1 cup of warm water and grind in a mixer grinder or blender for few seconds. Pour this into a strainer or to a muslin cloth-lined mesh sieve, and squeeze the milk to a bowl using your hands. This first milk is the thick milk of coconut.
Put the leftover grated coconut from the strainer back to the blender bowl and add 2 cups of warm water and repeat the above steps. The milk we squeeze out is called the second milk which is the thin coconut milk.
But it is okay to use canned coconut milk just as I did in this recipe. You will require 1 can of coconut milk (13.5 oz./400 ml), which contains 2 cups of thick coconut milk.
Shake the can well before opening. Reserve 1 cup of thick milk from the can. Then mix 2 cups of water to the remaining 1 cup of milk for thin milk.
For making milk from Coconut milk powder, follow the instructions on the package.
To make the stew in a thick-rich consistency, 1) Mix 1 tbsp full of cashew nut paste in thin coconut milk and cook the chicken and vegetables in it. OR
2) mix thick coconut milk with 1 tsp of corn starch or corn flour and pour into the stew.
What Spices to Use?
Spices are used abundantly to give distinct taste to the dish. For the Chicken stew recipe we have to roast some whole spices in coconut oil. They are Fennel Seeds, Bay leaf, Cinnamon stick, Cloves, Cardamom pods and Black pepper corns.
I didn’t use pepper corns, instead I added a teaspoon of freshly grounded black pepper powder at the end.
What if you don’t have any of the whole spices in your kitchen pantry? You can use Garam Masala powder, which is easily available in any Indian Stores or Super markets. Add 1 teaspoon full of garam masala powder at the end, while we add the thick milk.
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KERALA STYLE CHICKEN STEW
Equipment
- 1 Medium Mixing bowl
- 1 Heavy Bottom Pot
Ingredients
- ½ Kg Chicken thighs (skinless)
- 1 large Carrot (cut into cubes)
- 1 large Potato (cut into cubes)
- ½ cup Green Peas (if frozen, thaw it before using)
- 4 Green chilies or as per spice level (split into two)
- 4 cloves Garlic (thinly sliced)
- 1 tbsp Ginger (thinly sliced)
- 1 large Red Onion (thinly sliced)
- 3 cups Thin Coconut Milk
- 1 cup Thick Coconut Milk
- 1 ½ tsp Salt or as per taste
- 1 tbsp Coconut Oil
- 1 – 2 stem Curry leaves
- ¼ tsp Garam Masala
- 1 tsp Black Pepper Powder (Refer Note 4)
Whole Spices :
- 1 pinch Fennel Seeds
- 1 Bay leaf
- 1 inch Cinnamon stick
- 4 Cinnamon Cloves
- 5 Cardamom pods
Instructions
- Wash and drain chicken thighs and cut into medium size pieces.
- Heat a heavy bottom pan and add coconut oil into it. Once the oil is hot, add the whole spices (Note 4) and fry for few seconds. Make sure not to burn the spices.
- Add green chilies and curry leaves and fry for a minute.
- Then add the sliced onions, along with some salt. Sauté for a minute and add sliced ginger and garlic. Cover with a lid and cook it for few minutes stirring in between.
- Once the onion turns to light brown color, pour in 3 cups of thin coconut milk (Refer Note 1 & 2). Allow it to boil.
- Add the chicken thighs. Cover the pan and cook on medium heat for 10 minutes, or until the chicken is half done.
- Take the lid off and add the cubed carrots and potatoes. Cover and cook for another 8 or 10minutes.
- Add green peas and cook the stew with lid off on medium high. Let it boil till the gravy begins to thicken or the gravy reduce to half.
- Stir in a teaspoon full of black pepper powder (Refer Note 4). Then add 1/4 tsp of garam masala (optional).
- Mix the stew with 1 cup of thick coconut milk (Refer Note 1 & 3). Turn off the heat (Refer Note 5) and garnish with some fresh curry leaves or roasted cashew nuts. Have the stew with steamed rice, bread, appam or string hoppers.
Video
Notes
- If using canned milk, shake the can well before opening and take 1 cup of milk. Mix this with 2 cups of water to get thin coconut milk. Use the rest 1 cup of canned milk as thick milk. Please read How to make Coconut Milk for more details and options.
- Mix 1 tbsp full of cashew nut paste in thin coconut milk before adding. This gives the stew a rich flavor.
- For a creamy and thick stew, mix thick coconut milk with1 tsp of corn starch or corn flour and pour into the stew.
- If you include 1 tsp of black pepper corns in the whole spices, then no need to add black pepper powder.
- Do not boil the stew after adding thick coconut milk. Or else the stew will curdle.
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