Kerala Chicken Fry

Ingredients

  1. Whole Chicken - 1/2 kg (or 1 lb cut into 15-20 pieces with bones in)
  2. Oil (about 200 ml) - for deep frying
  3. Ginger Garlic Paste - 1 tbsp
  4. Red Chili Powder - 2 tsp
  5. Paprika (or Kashmiri chili powder) - 1 tbsp (This is optional but gives a nice color without increasing the spice)
  6. Pepper Powder - 1 tsp
  7. Turmeric Powder - 1/4 tsp
  8. Fennel Powder - 1 tsp (or use Garam Masala)
  9. Lemon Juice - 1 tbsp
  10. Rice flour (or Corn flour) - 1 tbsp
  11. Salt - as needed
  12. Curry Leaves - 2-3 springs (keep the leaves whole or tear it with hands)

Method

  1. Cut the chicken into medium sized pieces and wash it nicely. Traditionally this is made with bone in chicken pieces. You can however make it with boneless chicken too.
  2. Mix the chicken with all the ingredients in the spice mix - red chili powder, kashmiri chili powder, pepper powder, fennel powder, turmeric powder and salt. You can also mix all the spices in a separate bowl  and then rub it onto the chicken pieces. I haven't added Kashmiri chili powder or paprika here.
  3. Finally mix in the rice flour, lemon juice and fresh curry leaves. Let this rest and marinate for at least half an hour. Overnight marination will be good.
  4. When you are ready to fry, heat oil in a kadai on high heat. Once the oil is hot enough, you are ready to fry. You can feel the oil has become hot if you place your palm at a safe distance over the kadai. It should not get smoking hot because then the chicken pieces will not get cooked. 
  5. Reduce the flame to medium and gently add a few pieces (6-8 depending on the size of the pan) of the marinated chicken in the hot oil. 
  6. Fry for about 6-8 minutes till all the sides are uniformly golden brown. Deep fry the chicken pieces in batches until it is completely cooked.
  7. Remove the pieces from the hot oil using a slotted spoon and drain the excess oil in paper towel. The curry leaves will get fried along with the chicken pieces which adds a nice flavor as well as gives a pretty presentation. Sometimes I like to fry some extra curry leaves and garnish using that. In my house, everyone enjoy the crispy fried curry leaves as much as the crispy chicken pieces.


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