Kerala Chicken Fry Recipe (The BEST Thattukada Style recipe)
Kerala chicken fry is a minimalist chicken fry recipe that doesn’t even have a batter or breading over the chicken. Widely found in Kerala, this dish is served as a snack or with biryani. You’ll fall in love with the simplicity and the rich flavor.
Servings 4 people
Equipment
- Deep Frying Pan
- Slotted Spoon
- Tongs
Ingredients
- 750 g Chicken , bone-in medium sized pieces*
- 1 tsp Ginger Garlic paste
- 1/2 tsp Turmeric Powder
- 3/4 tsp Coriander Powder
- 1 tsp Chilli Powder , heaped, adjust to taste
- 1/8 tsp Garam Masala
- 1 tbsp Rice Flour
- 2 tbsp Lemon Juice
- 3/4 tsp Salt , adjust to taste
- 1/2 litre Coconut Oil , or any nuetral vegetable oil
Instructions
- Wash and pat dry the chicken. Add it to a mixing bowl and apply the ginger garlic paste over the chicken pieces until it coats all the chicken pieces thoroughly.
- In another small mixing bowl, combine the turmeric powder, coriander powder, chilli powder, garam masala powder, rice flour, lemon juice and salt. Mixing them all with a spoon.
- Add the mixed paste to the chicken and coat the chicken pieces with the masala paste.
- Cover the mixing bowl and place it in the refrigerator and let it rest overnight or at least 8 hours.
- After the marination time, heat a frying pan and pour the coconut oil or any other oil you're using into the pan.
- Heat the oil until a drop of masala paste immediately comes up and gets burnt. Now reduce the heat to medium flame. Add two or three chicken pieces based on your pan's size.
- Make sure to not crowd the pan. Flip the chicken pieces midway if your pan is shallow.
- Cook for about 15 minutes or until the chicken is deep goldern brown in color. Remove the pieces using tongs or a slotted spoon and place it in a colander lined with a place underneat; for the oil to drain.
- Serve immediately. Fry the remaining pieces in batches.
Notes
- This Kerala chicken fry is best with bone-in chicken. Should you use boneless meat, go for thigh meat.
- If you want to make this with boneless chicken meat, you need to adjust the cooking time. Breast pieces cook quickly and overcooking them results in rubbery meat.
- I use 3/4 tsp of salt as I feel over the time of marination it seems enough. Feel free to adjust it as per your liking.
- If you're using coconut oil for frying and if it is your first time, you should know that the oil foams up quite a bit. This is why your pan should be deep and fill it with oil only till halfway.
- You can use Chicken Drumsticks if you don't want to go for a mixed type of cut. Cut the ligaments at the bottom of the drumsticks and push towards the top as much as you can. This ensures proper cooking through of the drumsticks.