Xtra Spicy Golichina Kodi Koora ~ Xtra Spicy Chicken Curry

Today we have one of the toughest letters to work with in this A-Z Challenge, Journey Through Telangana Cuisine. There is no regional word, vegetable, fruit or dish that starts with X. To go around this, we decided to use an adjective. I had a few ideas but was unsure what to do for this letter. I eventually decided to take the easy route and made (e)xtra spicy golichina (fried) kodi koora or (e)xtra spicy chicken fry, a dry curry. This curry isn’t as extra spicy as the title says but can easily be made spicier by throwing in some extra spices.

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I considered doing (e)xperience Bathukamma or (e)xperience Sammakka Sarakka Jatara though my lens. The only problem was, I don't have any pictures to backup anyone of these festivals. It had been years since I have been in India for Bathukamma and I never been to Sammakka Sarakka Jatara that is celebrate every two years in February, in a village called Madaram in Warangal district. I had to drop both the ideas and went with a recipe. I briefly mentioned about bathukamma festival in my N Nethichamili Muddalu post. Sammakka Sarakka Jatara (fair) is a tribal festival celebrated for 3 - 4 days and is believed to attract millions of people. This jatara takes place close to my aunt's village whom I mentioned in my R for Rustic Shrimp post, the one who once lived near river Godavari. According to my aunt, this jatara is attended not only by the tribes from neighboring states but also by many people living in and around Medaram village in Warangal district. My cousins live in Hyderabad and travel to their native village to attended this jatara, whenever it is celebrated. However, I recently read an article that this jatara is losing it's charm. You can read more about the jatara on Wiki.

Coming to today's post, I usually do not make chicken dry curry that often and it is always chicken shorva as it goes with any kind of food; flat breads, plain rice and rice varieties. Chicken fry seldom gets prepared in my kitchen. I seized this BM as an excuse to make the curry. I am not really happy with the pictures. I took these just before dusk. I had some lighting and white balance issues. You can notice the difference in the color of the food in vertical and horizontal photos. I did not want to edit the pictures too much that the food looks completely different in the photos.

Total Time: 35 - 40 minutes (excludes marination time and time required to cut whole chicken)
Preparation: 10 minutes
Cooking Time: 25 - 30 minutes
Serves: 4 - 6

Ingredients:
Marination:

3 lbs Whole Chicken, clean and cut into pieces
4 tsp. Chili Powder
¾ tbsp. Salt

Koora / Curry:

½ cup Oil
4 Cardamoms
2 Cloves
¾ “ Cinnamon
½ tsp. Shah Jeera
½ cup chopped Methi Leaves ~ Fenugreek Leaves (opt)
3 medium sized Onions, chopped 3 cups
4 tbsp. Ginger Garlic
10 small Green Chilies, slit into two pieces
2 ½ tbsp. Coriander Powder
1 tbsp. Chili Powder (adjust to taste)
1 ½ - 2 tsp. Salt (adjust to taste)
Turmeric Powder
1 cup Yogurt
4 tbsp. Coconut Powder
1 tsp. Roasted Coriander Powder or Garam Masala

Preparation:

Marinate the chicken with ingredients listed under marination for at least ½ hour.
Heat oil in a wide nonstick pan, for this quantity you will need a 12” pan.
Add cloves, cardamom and shahjeera and let the spices release the aroma.
Add methi leaves and sauté for few minutes until leaves wither.
Add onions and sauté until light yellow brown. This will take at least 5 - 8 minutes or even longer.
Add Ginger garlic paste, green chilies, sauté until ginger is sauteed and raw smell is gone.
Add coriander, chili powder salt turmeric and mix well.
Reduce heat to low. Add yogurt and stir immediately, otherwise yogurt can curdle.
Once well incorporated, increase flame to medium to medium high, and sauté until oil separates. About 2-3 minutes.
Add chicken and sauté until masala coats the chicken pieces.
Cover and cook until chicken is just tender. Do not over cook and stir in between.
Remove cover and continue sautéing until all the juices evaporate.
Add coconut, garam masala and fry on medium low to low flame until the chicken is brown and the masala comes together, about 6-10 minute on low flame.
Transfer to a serving bowl, garnish with cilantro. Serve it with rice or Indian flatbread.

Notes:

Chicken in the US cooks very fast. I add chicken directly to the masala. If chicken takes longer to cook, as in country chicken we get back home in India, chicken can be pre-cooked with spices listed under marinade and added to the curry. The preparation is similar. Instead of raw chicken, add cooked chicken.