Curried Chicken Soup

Curried Chicken Soup

A delicious curry, made of chicken soup. Best with pulao / rice / biryani / rotis / parathas … This type of chicken gravy is popular in several restaurants in Chennai.

Ingredients

For the chicken:

600 g chicken pieces (net weight after cleaning), cut into medium size

½ teaspoon turmeric powder

½ teaspoon salt

Wash and clean chicken pieces. Drain out water thoroughly. In a bowl, marinate chicken pieces evenly with turmeric powder and salt. Cover and keep aside for half an hour.

Other ingredients for the soup:

3 cloves

3 cardamom

1 cinnamon stick

¾ teaspoon red chilli powder

1 1/2 teaspoon coriander powder

12 – 14 shallots (chuvannulli / small onion), chopped

1 teaspoon chopped ginger

10 cloves garlic, chopped

1 teaspoon vinegar

1 teaspoon salt (or to taste)

3 cups / 600 ml water

Method

In a wide bowl, boil marinated chicken pieces with red chilli powder, coriander powder, shallots (ulli), garlic, ginger, vinegar, salt to taste (first add 3/4 teaspoon and check the taste) and water (1 - inch  level above  chicken pieces), Cover with a lid and boil on a medium to low heat for 20 -  25 minutes until the water (soup)  has reduced to about 2 cups / well cooked. Strain this  soup through a clean iron sieve. Now this soup is very clear.  Reserve cooked chicken for any  other preparation (like pepper chicken, masala chicken, ginger chicken …).

Final seasoning:

Ingredients

1 tablespoon oil

1 big onion, thinly sliced

4 -6  curry leaves, finely chopped (if not using curry leaves, finally sprinkle chopped coriander leaves)

Extra salt to taste (or 1/4 teaspoon salt)

Method

Heat oil in a pan on a medium heat.  Add sliced onion and fry until golden color. Add curry leaves and fry again for 5 minutes on a medium heat.

Now  add chicken soup, adjust salt to taste and cook again a on a low heat for another 10 minutes until the gravy is thick / well combined with onion/ fragrant. Serve with rice / pulao / chapatti / appam / idiyappam / whole wheat bread …