a white mughal's kitchen: A Brief History of Chicken Chettinad

I recently discovered this beautiful Indian cookbook – “The Bangla Table: Flavours and Recipes from Chettinad” – written by Sumeet Nair and Mrs Meenakshi Meyyappan. Its a collection of recipes and stories from the Chettinad culture in South India’s Tamil Nadu state. The Nattukottai Chettinads were a people of traders who were known for their wide and adventurous travels – across India and other parts of South Asia, including Sri Lanka, Burma, Laos, Vietnam, Malaysia and Indonesia – in the 19th and early 20^th centuries. Phew! Now their descendants live in 73 villages and three still functioning temples centred around the town of Karaikudi, some 400 kilometres from Chennai. (It’s apparently about 7 hours drive --- from Chennai or Bangalore.)

Chettinad cuisine - a mixture of both veg and non-veg dishes – has been heavily influenced by the history of this unique community, including borrowing from Penang’s famous Straits Chinese cooking, the flavours and herbs of Vietnam and Laos, and the Buddhist culinary culture of colonial Ceylon, now Sri Lanka. Christian, Muslim and Hindu cultures have all had there impact on the people and the food of the Chettiars, as they are known.

The other major influence on Chettinad cuisine was, perhaps not surprisingly, the British occupation and colonisation of India and surrounding countries in the 18^th and 19^th centuries. Many traditional British recipes were either adapted for Indian conditions or somehow evolved into what is known as Anglo-Indian cuisine – or “butler cuisine”, as its also known due to the fact that chefs and staff in the homes of both the British and the wealthy Chettiars were known as butlers and these staff were over the years shared between the two cultures.

The source of the recipes in “The Bangala Table” comes from one single family-owned business ... a heritage boutique hotel (or ‘stay’ as they are known in India) known as The Bangala. This is an early 1900’s mansion now converted into a 25 room hotel run by the MSMM family (in Tamil culture families are known by the initials of each succeeding generation) and the matriarch of the current family is Mrs Meenaskhi Mayyappan, who is also the co-author of the book.

My Chicken Chettinad Pepper Masala

This week I cooked one of the signature dishes from this book ... Milagu Masala Kozhi or Chicken Chettinad Pepper Masala, described as the “flag bearer of Chettinad cuisine”.

The masala is dominated by a slighlty numbing mix of black pepper and chillies which gives the dish a very dark and viscous appearance.   But the taste was sublime - especially when paired with two other recipes from the book – Beetroot Poriyal, a wonderfully fresh tasting and crunchy beetroot dish cooked with mustard seeds, more chillies and grated coconut and Mathulampazham Thayir Pachadi (try ordering that in a restaurant!?) or pomegranate raita.

There are a number of other fantastic looking recipes in book including Crab Curry Masala, a Mutton Ball Curry, Quail 65, Fish Kozhambu, Crab Rasam and Eggplant Masala.
All of these recipes have a distinctive South Indian flavour to them with heavy spicing and the sour taste of tamarind, common to many Tamil recipes of the region.

Here is the recipe for the famous Chicken Chettinad!

Chicken Chettinad Pepper Masala   (Milagu Masala Kozhi)

The thick pepper & chilli masala

Ingredients:

Wet Paste: 1 t fennel seeds 2 t black peppercorns (I used 3) 1 t cumin seeds 4 dried red chillies 1 t coriander seeds ½ t tumeric powder 1 t grated ginger and ½ t grated garlic (I simply used ginger-garlic paste that we make up each week in our kitchen) ½ C vegetable oil 2 inch piece of cinnamom 2 green cardamom pods (crack open the pod) 1 ½ red onions, finely chopped ½ C tomato puree or paste 1 t sea salt 600 gms of chicken (1 small – medium chicken cut into 8 or more pieces)

The chicken pieces cooking in the curry mix

Method:

Dry roast fennel, peppercorns, cumin, and dried red chillies in fry pan on low heat. Grind them and then add a little water along with turmeric, garlic and ginger. Leave aside.

Heat large frypan on high heat and add oil. Add cinnamom, cardamom and onion and cook for 4 mins. Add tomato puree and cook further minute. Add wet masala and stir. Cook 10 – 12 minutes, till oil separates from masala. Add salt and stir.

Add chicken and coast with the masala ingredients in pot. Cook 2 mins and then add 1 ½ cups water. Boil on high heat for 4 mins then reduce heat to low and cook for 15-20 mins, stirring occasionally. Sauce should be reduced to thick coatening on chicken.

Serve with Beetroot Poriyal and Mathulampazham Thayir Pachadi .