Goan Style Chicken with Roasted Coconut
Submitted by apachelady30
Goan chicken curry with dry-roasted whole spices, toasted fresh coconut, garlic-ginger paste, and green chilies. An authentic West Indian recipe with layered, aromatic flavors.
YIELD
6 servingsPREP
15 minCOOK
30 minREADY
45 minThis Goan chicken curry builds its spice blend from scratch. Whole coriander, cumin, mustard seeds, cinnamon, cloves, peppercorns, and dried red chili get dry-roasted in a pan until fragrant, then ground to a fine powder. That toasted spice mix has a depth and warmth that pre-ground spices from a jar simply cannot replicate.
Three cups of fresh grated coconut go through the same dry-roasting treatment, picking up brown flecks and a nutty, toasted aroma. Mixed with the ground spices, this forms the backbone of the curry, giving it body and a subtle sweetness that balances the heat from the green chilies.
The garlic-ginger paste blended with fresh green chili adds a bright, sharp punch. It hits the pan right after the onions brown, and you can smell the whole kitchen shift when those aromatics bloom in the hot oil. The chicken simmers gently in this spice-coconut mixture for about 30 minutes, absorbing everything as it cooks.
Kitchen Tips
- Stir constantly while dry-roasting. Whole spices and coconut go from perfectly toasted to scorched in seconds. Keep the heat medium and your eyes on the pan.
- Use fresh coconut if at all possible. Dried desiccated coconut works in a pinch, but fresh grated coconut has moisture and sweetness that dried cannot match.
- Add water sparingly. Only add enough to prevent sticking. You want a thick, clinging sauce, not a watery gravy. A few tablespoons at a time is plenty.
Variations
- Goan fish curry: Swap the chicken for firm white fish fillets (pomfret or cod) and reduce the simmering time to 10 to 12 minutes.
- Vindaloo-style: Add 2 tablespoons of white vinegar to the sauce for that signature Goan tanginess.
Ingredients
Directions
Put the coriander seeds, cumin seeds, mustard seeds, cinnamon, cloves, peppercorns, nutmeg and red chili in a small frying pan.
Place over a medium flame.
Now quickly ‘dry-roast’ the spices, stirring them frequently until they emit a very pleasant ‘roasted’ aroma.
Empty the spices into a clean coffee grinder or spice grinder and grind until fine.
Put spiced in bowl.
Put the coconut into the same frying pan and dry roast it over a medium flame, stirring all the time.
The coconut should pick up lots of brown flecks and also smell roasted.
Put the coconut in the bowl with the other dry roasted spices.
Put the garlic, ginger, and green chili into the container of an electric blender, along with some water.
Blend until you have a paste.
Heat the oil in a 10 to 12 inch frying pan or sauté pan over a medium high flame.
When hot put in the onions. Stir and fry them until they pick up brown spots.
Now pour in the garlic-ginger mixture and stir once.
Turn heat to medium.
Put in the chicken pieces, salt, as well as the spice coconut mixture in the bowl.
Stir and fry the chicken for 3 to 4 minutes or until it loses its pinkness and turn heat to low, and cook for 25 to 30 minutes or until chicken is tender.
Add water as needed to prevent burning, stir a few times during this cooking period, making sure that you turn over each piece of chicken so that it gets evenly colored.
Comments
this recipe doesn't work. You end up with a pan full of dry ingredients and chicken. Recipe says add 'some water to make a paste'. Where do you add the rest of the water? What a mess!! So disappointing to ruin good ingredients.
Sorry to hear this recipe didn't work out for you, and we just reviewed the recipe, edited the last paragraph of the directions; we put in "add water as needed to prevent burning", so just add moderate water, which adds extra moisture too.