Taystit by Hasna: Kethel's Chicken

Kethel's Chicken

Who doesn't love a good fried chicken? Well, this one is an invention that can be exclusively found in Hotel Rahmaniya, Kozhikode, Kerala. Kethel's chicken is usually prepared with spring chicken (the young bird), this makes it more delicious and succulent, giving it the best flavor. Here, I have used normal chicken pieces, you may use spring chicken pieces preferably.

The chicken pieces are marinated in a special spice blend using ingredients like dried Kashmir Chilies (these chillies are not spicy), rock salt, etc. A part of the spice blend is reserved to fry at the end of the frying process. The chicken is then kept for marination half an hour or overnight. Of course, this is just my version of Kethel's chicken :D

But I promise you, it tastes soo good, and do not forget to use coconut oil for frying. The chicken is usually deep fried, but I used a cast iron kadai, sent to me by @earthandethics, thanks to Faiza, may Allah bless her business abundantly, made the frying process so convenient with very less oil. I do not like using a lot of oil, especially coconut oil, as all the extra oil would go to waste. And I hate wasting anything.

Also a tad bit of rice flour is added right before frying, this helps the coating on the chicken stay intact. Do try the recipe and let me know how you liked it! It's lip smacking good!

Ingredients :

400 gms Chicken pieces, preferably spring chicken
10-12 Whole Dried Kashmir Chillies
1 tsp Rock Salt
1 tsp Fennel seeds
2-3 Garlic cloves
1/4 inch Ginger
1 tsp Rice Flour
1 tbsp Lemon Juice
1 tsp Red Chilli flakes (optional)
1+1/2 tsp Kashmiri Red Chilli Powder
1/4 tsp Turmeric powder
2 sprigs Curry leaves
Coconut Oil, for frying

Instructions:

Using a small mixer grinder/ a mortar and pestle, grind the whole Kashmiri Chillies with garlic, ginger, rock salt, fennel seeds, lemon juice and ground or pulse coarsly. To this mix, add the red chilli flakes. Reserve a tablespoon of the mix.
Now to the cleaned chicken pieces, add turmeric powder, Kashmiri Chilli powder, Crushed chilli mix, and salt as required. Mix well, and rub the marinade all over the chicken and set aside for half hour or overnight.
Add curry leaves and rice powder to the marinated chicken.
In a deep kadai, pour coconut oil and fry for 8-10 minutes, both sides.
Finally, when the last batch of the chicken is frying, in the last few minutes, add the reserved chilli mix and fry and fish out the chilli mix and add over the fried chicken pieces.
Enjoy hot with ghee rice, roti, dal fry etc.

Do try this recipe and don't forget to share your experience/feedback with me here in the comments or feel free to send me a mail. Also, do tag me at #taystedit if you try out my recipes on Facebook, Instagram etc so that I can see when you make it. ♡♡♡♡