Chettinad chicken curry with cumin rice

Start by making the marinade for the chicken. Add all of the ingredients to a large bowl and leave to marinade for around 1 hour

Next, make the chettinad masala powder. Heat a large pan over a low medium heat and add in the red chillies, coriander seeds, fennel seeds, cumin seeds, fenugreek seeds, poppy seeds, black peppercorns, cardamom pods, cinnamon, cloves and star anise. Toast until fragrant and lightly browned, then set aside to cool

Transfer the cooled spices to a spice grinder and blitz a fine powder. Set aside until needed

To the same pan, add in the oil, coconut and curry leaves then toast until the coconut has turned a light golden colour. Remove and set aside 

To make the chettinad masala paste, add the coconut mix, cashews, chettinad masala powder and a dash of cold water to a small blender. Blitz until it forms a smooth paste then set aside

For the curry base, heat a large frying pan over medium, then add the bay leaf and ghee

Once the bay leaf is fragrant, add the onions and cook for around 15 minutes, or until soft and lightly browned

Set the onions aside, then add in a splash of oil and turn the heat up to high. Fry off the chicken legs until golden brown and nicely seared, then set them aside on a separate plate. Add the onions back to the pan then stir in the chopped tomatoes

Cook until the oil breaks out of the curry base, and begins to form spots on the surface, about 20 minutes, then stir through the curry leaves, chettinad masala paste, hot water and chicken

Make sure the chicken is mostly covered by the curry base, then cover with a lid and leave to simmer gently until chicken is cooked through (74°C at the thickest part), about 20 minutes. Once cooked, taste the curry and season with salt to taste

To make the pink pickled onions, mix the finely sliced onions with the caster sugar, white wine vinegar, water and salt. Stir until the sugar and salt are dissolved, then set aside in the fridge to pickle for around 30 minutes while you prepare the rice

To make the cumin rice, warm the ghee in a saucepan, then add in the whole spices and toast for a minute or so until nice and fragrant

Stir through the green chilli and drained rice, then toast while stirring for another couple of minutes 

Add in the water and salt, then mix well. Cover the pot with a tea towel and a lid then bring to the boil

Turn down to a simmer, then cook the rice for 15 minutes

Turn off the heat but don’t remove the lid or tea towel, and leave the rice to steam for a further 10 minutes. Once cooked, use a fork to fluff up the rice 

To serve, spoon the cumin rice into a serving bowl along with a generous portion of the chettinad masala curry. Serve alongside the pink pickled onions, fresh coriander, cucumber, fennel shavings and a wedge of lime