Soup + Curry

Recipe: SOUPY CHICKEN CURRY

As much as we like thick creamy curries with luscious gravies, we also like the milder ones with a gravy that is almost soup-like. Those that are light yet hearty. Biting into the juicy pieces of meat and mopping up the soupy gravy with a ball of rice or a piece of roti or just slurping it up with a spoon

Usually most of the meat and fish curries we make at our house are thickened with coconut milk.  Once when my in-laws were visiting, I had wanted to make a curry without coconut milk as they are not used to coconut-milk-thickened curries.
I was asking my friends for suggestions. That is when my friend A said that they use a lot of onions for the gravy and the gravy itself is not very thick.
It sounded interesting and I decided to give it a try and it became one of my son's favourite curries mainly because of the light flavours.
This curry works wonderfully with mutton too. In fact, my first soupy curry was made with mutton as my in-laws don't eat chicken.

SOUPY CHICKEN CURRY Inspired by my friend's recipe with lots of onions for the gravy
Ingredients:
Chicken - 1 kg cleaned and cut into small pieces. If using chicken with skin, make cuts on the chicken skin esp the wings, thighs and drumsticks Marinade for the chicken: Vinegar - 2 Tbsp Salt - 1/2 tsp Black Pepper Powder - 1/2 tsp Curry leaves - 7-8
For the Gravy: Onions - 5 large ones chopped Garlic - 10 cloves crushed Ginger - 1 Tbsp crushed Tomatoes - 2 chopped Curry leaves - a handful Coconut oil - 1/3 cup (Can be replaced with butter / ghee or any other natural oil/fat) salt to taste
Spice Mix: Coriander powder - 5 tsp Chilli powder - 1 tsp (as per personal preferences) Turmeric - 1/2 tsp Cumin powder - 1/4 tsp (optional) Garam masala - 1/4 tsp (optional) Method:
Marinate the chicken pieces in the ingredients listed under "Marinade for the chicken". While the chicken is marinating, prepare the gravy.
Mix all the powders listed under spice mix in 3-4 Tbsp on water till it becomes a nice uniform spice paste
Heat oil in a wide pan. Once oil is hot, put the onions and curry leaves and stir occasionally on medium heat till the onions become translucent.
Put the crushed ginger and garlic in the pan and stir continuously. Reduce the flame to low to prevent the masala from sticking. Stir till the ginger and garlic gets a nice roasted smell. 
Add the spice paste to the pan and keep stirring continuously for about 8 minutes or till the spices get roasted uniformly. 
Add chopped tomato to the pan and mix well. Increase the flame and add some salt. Let the tomatoes cook well and then lower the flame. Keep stirring occasionally on low flame till it becomes a nice dark brown colour. This is the most important step in making a curry. That is, roasting the masala to perfection.
Add the chicken pieces along with the marinade into this gravy and cook till the chicken is done. Do not add more water as a lot of water will come out of the chicken. Adjust salt. Garnish with chopped coriander leaves.
If you want a slightly thicker gravy, just boil the curry till the gravy thickens to your preference
Serve hot with rice, chapati, idiyappam, appam, etc
For LCHF or Paleo diet, this can be served with cauli-rice or oopsie rolls or a fresh veggie salad.