Chicken Xacuti

Suddenly my cats have started to consider my hair drier as their enemy. Every time I switch on that tiny machine, all of them rush to my room and sit around me very obediently..with their fur swelled up, ears  spine straight and puffed up tail....it seems they are very very angry and all ready to attack this vicious beast who is making all these noise and can sometime be a threat to their very existence. One even tries to come near me and pounce it with his open claw and then jumps back in astonishing horror. Finally I am done and then wrap it up in one of the drawer. They stroll around it, stretches themselves to the hight of the drawer to scratch a little...and then hopelessly returns back to their own work, i.e sleeping and eating.

We wanted to go to Bassam today...we planned to stay a night and return back the next day after lunch. But this god forsaken weather of Abidjan is so spiteful that it started to pour from last night. Even now its not sunny. As I am writing this post and looking through the window...I feel like a grumpy child, who wants to play outside but her mother is not willing to let her go.

So to lift up my mood, I am going for shopping today. I have already ordered one African style charcoal grill. I will get it on Monday..can't wait to make grilled fishes, tandoori chicken and all those yummy kebabs. My husband is going for a haircut today, so I decided to pass the time by taking a stroll in the MAC counter there. I am looking for a gorgeous purple and some paste shaded nail paints. Who knows...I can be lucky this time!!!! As for the night I have downloaded two horror movies, which I will watch after dinner and will go to sleep with all the goosebumps. For the lunch I am making a fried egg curry and rice, and for the dinner we are planning a Vietnamese meal. There we get a dish called Crab Farci. It is actually stuffed crab with lots of spices and herbs. We both love it. Its an obvious started for us there.

This dish Chicken Xacuti was prepared last week in our lunch. Its portugese inspired Goan dish. A very spicy meat preparation that is famous throuhout India for its flavoresome taste. It has a rich hot red gravy with oil flaoting on top of it. However the red color comes from the use of Kashmiri dry red chilies. Chicken Xacuti is not as hot as it looks. It goes very well with steamed hot rice or pilaf or chapati or naan. But pair it with some milder main dish to enjoy its authentic Goan flavor fully.

Chicken Xacuti
Serves 5

Ingredients:

• 1 kg chicken with bones
• 3 large onions - 2 sliced, 1 chopped
• 6-7 garlic cloves - paste
• 2, 1 inch stick of ginger -paste
• 1 cup fresh coconut
• 4 green chillies ( I used red)
• 1 tsp cumin seeds
• 1 tsp coriander seeds
• 1 star anise
• 1/2 nutmeg
• 1 medium cinnamon stick
• 4 cloves
• 4-5 green cardamom
• 4-5 black peppercorns
• 1 mace
• 1 tbsp poppy seeds
• 4-6 dry red chilies ( I used Kashmiri red chilies)
• one bunch of fresh coriander leaves 
• 2 tsp turmeric powder
• 3-4 tsp red chilli powder
• salt
• a pinch of sugar
• 1 tbp oil

 Method:

• Marinate the chicken with1 tsp turmeric powder, salt and ginger - garlic paste.
•  Heat 1/2 tbsp oil in a kadai and put in the sliced onions. Stir and cook till they start to become golden.
• Now add the fresh coconut. I have chopped them up. You can grate them also. Also throw in the green chillies.
• Cook for 5-6 more minutes, allowing the onions to brown and the coconuts to cook a little.
• Once done transfer them to a blender and let them cool down a bit.
• In the mean time dry roast the whole spices, like cumin seeds, coriander seeds, nutmeg, mace, dry red chilies, poppy seeds, star anise, cinnamon stick, black peppercorns, cloves and green cardamom. Dry roast for 2 minutes on medium flame and then put them with the fried onions. Now grind all of them to a fine paste with a little water. Transfer them to a bowl and keep aside.
• Heat the rest of the oil in the same kadai and put the chopped onions in it. 
• Once the onions become golden brown put in the already prepared onions and spice mix paste. Mix properly and let it cook. Keep stirring in between and cook for 6-8 minutes or until the oil starts to ooze out of the masalas.
• Now add the chicken one by one, mix properly so that every thing coats the chicken well.
• Add the salt, a pinch of sugar and red chilli powder. Give a good stir again and  put cover.
• Cook till the chicken is almost done. It will take around 25-35 minutes. However do check in between. Stir and add water as required to prevent the chicken and masalas to stick to the bottom of the pan.
• Once the chicken is almost done, open the cover and taste to adjust the seasonings. Add water as per your preference of the consistency of the gravy and then simmer till the chicken is done.
• Finally put off the flame, add the chopped fresh coriander leaves and serve hot with rice / chapati.