Hard Chicken/Country Chicken Curry - Best Recipe With All The Tips

What is hard chicken?

Hard chicken is actually from an old granny bird, lucky enough to save herself from the butcher for a long time and who enjoyed a full life after laying eggs provides hard chicken meat.

Hard chicken meat is available only at ethnic butches not on supermarket shelves. So, remember to ask them to remove the skin and cut the bird into medium size pieces which makes the cooking process much easier.

I particularly love the deep flavours in the chewy meat on the bone and it is very satisfying to know that there are hardly any fats in it. A piece of good news for those who are obsessed with counting calories!

Nutrition Facts

Just one full chicken meat has 370 calories, hardly any fat but a significant amount of Potassium: 640mg. Good news indeed for health watchers!

It is interesting to know that there are numerous names for hard chicken, depending on the country and region. I have listed some of them below;

Hard Chicken
Fowl
Old hen
Free Range chicken
Curry Chicken
Gam Kukulu mas (Sinhalese)
Desi chicken (Urdu)
Galina bird (Spanish)
Country chicken
Old backyard chicken
Natu Kodi (Telugu)
Nattu Kozhi (Tamil)
Nattu Koli
Kini Koli
Nati Koli (Kannada)

Cooking technique:

You need to cook it low and slow to get the right flavours and texture. For instance, vinegar and potatoes help in tenderising the meat in slow cooking. I must insist that cooking in the pressure cooker will cook the chicken rapidly but destroy its natural flavours. So, the Grand Ma’s old-fashioned cooking on the stove in a pot will bring out its natural flavours and juices!

If you taste it once, you will always remember its extraordinarily delicious taste. Do not forget to add a couple of tablespoons of coconut milk at the end which will contribute to a surprising level of flavours. Try this dish with hot rice, rotis, noodles, pasta or bread or with boiled cassava mixed with fresh coconut flakes which will complement the dish a great deal.

Ingredients needed:

Ingredients Amounts

Hard Chicken

1full

Onions

Chilli powder

1tbsp

Vinegar

2 tbsp

Ginger root

1 1/2

Garlic

5/6

Roasted curry p.

1/2tbsp

Turmeric

1 tsp

Oil

3 tbsp

Coconut milk

2 tbsp

Curry leaves

Green chillies

1slit

Whole spices;
Cardamoms,
Cloves,
Cinnamon,

4each

Potatoes

You can use Maggi coconut milk powder if fresh coconut milk is not available

Let’s get busy cooking this delicious dish!

Step 1

Marinate the chicken pieces

Marinate the chicken pieces with vinegar, salt, turmeric, chilli powder, roasted curry powder, ginger and garlic paste and crushed curry leaves.
Cover and keep aside for at least 1 hr. (preferably overnight in the fridge for the chicken pieces to absorb the essence of spices and soften with vinegar)

Step 2

Roast the chicken in the pan

Heat up 2/3 tbsp of any oil in a wide pan
Add the whole spices; cloves, cinnamon, cardamom and a few curry leaves crushed
Saute chopped onions
Add freshly grated or crushed garlic and ginger
Fry a couple of minutes
Add a 1tsp of chilli powder and gather all the spices and fry (this will bring out a very tempting colour to the gravy once cooked)
Now drop the marinated chicken pieces
Stir fry the chicken pieces for nearly 10 mins in medium flame allowing the excess water to evaporate
Close the lid and lower the flame to the minimum. Splash a little water if the pan is too dry. Let it sit for 5 mins. This will let all the natural juices to come out
Open the lid again, stir fry for 5 more mins gathering juices with chicken pieces until they are well coated
Pour water just above the chicken pieces and close the lid. It has to cook for about 45 mins under medium flame. Give a stir occasionally
Add more water in between if the chicken pieces are hard

After 45 mins open and pour a cup of more hot water if the water level is low but the chicken pieces are still hard. Cook until chicken pieces are tender enough. You must always add hot water not cold water and it is quite alright to increase the amount of water gradually to yield enough gravy to go around!

Step 3

Add potatoes

Now, check the salt and add more if you desire
Drop the potatoes and a slit green chilli

Close and simmer under low flame for 10mins
Finally, add 2 tbsps of fresh or Maggi instant coconut milk, and a handful of curry leaves and cook for another 10 mins under very low flame. This final therapy will contribute to the tempting colour of the curry and make it more flavourful too

Step 4

Final therapy

Let the pot rest for 15 mins before serving (cook this curry the night before and it will taste incredibly flavourful the next day)
Tastes best with hot rice, rotis, noodles or with boiled cassava (maniyok) mixed with fresh coconut

Tuesday 3 May 2022