Chicken Chettinad

🎁 You have 30 days of free full access to every recipe. Join the Kitchen Club to keep it →
The Golden Temple

📍 Where this dish comes from: Amritsar, Punjab · The Golden Temple
Discover the history of this region →
Chicken Chettinad, plated and ready to serve

Chettinad cuisine is Tamil Nadu’s most complex and intense culinary tradition — developed by the Nattukotai Chettiar merchant community who traveled extensively and incorporated spices from across Southeast Asia. The result is a cuisine of extraordinary depth and heat. This dish is an assault on the senses in the most glorious way: freshly roasted kalpasi, marathi mokku, and stone flower spices build a fragrance so complex and a heat so deep and sustained that each bite unfolds over several astonishing seconds, demanding complete and reverent attention.

What You’ll Need

Ingredients for Chicken Chettinad

Chicken Chettinad

Freshly roasted kalpasi, marathi mokku, and stone flower spices build a fragrance so complex and a heat so deep it demands complete attention.
Print Recipe
Prep Time: 50 minutes
Total Time: 50 minutes
Course: Main Course
Cuisine: Indian
Servings: 4 servings
Calories: 385kcal

Ingredients

  • 700 g chicken bone-in pieces
  • 3 tbsp sesame oil
  • 2 onions finely sliced
  • 2 tomatoes chopped
  • 2 tbsp ginger-garlic paste
  • 1 tbsp black pepper Chettinad Masala
  • 1 tsp cumin Chettinad Masala
  • 1 tsp fennel seeds Chettinad Masala
  • 4 dried red chilies Chettinad Masala
  • 1 tsp coriander seeds Chettinad Masala
  • 2 cardamom Chettinad Masala
  • 1 star anise Chettinad Masala
  • 1 tsp kalpasi (stone flower, optional but authentic) Chettinad Masala
  • 10 curry leaves Chettinad Masala
  • Salt Chettinad Masala

Instructions

  • Dry-roast and grind all masala spices to a coarse powder.
  • Heat sesame oil; fry curry leaves and onions until brown.
  • Add ginger-garlic paste; cook 3 minutes.
  • Add tomatoes and cook until pulpy.
  • Add ground masala; cook on low 5 minutes.
  • Add chicken; coat well with masala.
  • Add ¾ cup water; cover and cook 25 minutes.
  • Uncover and dry out sauce slightly before serving.

Nutrition

Serving: 1serving | Calories: 385kcal | Protein: 40g | Fat: 22g | Fiber: 2g
Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!

Cooking Chicken Chettinad in the kitchen

Health Benefits

  • Star anise contains anethole, a compound studied for its antifungal and antiviral properties.
  • Sesame oil provides sesamin and sesamol, lignans studied for their antioxidant properties.
  • Kalpasi (stone flower) contains aromatic compounds long used in traditional Ayurvedic preparations.

Pairs Well With

  • Cauliflower Pulao
  • Almond Flour Roti
Scroll to Top