Slow Cooked Whole Chicken in Coconut Gravy – Grandma’s Recipe

Hands down, the best whole chicken recipe I’ve ever tasted and I am proud to say that this is my dear grandma’s recipe…

I had tasted this whole chicken twice, once cooked by my grandma and another time which was 2 months ago when I was in India by my mom. Since then this dish had been on my top lists and it was yesterday I finally gave it a shot in my kitchen. Yesterday we celebrated our wedding anniversary at home,  just we both had spent some great time together. In the morning, my very first thought was to skip the cooking and to go for a romantic candle light dinner. And my second thought was to cook my grandma’s whole chicken. I couldn’t ignore my second thought and the thought of this irresistible whole chicken forced me to enter the kitchen and to start the preparation right away.

Before I knew, I was found totally involved in making this and I absolutely forgot what was going around me. I was truly blown away by the simplicity of this recipe and for the taste this whole chicken gained after all the cooking. With just a few ingredients you could make this. After marinating the chicken and roasting it, the whole chicken is cooked slowly in coconut gravy for an hour, this made the chicken tender and juicy, rather than making it dry if you would have baked it.

The steps and ingredients for making this was so unbelievably easy that I didn’t panic at any point while cooking this nor had the feeling whether it would turn out good. The moment I started cooking this, I was sure about only one thing that it was going to turn out to be a great hit and it did. I definitely made my grandma proud!

It was obvious to my husband that I would make something special for our wedding anniversary. When he saw the cooked whole chicken served for dinner, his sudden response was “damn girl, you are kick awesome!” and I was seen on the cloud nine…

Thanks to my grandma for sharing this recipe and to my mom for showing me how to make this. You guys rock!

Grandma’s Slow Cooked Whole Chicken

Ingredients:

• Whole chicken, skin out- small or medium-sized (smaller the tastier) 1 Kg or 2 lb
• Kitchen twine

To marinate the chicken

Ingredients:

• Green chilies- 12
• Salt- 1 tbsp

To make the stuffing:

• Small onions fried in ghee or oil- 1/4 cup
• Cashew nuts, roasted in ghee- 10
• Raisins, roasted in ghee- 8
• Eggs, boiled- 2

To Shallow Fry the chicken

• Ghee- 4 tbsp

To grind:

• Poppy seeds, soaked in water- 2 tbsp
• Coconut, grated- 1 cup

To make the gravy:

• Ghee- 2 tbsp
• Small onions, chopped- 1/4 cup
• Ginger, minced- 1 tsp
• Garlic, minced- 1 tsp
• Fennel powder- 1 tbsp
• Coriander powder- 1 tbsp
• Garam Masala- 2 tsp
• Ground pepper- 1 tsp
• Water- 1 cup
• Salt- to taste

Instruction:

Step 1: Marinating the chicken

• Grind the green chilies and salt with a little water to a fine paste and keep aside.
• Wash the whole chicken under running water, remove any internal organs in it.
• Pat dry the chicken with a paper towel.

• Add gashes on the legs, thighs, and breast of the chicken.
• Evenly spread the green chili paste all over the chicken using a kitchen brush.
• Do not use your hands as after spreading with your hands, your hands will have a burning feeling so wear kitchen gloves before spreading with your hands.

• Place the chicken in a huge bowl and cover with plastic wrap.

• Let marinate in the refrigerator for 2 hours or overnight.

Step 2: Preparing the stuffing

• Boil the eggs in water and remove the shell, keep aside.
• Fry the chopped small onions in ghee or oil.
• Roast the cashew nuts in 1 tbsp ghee.
• Roast the raisins in 1/2 tbsp ghee.
• Keep aside, we will be using these to stuff the chicken.

Step 3: Stuffing the chicken:

• Take the chicken out from the refrigerator.
• Place the stuffing inside the chicken and push everything tightly so that nothing comes out.

Step 4: Tying the stuffed chicken with kitchen twine:

• After stuffing the chicken, bring the legs of the chicken close to each other on the front and tie them with clean kitchen twine.
• Also, bring the wings of the chicken close to each other towards the breast and tie them with clean kitchen twine.
• Make sure to tie tightly so that the stuffing won’t come out. There shouldn’t be any gap in between the legs.

Step 4: Shallow Frying the chicken:

• Heat a wide dutch oven or non-stick pot which has a lid over medium heat.
• Add the ghee and place the chicken breast side up first, shallow fry until it turns golden in color.

• Using two spatulas, turn the chicken to breast side up and fry until the bottom part turns golden.

• Now, turn to both the sides and fry the sides of the chicken as well. Keep aside.

• Do not deep fry or brown the chicken.
• Make sure you fry all the sides of the chicken, keep turning until the whole chicken turns golden in color.

Step 5: Making the gravy to cook the chicken:

• Soak 2 tbsp poppy seeds in water for 15 minutes, drain water and add to a blender jar.
• Add 1 cup of grated coconut to the poppy seeds and enough water to make it into a smooth paste.
• Keep aside the ground coconut-poppy seeds paste.
• Heat the same dutch oven or non-stick pot used for frying the chicken after wiping off any browned particles found in the pot after frying the chicken.
• If there is any ghee left from the frying of the chicken you could use that, otherwise add 2 tbsp ghee to the pot.
• Add the chopped small onions and saute for a minute.
• Add the minced ginger and garlic, saute till the raw smell goes off.
• Pour the coconut-poppy seeds ground paste to the pot.

• Add fennel powder, coriander powder, garam masala, and ground black pepper and combine well.
• Add 1 cup water to the pan and combine well.
• Now, place the shallow fried chicken breast side up into the coconut gravy and close the pot with its lid.

• Cook the chicken until it turns tender and juicy, by turning the chicken occasionally to different sides.
• Also, occasionally pour the gravy over the chicken to keep it moist.

• You could cook the breast side up for 15 minutes, then turn to one of its sides, cook for another 15 minutes, next turn to breast side down, cook for 15 minutes, turn to the other side and cook for 15 minutes.
• For me, it took about 1 hour and 15 minutes to cook the chicken.

• If the water in the gravy has reduced, you could add water to it while cooking the chicken.
• Taste the gravy and add salt if needed.
• For more spice, ground black pepper can be added. Do not add chili powder.
• After the chicken has cooked well, remove it from the gravy and place it on a platter.
• If the gravy that is left in the pot is too watery, increase the heat of the stove and cook till the gravy thickens.
• Transfer the gravy to a separate serving bowl and keep aside.

Step 6: Carving the cooked chicken:

• Place the chicken on a clean cutting plate.
• Using a chicken carving knife, first, carve the legs of the chicken and place it on the platter.

• Next, carve the wings, finally cut the body of the chicken into 2 horizontal parts.

• Place all the carved chicken parts on a platter and garnish with veggies, greens of your choice.
• While platting, pour the gravy over the chicken parts and serve it with Naan, Pita bread, Chapati, Poori, Rice etc

Tips:

• You could marinate the chicken in the refrigerator and keep it overnight.
• With 12 medium-sized green chilies, the spice level of the chicken was low-medium, you could increase green chilies if you want it to be spicy.
• While shallow frying the chicken, make sure to fry all the sides of the chicken by turning it occasionally.
• While cooking the chicken in the gravy, make sure to turn the chicken to different sides and cook after closing the dutch oven or pot with its lid.
• You could run a fork into the chicken breast to check whether it has turned tender.
• While serving, make sure to pour the gravy over the carved chicken, gravy enhances the taste of the chicken greatly.
• After cooking the chicken, if you feel that the spice level is low, you could add ground pepper to make it spicy.

Slow Cooked Whole Chicken in Coconut Gravy - Grandma’s Recipe

 

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Author: Thas

Ingredients

• Whole chicken, skin out- small or medium sized (smaller the tastier)
• Kitchen twine

To marinate the chicken

• Green chilies- 12
• Salt- 1 tbsp

To make the stuffing

• Small onions fried in ghee or oil- ¼ cup
• Cashew nuts, roasted in ghee- 10
• Raisins, roasted in ghee- 8
• Eggs, boiled- 2

To Shallow Fry the chicken

• Ghee- 4 tbsp

To grind

• Poppy seeds, soaked in water- 2 tbsp
• Coconut, grated- 1 cup

To make the gravy

• Ghee- 2 tbsp
• Small onions, chopped- ¼ cup
• Ginger, minced- 1 tsp
• Garlic, minced- 1 tsp
• Fennel powder- 1 tbsp
• Coriander powder- 1 tbsp
• Garam Masala- 2 tsp
• Ground black pepper- 1 tsp
• Water- 1 cup
• Salt- to taste

Instructions

Step 1: Marinating the chicken

1. Grind the green chilies and salt with a little water to a fine paste and keep aside.
2. Wash the whole chicken under running water, remove any internal organs in it.
3. Pat dry the chicken with paper towel.
4. Add gashes on the legs, thighs and breast of the chicken.
5. Evenly spread the green chili paste all over the chicken using a kitchen brush.
6. Do not use your hands as after spreading with your hands, your hands will have a burning feeling so wear a kitchen gloves before spreading with your hands.
7. Place the chicken in a huge bowl and cover with plastic wrap.
8. Let marinate in the refrigerator for 2 hours or overnight.

Step 2: Preparing the stuffing

1. Boil the eggs in water and remove the shell, keep aside.
2. Fry the chopped small onions in ghee or oil.
3. Roast the cashew nuts in 1 tbsp ghee.
4. Roast the raisins in ½ tbsp ghee.
5. Keep aside, we will be using these to stuff the chicken.

Step 3: Stuffing the chicken

1. Take the chicken out from the refrigerator.
2. Place the stuffing inside the chicken and push everything tightly so that nothing comes out.

Step 4: Tying the stuffed chicken with kitchen twine

1. After stuffing the chicken, bring the legs of the chicken close to each other on the front and tie them with a clean kitchen twine.
2. Also, bring the wings of the chicken close to each other towards the breast and tie them with a clean kitchen twine.
3. Make sure to tie tightly so that the stuffing won't come out. There shouldn't be any gap in between the legs.

Step 4: Shallow Frying the chicken

1. Heat a wide dutch oven or non-stick pot which has a lid over medium heat.
2. Add the ghee and place the chicken breast side up first, shallow fry it until it turns golden in color.
3. Using two spatulas, turn the chicken to breast side up and fry it until the bottom part turns golden.
4. Now, turn to both the sides and fry the sides of the chicken as well. Keep aside.
5. Do not deep fry or brown the chicken.
6. Make sure you fry all the sides of the chicken, keep turning until the whole chicken turns golden in color.

Step 5: Making the gravy to cook the chicken

1. Soak 2 tbsp poppy seeds in water for 15 minutes, drain water and add to a blender jar.
2. Add 1 cup of grated coconut to the poppy seeds and enough water to make them into a smooth paste.
3. Keep aside the ground coconut-poppy seeds paste.
4. Heat the same dutch oven or non-stick pot used for frying the chicken after wiping off any browned stains found in the pot after frying the chicken.
5. If there is any ghee left from the frying of the chicken you could use that, otherwise add 2 tbsp ghee to the pot.
6. Add the chopped small onions and saute for a minute.
7. Add the minced ginger and garlic, saute till the raw smell goes off.
8. Pour the coconut-poppy seeds ground paste to the pot.
9. Add fennel powder, coriander powder, ground black pepper and garam masala and combine well.
10. Add 1 cup water to the pot and give it a stir.
11. Now, place the shallow fried chicken breast side up into the coconut gravy and close the pot with its lid.
12. Cook the chicken until it turns tender and juicy, by turning the chicken occasionally to different sides.
13. Also, occasionally pour the gravy over the chicken to keep it moist.
14. You could cook breast side up for 15 minutes, then turn to one of its sides, cook for another 15 minutes, next turn to breast side down, cook for 15 minutes, turn to the other side and cook for 15 minutes.
15. For me, it took about 1 hour and 15 minutes to cook the chicken.
16. If the water in the gravy has reduced, you could add water to it while cooking the chicken.
17. Taste the gravy and add salt if needed.
18. After the chicken has cooked well, remove it from the gravy and place it on a platter.
19. If the gravy that is left in the pot is too watery, increase the heat of the stove and cook till the gravy thickens.
20. Transfer the gravy to a separate serving bowl and keep aside.

Step 6: Carving the cooked chicken

1. Place the chicken on a clean cutting plate.
2. Using a chicken carving knife, first carve the legs of the chicken and place it on the platter.
3. Next carve the wings, finally cut the body of the chicken into 2 horizontal parts.
4. Place all the carved chicken parts on a platter and garnish with veggies, greens of your choice.
5. While platting, pour the gravy over the chicken parts and serve it with Naan, Pita bread, Chapati, Poori, Rice etc

Notes

You could marinate the chicken in the refrigerator and keep it overnight.
With 12 medium sized green chilies, the spice level of the chicken was low-medium, you could increase green chilies if you want it to be spicy.
While shallow frying the chicken, make sure to fry all the sides of the chicken by turning it occasionally.
While cooking the chicken in the gravy, make sure to turn the chicken to different sides and cook after closing the dutch oven or pot with its lid.
You could run a fork into the chicken breast to check whether it has turned tender.
While serving, make sure to pour the gravy over the carved chicken, gravy enhances the taste of the chicken greatly.
After cooking the chicken, if you feel that the spice level is low, you could add ground pepper to make it spicy.

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