Kerala Chicken Stew

Kerala is a state in the Southern part of India known for their beautiful cities and aromatic cuisine with coconut. My introduction to Kerala's cuisine and culture was through my Uncle who was born and brought up in Kerala. My aunt used to make Syrian beef and Kola puttu often because of his influence. But my real experience in tasting authentic Kerala cuisine was when we visited my uncle's family in Allepey, Kerala. His mom and sister were amazing people and wonderful cooks. It was then I first tasted chicken and beef stews, Pariappu biriyani, beef stuffed parotha and lots more. 

Honestly I had forgotten about the stew until today. Luckily I remembered it when I was wondering what I could do different with chicken rather than the usual curries. Chicken stew is real simple and tasty, hope you enjoy making it. I have made slight changes to the traditional recipe, usually it is very thin (watery), I just made it a bit thicker and added a bit more flavour by adding ginger garlic paste and coriander powder.

Ingredients:

• Oil - 3 Tblspn
• Cinnamon stick - 1
• Cloves - 5 or 6
• Bay leaves - 2 (Fresh or dried)
• Cardamom - 3
• Whole pepper corns - 1 tspn
• Chicken -  1/2 kg or desired amount
• Onion - 2, chopped
• Green Chillies -  6 or more, slit
• Ginger Garlic paste -  1 tblspn
• Potato - 1 Large or 2 medium ones, chopped into big chunks
• Carrots - 2 or 3, chopped in semi-circles
• Coriander powder - 1 tspn
• Pepper powder - 1 tspn
• Salt - 2 tspn or more
• Curry leaves - 2 strands
• Coconut Oil - 1 tspn
• Thin Coconut milk - 1 1/2 cups (just milk, use canned or squeeze out the coconut and use milk alone mixed with a little water)
• Think Coconut milk - 1/2 cup
• All purpose flour - 1 tblspn
• Water - as required 

Steps:

• Heat oil in a pan, when hot, add the whole spices. Then add the onions and green chillies and sauté well. Add salt.
• When onion slightly change colour, add the ginger garlic paste.
• Then add the coriander powder and sauté well.
• Next add the chicken and stir well. Then add the potatoes and carrots.
  
• Add the thin coconut milk and 1 stand of curry leaves and let it boil. When the broth starts to boil, lower heat, cover and cook till the the chicken and veggies are done, maybe 10 to 12 mins.(Your kitchen will be filled with wonderful aroma from the boiling coconut milk :))
• Add this point, add more salt if needed and add the pepper powder. 
• Once the chicken and veggies are cooked, dissolve the all purpose flour in 1/4 cup of water and add to the stew. Let it boil well. Add more water if the stew is too thick.
• Now add the thick coconut milk, stir and bring to a boil for a min or 2. Turn off heat add the coconut oil and one strand of curry leaves. Let it rest for a couple of mins before you serve.