Puttu kozhi - Whole roasted chicken stuffed with puttu

No feast would be complete without some spicy roasted chicken. What feels better than having a piece of puttu to go with it? How about combining both the dishes? Try out the traditional puttu kozhi recipe in which a shallow fried whole chicken is stuffed with rice puttu and spices and then roasted to perfection.

Ingredients
For stuffing
1 cup rice flour
1 onion, chopped
1 tbsp chopped ginger
1 tbsp ghee
Salt as required

For frying
1 kg chicken, marinated with turmeric powder and salt
1 tsp mustard
1 cup oil

For gravy
2 onions, sliced
1 tbsp sliced ginger
1 tbsp sliced garlic
3 green chilies, slit
1 cup thick coconut milk
2 cups of thin coconut milk
1 tbsp chili powder
1 tsp turmeric powder
1 tbsp coriander powder
1 tbsp garam masala

For seasoning
4 shallots sliced
2 sprig curry leaves
2 dried chilies
green chilies, chopped

Preparation
For stuffing
Add salt to the flour and mix well
Wet the powder with some water and mix again
Stuff a puttu kutti with this
Place it over a steamer, cook the puttu well and set aside
Heat ghee in a pan
Splutter mustard seeds in it
Add chopped onion, green chilies, ginger and curry leaves to it
Saute well for a minute
Now add the cooked puttu to the pan
Mix well and fry it for two minutes
Set this aside to get cooled down

For frying
Heat oil in another pan
Place the marinated chicken in it
Fry it until the bottom turns light brown
Then flip the chicken and fry the other side
Shift the chicken to a bowl
Keep the remaining oil in the pan itself
Stuff the sauteed puttu inside the shallow fried chicken
Tie its legs so that the puttu won't spill while cooking

For gravy
Heat the pan again with the oil in which the chicken was fried
Add sliced onions and saute well
Now add sliced ginger, garlic and green chilies
Keep on sauteing
Add turmeric powder, coriander powder, chili powder and garam masala
Fry it until a delicious aroma of the masala fills the air
Add thin coconut milk
Stir well using the ladle
Place the stuffed chicken in the gravy
Flip the chicken to let it get covered in the gravy
Cover the pan with a lid and allow it to cook
When the gravy thickens, add the thick coconut milk and mix well
Keep it on simmer for a minute
Move the chicken to a serving bowl
Pour the gravy over it

For seasoning
In another pan, heat ghee
Splutter mustard seeds in it
Fry sliced shallots
Add dried chilies and saute well
Finally, add some curry leaves
Fry until the shallots are translucent
Pour this seasoning over the chicken
Puttu kozhi is ready to be relished