Railway chicken curry

Railway chicken curry cooked in creamy coconut milk is an iconic dish that has a special place in the culinary history of modern India. Here is how you could prepare railway chicken curry at home.

Ingredients
2 kg chicken (cut into small pieces)
150 gms coconut
25 gms roasted gram or pottu kadala (roasted gram)
25 gms poppy seeds
05 gms peppercorns
06 gms fennel seeds
10 gms cumin
02 gms cloves
30 gms chilli powder
30 gms coriander powder
10 gms turmeric powder
150 m refined oil
400 gms onion (sliced)
2 green chillies (split)
40 gms ginger – garlic paste
40 gms coconut milk (desiccated coconut x 200 ml water)
Salt as required
Coriander leaves as required
For the tempering
4 red chillies
2 sprigs curry leaves
3 star anise

Preparation
Wash and drain the chicken pieces
Boil the poppy seeds and grind them into a fine paste
Meanwhile, dry roast peppercorns, fennel seeds, cumin seeds and cloves
Keep them aside
Now dry roast chilli powder, turmeric powder and coriander powder on low flame
Set them aside
Grind the grated coconut with roasted grams, poppy seed paste, roasted masala mix and roasted powder mix
Do not add too much water
Heat oil in a pan
Sauté the onion slices until nice and brown
Into it add ginger garlic paste and green chillies
Sauté until the raw smell is gone
Now add the previously prepared coconut – masala paste
Mix and sauté well
Add the chicken pieces
Add tomatoes and salt as required
Into it add the coconut milk and some water too
Cook with the lid on
Turn off the flame when the chicken pieces are nicely cooked
Heat oil and roast red chillies, curry leaves and star anise
Add this tempering into the chicken curry
Mix well
Garnish the tasty railway chicken curry with some chopped coriander leaves.