Pallipalayam Chicken Fry

I have heard a lot about Pallipalayam Chicken Fry, but for some reason never ever tasted it or cooked it, well, until last week! Thanks to our good friend Ramya who posted this dish (along with the recipe) in our local community forum, I was teased to try out a new experiment in Senthil’s Kitchen!  I was so glad I tried, this dish came out fantastic!

The Pallipalayam Chicken Fry is sure to become a standard dish in my kitchen in the future. This dish uses very minimal ingredients and yet produces an addictive taste when you try it the first time. I have to admit I was a bit skeptical when I saw the short list of ingredients that go into making this meat dish (just coconut oil, mustard seeds, curry leaves, red chilies, turmeric and no garam masala, come on…!!!) but don’t be skeptical like me, just try it one time!

For those of you who are thinking what is “Pallipalayam”, here comes the explanation. “Pallipalayam” is a small town (and twin city of a bigger and a more popular city called Erode) in the Namakkal district of Tamil Nadu.  It is a very small town with agriculture and textile industry being primary occupations.  But I have to admit, these Pallipalayam folks are very ingenious and smart to have invented this classic “Pallipalayam Chicken Fry” dish and to have proudly put Pallipalayam in the culinary map of the world!

The food scientist in me made me perform OCD kind of research on this dish the last few days. I note there is an authentic version (below, maybe!), but there are so many variations, each one of them claiming theirs is THE AUTHENTIC version.

I need to keep my vegetarian fan base happy (and intact!) whenever I post a meat dish, right? While I was cooking this new chicken fry, I made extra “Pallipalayam” masala and created a new vegetarian dish (Pallipalayam Potato Fry). That came out so yummy as well, I am sure this recipe will work for more vegetarian choices like cauliflower, mushroom, peas, eggplant, soya chunks fry, etc. Or if you eat eggs, how does “Pallipalayam Egg Fry” sound?

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Pallipalayam Chicken Fry

A gourmet chicken fry dish from Pallipalayam made with simple ingredients like coconut oil, mustard seeds, red chilies and shallots but is sure to tingle your taste buds.

Course Side Dish

Cuisine Indian

Keyword Chicken Fry, Erode, Pallipalayam, Pallipalayam Chicken Fry

Prep Time 5 minutes

Cook Time 40 minutes

Total Time 45 minutes

Servings 4 people

Author Senthil Sadasivam

Ingredients

Ingredients (for authentic version)

• 2 lbs chicken with bone small pieces
• 1 cup Shallots/ small onion chopped
• 2 tbsp Garlic paste
• 2 tbsp Coconut oil
• ½ tbsp Mustard seeds
• 10 Red chilies deseeded
• 1 tsp Turmeric
• 5 sprigs Curry leaves
• 3 tbsp Coriander leaves chopped for garnish
• Salt to taste

Optional ingredients (to try out variations)

• 3 tbsp Kashmiri red chilies paste substitute for red chilies
• 1/4 cup Sliced coconut pieces
• 1 tbsp Ginger paste
• 1 tbsp Chili powder or chili paste reduce red chilies quantity
• ½ tbsp Coriander powder
• 1 tsp Garam masala
• 1/2 tbsp Lime juice

Instructions

1. Heat 2 tbsp. coconut oil in a non-stick pan, add mustard seeds and after it starts spluttering (do not let it splutter fully), quickly add the deseeded dry red chilies and fry for few seconds, and then add curry leaves and after frying for a few seconds, add chopped onion and fry till onion turns brown.

2. Add garlic paste and sauté till the raw smell from garlic goes away.
3. Add chicken pieces, turmeric and salt and fry for 5 mins or so in medium heat without lid.

4. Cover and cook for about 10 mins. You can add half cup water if you want some curry consistency.

5. Open the lid, stir the contents and cover and cook for another 5 mins.

6. Open the lid and continue cooking the chicken until it is fully roasted and the masalas are coated to the chicken pieces and oil starts to separate.  It will take a total of about 25 to 30 mins for regular chicken; for country chicken add more water and please allow around 45 mins to cook, country chicken can also be pressure cooked to speed up the process.

7. Please note that the dish will look red due to the red chilies used, that is what makes this dish taste unique.  Garnish with chopped coriander leaves and serve hot as an appetizer, or as a side dish, or even as a main dish with rice.

8. You can try out variations of this dish by using optional ingredients listed above.  Many homes, hotels, roadside dhabas use some or all of these optional ingredients.  More instructions on variations can be found under Notes section.

Recipe Notes

• Chicken has to be cut into very small pieces; bone-in chicken (leg/thigh meat) is preferred.  Actually tastes best with country chicken.
• You can try this recipe with vegetables like potato, cauliflower, green peas, mushrooms, eggplant or soaked soya chunks, etc.  If you eat eggs, you can try this recipe with boiled eggs as well!
• Coconut oil is preferred for authenticity, but sesame (second choice) or any other oil can be substituted.
• If you want this dish to be more spicier, you can deseed just half of the red chilies and the remaining half portion you can use them with seeds.
• If you are not sure about the spice level, start with less red chilies to begin with and increase it when you make the dish next time.
• You can also use Kashmiri red chilies if you want color but no heat.
• You can soak all (or half) red chilis in hot water for 10 mins and then grind it into a coarse paste and use.  If you are using some red chili paste, add it after the mustard, broken red chilies (reduce quantity accordingly)and fry for 2/3 mins.
• In some hotel/ roadside dhaba versions, ginger/ garlic paste, small quantities of chopped tomatoes, coriander powder, garam masala etc are used.
• You can add 1/4 cup of sliced fresh coconut pieces when frying the red chilies.
• Lime juice can be added at the end to enhance the dish taste.