Edapally Chicken curry

This curry has a long history. It is related to a church back in Kerala in my home town. St George Forane Church at Edapally is a pilgrimage centre for those who fervently pray to St George.Since this famous saint slayed a dragon, people often rush to him with prayers especially when they have problems with snakes.May 4th and the week after is dedicated to this saint and is the week to offer cash, kind and offerings to this saint in this church. In the olden days people made miniatures of snake and eggs out of rice flour and offered it along with aluminium medals with imprints of snakes on them.

Years later these offerings got replaced with real eggs.But most of these offerings were offered to the church.Very soon a new tradition got popular with the pilgrims and that's how this curry  was born. People who came to pray to the saint with their family started offering a hen to the saint. They came with their fire wood, kerosene stoves, pots and spices and cooked chicken in the open ground near the church. Since there was no time for an elaborate curry with coconut milk and fried onion something quick which required no frying and sauteing was adopted. This recipe was something one of my aunts and later my mom tried inspired by these accounts.The whole idea always sounded bizzare to me firstly because I never could understand why any saint would exchange prayers for a chicken one cooked and ate with one's own family.But then this kind of  a mass community cooking must have been an exciting adventure to many children so I guess many must have thought of this is an adventure..

Ingredients for Edapally Chicken Curry

Chicken- 1 kg

Onions- 2 medium sliced

Ginger- 1 inch piece sliced

Green Chillies- 3-4 slit

Curry leaves- 1 sprig

Tomato- 1 large chopped

Turmeric powder- 1 tsp

Chilli powder- 2 tbsp

Salt- to taste

Coconut oil- 2 tbsp

Vinegar - 2 tbsp

Directions

Wash the chicken and transfer it to a pot. Add all the ingredients to the chicken and marinate it with your hands.

 Keep the chicken away for 10 minutes. Add quarter cup of water and cook the chicken on fire. If you are in a hurry you can use the pressure cooker and it should be done in a whistle. I like the slow cooking where the spices infuse into the meat.There is nothing special to be done after this it's more like a  soup  if you add more water so I added very little. For those who are so addicted to fried onion masala it would taste weird but nevertheless, this is a very healthy recipe. My hubby even said it's a chinese style of cooking but he did eat it.So when I get bored with oil and frying I resort to this humble curry these days.You can add garlic and curry powder if you want to modify it a bit.

I have not visited Edapally in the past 7 years but I hope they still follow this tradition because I definitely want to go there once with a pot and cook. My hubby bears the name of this Saint ( George) so I guess I owe him  a trip and a treat.