chicken in malayali cooking

[mongo_jones]

i made reference to the penguin kerala cookbook a few days ago. my first experiment with a fish recipe from it was an unqualified success. now, i'm thinking of branching out into chicken-land. the recipes in the book all seem to call for boneless chicken--is this a common phenomenon in malayali home-cooking? if so, is stock added at some point--the recipes in the book don't indicate this step.

now, most restaurants in north india that serve malayali food also use boneless chicken but i've taken this as being a restaurant phenomenon; this may be due to the fact that bengalis rarely, if ever, use boneless chicken in curries--and all right thinking punj restaurants in delhi also offer a bone-in/boneless option with butter chicken. since this cookbook series seems to be aimed at an indian, not western audience, i doubt it is pandering to squeamishness about bones.

can anyone offer any informd insight? or failing that, any wild speculation?

[Edward]

Wild speculation ? Sure! I too have noticed the same thing about chicken recipes in Malayali cookbooks and at restaurants, here in the US, that serve Malayali style dishes. I am definitely not squeamish about bones, but one thing is for sure; boneless gravy dishes are easier to eat. That goes for both hands on eating and with silverware. Unfortunately gravies are never quite as good without bones. Though you can throw a couple in while the dish simmers.

My problem here in the US is that our chickens are too damn big and I am not always in the mood to hack them into small pieces. We do get smaller "organic" chickens which have a great flavor, but they are still a little on the large side. This makes for slightly difficult eating.

anyway back to the Malayali question.........

Edited March 19, 2004 by Edward (log)

[mongo_jones]

Wild speculation ? Sure! I too have noticed the same thing about chicken recipes in Malayali cookbooks and at restaurants, here in the US, that serve Malayali style dishes.

there are restaurants in the u.s that serve malayali style non-veg dishes? where can these places be found?

[anil]

Wild speculation ? Sure! I too have noticed the same thing about chicken recipes in Malayali cookbooks and at restaurants, here in the US, that serve Malayali style dishes.

Where ?

[Vikram]

My mother is Malayali and anytime I've eaten chicken at any of our Malayali relatives houses its always been with bones in. I'm pretty sure the recipes in Mrs.Mathew's book would require chicken on the bone. The concept of 'boneless' is something I associate with North Indian restaurants and butter chicken in particular.

Vikram

[mongo_jones]

My mother is Malayali and anytime I've eaten chicken at any of our Malayali relatives houses its always been with bones in. I'm pretty sure the recipes in Mrs.Mathew's book would require chicken on the bone. The concept of 'boneless' is something I associate with North Indian restaurants and butter chicken in particular.

Vikram

thanks vikram--what i suspected.

however, the author of the penguin kerala cookbook is vijayan kannampilly. matthew might be the author of the spice coast book. i wonder why vijayan makes no mention of the bone-in/boneless substitution in his recipes given how scrupulous he is in general elsewhere in the book (taking pains to differentiate between kokum and cambodge, for example, or marking the fish recipes that ideally call for a specific fish found only in kerala). it is doubly strange since even punjabis don't do boneless chicken in home-cooking (boneless is meant to be a luxury when you eat out). so i don't know who this change is aimed at.

in general, pace edward, eating meat with bones is just so much more gratifying. both more sensual (as you grapple with the bones and crack them open with your teeth) and tasty (as you suck the marrow etc. out, or score some cartilage)--i'm glad to know that malayalis aren't missing out on these pleasures.

so, for these recipes i imagine i should hack the bird into smallish pieces. don't know if i'll have the patience to do that--probably just leave legs and thighs intact and split each breast into two.

[trillium]

It doesn't actually require that much patience, but a good strong cleaver and thick chopping block. The problem with leaving the pieces bigger is that the seasoning don't penetrate as well. If you're just not up to chopping, scoring the flesh to the bone helps.

regards,

trillium

[Edward]

"in general, pace edward, eating meat with bones is just so much more gratifying. both more sensual (as you grapple with the bones and crack them open with your teeth) and tasty (as you suck the marrow etc. out, or score some cartilage)"

I do agree, it is just a little difficult with really big pieces. It's more of a problem for my "American" dinner guests. Though I do ocassionaly convince a few of them to eat with their hands, some don't get the hang of it.

As for the restaurants...there are a few here in the DC/Baltimore area that sometimes put Malayali-style non-veg dishes on the buffet. Things like chicken shtew have appeared from time to time. One is called Minerva, but the food is not all that great there...it's hit or miss.

[jw46]

My problem here in the US is that our chickens are too damn big and I am not always in the mood to hack them into small pieces. We do get smaller "organic" chickens which have a great flavor, but they are still a little on the large side. This makes for slightly difficult eating.

We used to raise many kinds of fowl. Our chickens were free raised eating bugs and other stuff, certainly tasted more flavorful than the bland sort you get at the grocery here....and yes..the bones add much to the flavor of whatever ethnic direction you may choose to go..Just my opinion, though...

We raised egg laying breeds, sacrificed the cockerels for the supper table...not the humongous meat breeds...Lean and tasty...wishing we could raise chickens again...

[Vikram]

however, the author of the penguin kerala cookbook is vijayan kannampilly. matthew might be the author of the spice coast book. i wonder why vijayan makes no mention of the bone-in/boneless substitution in his recipes given how scrupulous he is in general elsewhere in the book (taking pains to differentiate between kokum and cambodge, for example, or marking the fish recipes that ideally call for a specific fish found only in kerala). it is doubly strange since even punjabis don't do boneless chicken in home-cooking (boneless is meant to be a luxury when you eat out). so i don't know who this change is aimed at.

Possibly his background is in the hospitality industry where its much more common to encounter boneless chicken, not least because there are minions to do the deboning for you. Mrs.Mathew - yes, of the Spice Coast book - was firmly in the home cooking mould, so she'd keep the bones.

Not that Mrs.M doesn't have her own quirks. For example, she commonly uses 'dessertspoon' as a measure in addition to tablespoon and teaspoon. At one point I thought she meant coffeespoon, for a really small measure, but then a friend of mine who's married into that family and has plenty of experience of their use of dessertspoons tells me that she meant one of those large rounded spoons. I think the recent fully illustrated edition of the book confirms this. I don't know how much real difference there is between this and a tablespoon, but she seems to insist on the dessertspoons.

Back to boneless, many shops now sell breasts only and again its possible the Penguin guy meant them. They are convenient but to my mind more suited to Western than Indian cooking,

Vikram

[yamraj17]

My mother always makes all meat, red or white, with the bone-in. Also, never have I come across any Malyali restaurant in Kerala or anywhere else serving boneless dishes. And till now, I had never given it any thought. You may find fewer bones in a beef dish, but that is as far as it goes. Kheema or Kaima dishes are, of course not to be counted.

The tastiest chicken dishes are made with country fowl, or nadan kozhi as they are called in Malayalam. You'll find them to be a lot bonier than a city broiler. But what you lose in flesh, you gain in taste. After the chicken curry is ready, a couple of teaspoons of coconut oil is what you need to make the yummiest chicken dish ever.