Kozhi Nirachathu / Stuffed Chicken with gravy

We first ordered Kozhi Nirachathu at a popular restaurant in the UAE. We ended up with a butterflied chicken in a spicy masala along with a side of egg roast which absolutely did not complement each other that too at an exorbitant price! After almost a year we got to taste this dish again at another restaurant. This time the egg roast stuffed inside the chicken and the chicken was deep fried - it tasted heavenly.  I was skeptical of getting a whole chicken deep fried until I read up a few recipes and saw a couple of videos. Yes, you can actually cook a whole chicken on stove top without deep frying it! It is not all that time consuming either.

Kozhi Nirachathu or stuffed chicken with gravy is a dish from Kerala that involves cooking a whole chicken with gravy and egg roast stuffed in the cavity.  Egg roast is made separately and stuffed into the marinated whole chicken before cooking the chicken in the gravy. When you want a whole chicken on table and you do not have an oven to rely on this could be your go to recipe! 

Ingredients

1. Whole chicken - 900 gm
2. Egg - 2 no.s
3. Onion  - 4 big ones finely chopped
4. Tomato - 2 finely chopped
5. Green Chilly - 2 finely chopped
6. Ginger garlic paste  - 2 tsp
7. Chilly powder - 1 tbsp + ½ tsp +¼ tsp
8. Coriander powder - 1 tbsp
9. Turmeric powder - ¼ tsp
10. Fennel powder - 1 tsp
11. Garam Masala - 1 tsp
12. Curry Leaves - 3 sprigs
13. Water - ¼ cup
14. Coconut Oil

To Marinate

1. Chilly powder - 1 tbsp
2. Turmeric powder - ¼ tsp
3. Lime juice - 2 tbsp
4. Salt

Method

• Hard boil the eggs, shell and keep aside. Create cuts on the egg and roll it in ¼ tsp of chilly powder until well coated. Fry this for 2 minutes in a teaspoon of oil rotating until done on all sides
• Remove the skin, clean and pat dry whole chicken. Create deep gashes on the chicken. Make a marinade by mixing together the chilly powder, turmeric powder, salt and lime juice.  Rub this well onto the chicken and the cavity too. Let it rest on counter top for about an hour.
• Heat oil in a deep pan ( use extra oil than you would use for normal chicken curry). Add onions into the pan and saute till transparent.
• Add ginger garlic paste, curry leaves and green chilly. Let it cook down.
• At this point,separate 4 tbsp masala into another pan. Add ½ tsp of chilly powder to this and cook well.  Add 2 tbsp of chopped tomato and let it melt.  Add the fried eggs and coat the masala. Let it cook for another minute. Turn off the flame and set aside.
• Meanwhile, add the remaining chilly powder, turmeric powder, coriander powder, fennel powder and garam masala into the main pan. Let the masala cook before adding tomato. Mix well and keep it covered until the tomato melts.
• Add salt and water to this bring it to boil and turn off.
• Stuff the egg masala into the cavity and using a twine tie together the legs of the chicken to close the cavity so that the masala stuffed in does not seep out. Tie together the wings as well. 
• Place this in the deep bottomed pan. Spoon masala over the chicken and let it cook on high for 5 minutes. Reduce the flame and let the chicken cook. Flip over the chicken once a while ensuring that the chicken is always well coated in the masala. It takes about 30 minutes to an hour for the chicken to cook completely. Uncover and cook the chicken for the last ten minutes. The masala reduces and begins to change color to brownish red.
• Transfer to a serving dish and serve it with choice of bread or rice.

You may also note - 

• Turning over a whole chicken may be difficult, use two spatulas to support while turning it over.
• Keep pouring spoonful of the gravy onto the chicken top and let the flavor seep in.
• There are chances that the chicken may stick to the vessel and burn. So make sure to turn it over frequently!