Wash and clean the chicken pieces and make deep gashes in them

Marinate the cleaned chicken with ingredients listed under “Ingredients for Marination” and keep in the refrigerator for half an hour(overnight marination provides best results)

To the same pan, add the sliced onions a pinch of salt

Cook till onions turn golden brown

Add the ginger garlic paste and cook for about 3 to 4 minutes or till raw smell disappears

Throw in the coriander, red chilli, garam masala fennel powders and fry for a few minutes till masala is cooked through

Add sliced tomatoes curry leaves along with enough salt and mix well

Now add the thick coconut milk and mix well

Cover and cook till the gravy is very thick(15 to 20 minutes approximately) The chicken pieces should be succulent coated well with the masala

This curry has a semi-thick gravy.Serve hot with plain rice/pulav/roti/appam

Notes

You can use any refined oil for this dish but honestly coconut oil enhances the flavor and lifts the dish to a whole new level. So it’s totally your call!

If you want to avoid excess oil usage, you can skip shallow frying the chicken. Directly proceed to cooking the marinated chicken pieces in a non-stick pan with very little oil and then adding this into the prepared tomato and onion masala with coconut milk