#20 Kerala Quick Chicken Breast Curry

I am always looking to  find new ways of cooking chicken since R loves chicken cooked any way. This is a curry I make at times when I am not inspired to look up recipe books and measure out the ingredients. This is a spontaneous recipe and most of the time I just throw in the spices on my own adding less or more depending on my mood. My spice roots go back to the food grown in "God's own country" and I have used whole spices instead of garam masala or curry powder. One such dish that brings out the real spices of Kerala and my favorite...

Ingredients:
Chicken breast- 1 boneless cut up
Ginger paste-1 tspn
Garlic paste- 1/2 tspn
Onions cut up fine- 2 onions
Tomatoes- 1 large chopped
Corainder Powder- 1 tspn
Chilli powder- 1/2 tspn to 3/4 tspn
Haldi(turmeric powder) -1/4 tspn
Fennel seeds, mustard seeds,
Cinnamon- 1 stick
Cloves-2
Cardamom- 2
1 dried red pepper and 1 sprig curry leaves
salt to taste
crushed black pepper
Olive Oil- 2 Tblspn
Yogurt- 1 tspn

Method:
1. Marinate the Chicken breast in the yogurt, ginger, garlic paste, salt and chilli powder for about an hour.
2. Heat oil in a pan, add the fennel seeds, mustard seeds, split red chilli and curry leaves until the mustard seeds splutter.
3. Add chopped onions and saute real well until they turn light brown then add tomatoes and stir well until pulpy.
4. Add coriander powder, crushed black pepper and saute until the raw smell is gone(a minute).
5. Add the Marinated chicken, cinnamon,cloves and cardamom and 1/2 cup of water.
6. Let cook covered on a low flame until the chicken pieces are well done and taste to make sure the gravy is well seasoned. Add salt if needed.
7. Remove from fire and serve with rice, rotis or parathas.