C46 Chicken Xacuti

This recipe is an updated version but the original can still be found here. Chicken Xacuti (see note 1) is a dish from Goa, West India with fresh shredded coconut. This traditional curry has been adapted from several traditional recipes to a BIR (British Indian Restaurant) style. It can be found on some restaurant menus.

Ingredients

For 1	Continued...
2 tbspn oil	300 ml c46 curry base sauce (see note 2)
1 star anise	2 tspn tomato purée
30 gm onion (prepared weight)	1 portion c41 pre-cooked chicken
½ tspn ginger (grated)	2 tspn red chilli (chopped)
½ tspn garlic (crushed)	¼ tspn salt
1 portion c46 xacuti spice mix	1 tbspn tamarind juice
½ tspn chilli powder (or more to taste)	10 - 20 gm creamed coconut block (to taste)

Preparation

Chop 20 gm of tamarind block into small pieces and put into a small bowl adding 50 - 60 ml of boiling water. Set aside for between 15 and 30 minutes, mashing a few times. Finally press through a sieve to remove the debris and seed - this should produce about 1 tbspn of thick juice.
Slice the onion.
Grate the ginger, crush the garlic and mix together with a little water to make a paste.
De-seed and chop the red chilli.
Grate or chop the creamed coconut block into small pieces.

Cooking - 8½ min

Add the star anise and heat the oil in a suitable pan and cook the onion and star anise, stirring regularly, for 2 min.
Add the ginger/garlic paste and cook, stirring, for about 30 seconds.
Stir in the c46 xacuti spice mix and chilli powder and cook, stirring, for 1 min, adding a little c46 base sauce if needed to prevent drying and burning.
Add the tomato purée and 40 ml of c46 base sauce and cook, stirring, for 1 min, adding a little more c46 base sauce if needed to prevent drying.
Add the chicken, red chilli, salt and 80 ml of c46 base sauce and cook, stirring regularly, for 3 min, adding c46 base sauce as needed to maintain the desired sauce consistency.
Reduce the heat, remove the star anise and stir in the tamarind juice and creamed coconut and cook, stirring regularly, for 1 min.

Serving

Serve with rice and garnish with a little freshly chopped coriander.

Notes

(1) Xacuti is pronounced SHA-KOO-TEE.
(2) Dilute the 300 ml of c46 base sauce with 200 ml of water and heat before use. If defrosted from frozen the base sauce can be warmed and briefly blended to reconstitute the colour and consistency.

The main ingredients

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The finished meal

Tamarind

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Creamed Coconut Block

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