Bunt Style Chicken Sukkha (Authentic Manglorean Style Recipe)

If there was one cuisine that I would have for the rest of my life, without a doubt, it would be Mangalorean. I am not being partial since I am from Mangalore, but come on, as they home is where the heart is.

Here is another recipe from one of Mangalore’s famous sub- cuisines, called the “Bunt Cuisine”.  The Bunts are a trading community primarily from the Udupi and Dakshin Kanada districts of Karnataka credited with being the pioneers of the ubiquitous Udupi hotels in Mumbai.  As you would have guessed by now, their cuisine is to die for.

This is one recipe that I would have eaten it a zillion times and yet, I could eat it for breakfast, lunch and dinner. My mum makes it in the most awesome manner and I tried it for the first time. As the pictures below will tell you, it was lip- smacking.  The mandate (from the taste queens) when I made it was to go easy on the spice, which I tried my best to do. You could replace the chicken with mutton and get the same result.

Do give it a try, I am sure you will want to make it again and again 

Bunt Style Chicken Sukkha

Ingredients:

• 1 Kg Chicken (on the bone)
• 2 Onions (Medium Sized, finely chopped)
• 1 Tomato (Large Sized, Finely chopped)
• 2 Green Chillies, Cut into 2 parts
• 2 Tablespoon Garlic Paste
• 1 Tablespoon ginger paste
• 4 Tablespoons Oil
• 2 Tablespoons Bafat Masala
• 1 Tablespoon Red Chilli Powder
• 3 Sprigs of Curry Leaves 
• Salt- to taste

Grind to a coarse paste

• 1 Coconut Grated
• 7-10 Red Chillies
• 1 Tablespoon Cummin Seeds
• 1 Tablespoon Poppy Seeds
• 2 Green Cardamoms
• 8-10 Peppercorns
• 1/2 cup Cashewnuts
• 3 Cloves
• 1 Inch stick of Cinnamon

Procedure:

• Grind together all the ingredients mentioned under the head "grind to a coarse paste". The texture has to be coarse but make sure ingredients have integrated well with the coconut. Add a little water when you are grinding.
• In a pan, add oil and let it come to its smoking point. Once it does, add the curry leaves.
• When the curry leaves begin to change colour, add the onions and allow them to caramelise. This is an important step so let the onions cook well.
• Add in the ginger-garlic paste and stir for a while.Once the smell leaves, add in tomatoes and cook till tomatoes turn soft.
• Add the coconut paste and stir well. You may need to add some water at this point so that the paste doesn’t stick to the base of the pan. Cook till the oil leaves the sides of the pan.
• When the oil begins to leave the sides add the green chillies, bafat, powder, red chilli powder and stir well.  Keep a watch that the paste is not getting to dry and judiciously add water.
• Once the masala’s are mixed well add the chicken and salt.
• Cover and cook over a medium flame. Should be done in about 15-20 minutes