Nattu Kozhi Kuzhambu - Country Chicken Curry :)... #vedakozhi #muttaikozhi

Whenever I go to my grandma's house, I wait for this day of the week. My grandma makes delicious nattu kozhi curry which tastes awesome and its considered to have medicinal values.
Usually its Thursday evening when the little girl comes from the near by village to our home to sell this hen. They don't sell hen on Friday as they have had these as their family bread providers for generations. They feel when they sell or handout the hens on friday, their good charm also goes away. Hence its usually Thursday evenings or Saturday early morning when we get these hens for our feast.
These hens are not of any specific breeds they have been bred and kept in these villages for ages and sold out to the towns. They are not from any poultry institute or any hatcheries. They are super tasty and very healthy. They are not from hatchery and they are one among the fittest of the clutch.
The hens coming from hatcheries don't go strong after live prey (basically they lack hunting skills) hence they wont be tasty. The naturally hatched country chicken which flies after each wigglers around the garden is the one which will taste authentic. If you see the picture below this hen doesn't look so large or fleshy and that's exactly what we want.

Also, we prefer veda kozhi. The qualities of this vedaikozhi are as listed below
1) It should be a HEN (Roosters are not preferred as it has less medicinal values and we cook that when we need more meat during occasions or when guests arrive)
2) It should be very healthy and not have any kind of sickness or disabilities and should be bought when its alive.
3) These chick should have started to lay eggs for the first time of their life. Usually we get the chick after it has laid its first egg.
4) If you get karinkozhi its even more special but as for me, I didn't have that luck during this vacation. For more details on karinkozhi see my previous post in this blog or search for "Kadaknath"

When there is no hen available which had laid the first egg, my grand ma sees the bunch of chicken in the farm and selects the perfect hen which is about to lay the first egg in 4 - 5 days. Its her experience.
This kind of hens will have the eggs piled up in its ovary and it can be seen as shown below. We call this as the "Muttai Kudal" the egg intestine. We cook this along with the gravy and eat it. It is one of the tastiest thing you will ever eat in your lifetime :)...

The hen will be slaughtered on Saturday morning. We do halal method meaning we cut its throat and leave all the blood out and then dip the hen in hot water and remove its feathers and cut it to pieces. In certain other parts people squeeze the hen's throat to kill it and show it in fire to clean it. This method clots the blood inside the body of the hen and gives a different flavor. Usually we don't follow this method as blood has lot of germs.

Then the chicken is cooked with onions, herbs, spices, ginger, garlic, black pepper and only sesame oil is used and its cooked only in clay pot. Note : Don't add coconut now. By the time this is happening we are done with our oil bath. Then my grandma takes the gravy and adds more sesame oil to it and gives the soup to drink. Believe me it relives all your body pain, cold, fever and gives you a new strength. Then she adds coconut milk to the remaining gravy with meat and then its served with rice on banana leaf. Its a rich experience which not only quenches the taste of your tongue but also your spirit.

I know this is a ritual followed in most of the houses in Tamilnadu. Lets keep it up and see to that our next generation also get this experience.

I will try to post the exact recipe for this in my next post.