Chicken stew for.......

Ok, so winter is truly here. Its cold, dark and miserable.

Mama mooli came to town to celebrate our anniversary, and i'm seizing the opportunity to sharpen up our Malabar chicken stew (Kozhi ishtoo in Kerala) recipe. Some of you got a sneak preview over Onam a few months ago, but its going to be even better.

Typical of us Syrian Christians of Kerala, its a really unusual dish. The flavours are genuinely subtle and mild - so mild that we'd eat it at breakfast with pal appams (a rice pancake that is soft in the middle and crisp and flaky on the edges) or iddi-appams (rice vermicilli or string hoppers). Yes, it is mild but its got the most gorgeous and balanced flavour - whole spices (fresh peppercorns, green chilli, cinnamon, cardamom, bay leaves, cloves) stewed with coconut milk, chicken, potatoes, ginger-garlic, shallots and celery.

There is no other Indian dish that I know of which has so much flavour and is yet so subtle. Like bullets with butterfly wings. Our antidote to the winter blues should be ready in a few days.

And just for the record, the lady in the video is not mama mooli. And the voice over is definitely not me!