Chicken Istoo (Stew)

Chicken Istoo

Hi All. Today's recipe is an all time favorite of mine. It's enjoyed so much by Malayalees and is a popular breakfast dish in Christian households. It's even a default, must- have dish served at Christian wedding receptions - your meal is going to start off with a serving of Istoo and Appam. It's just delicious.

Istoo is a coconut based white gravy dish and it's amazing how a few ingredients can just create something so yummy. It isn't a spicy dish and so it's definitely something that can be enjoyed by anyone and everyone - young and old alike.





So What Do We Need?

• About 1 kg Chicken - including bone pieces - Cut into small to medium size pieces

Clean the chicken well. Remove the skin off the pieces and give the pieces a good wash. Then in a bowl, take the washed chicken pieces and add a tablespoon of vinegar and a dash of salt. And fill the bowl with water. Let the chicken pieces sit in this vinegar water for 10 - 15 minutes. This is just to ensure the chicken is cleaned out well. After 15 minutes, using a strainer - drain the water out, rinse once again and let the chicken pieces sit in the strainer. Place this strainer balanced over a bowl to let every drop of water drop off the chicken.

2 medium sized Onions - Thin Julienne slices

• 3 Green Chillies -  2 of them chopped and 1 slit in half
• 1.5 teaspoon - Crushed Pepper
• Salt as required
• 3/4 teaspoon Garam Masala
• 8 - 10 Cashew nuts
• 3 sprig Curry Leaves
• 3 - 4 Garlic Cloves  - Thin Julienne slices
• 1 inch small piece of Ginger - Thin Julienne slices
• 1 or 2 medium Potatoes - Peeled and cut into medium sized cubes
• 1 or 2 medium sized Carrots - Peeled. Cut in half length wise and then sliced - semi circle cuts.

Adjust the amount of potato and carrot as per your liking in accordance with the amount of chicken.

• 3 - 4 Cardamom - Crushed
• 4 - 6 Whole Peppercorns (Optional)
• Coconut milk Thin - 400 ml 
• Coconut milk Thick - 200 ml
• 1/4 cup Water
• 1 tablespoon Coconut oil
• Ghee (Optional)

Let's Do This

• First thing is to put the chicken pieces in a pressure cooker and add in 1 teaspoon pepper powder, sliced garlic, half of the sliced ginger, 1 stem of curry leaves, 2 chopped chillies, 2 cardamoms and enough salt to season the chicken pieces. Mix it well and let the chicken pieces marinate in this mixture for 15 minutes.
• In the mean time, in a pot, take some water, bring it to boil and add the cut potatoes and carrot. Then add enough salt to season it. Once the potatoes begin to change color from dense yellow white to a pale almost translucent yellow, with a fork poke a few potato and carrot pieces. If you are able to pierce through the pieces easily - then they are cooked and you may turn the flame off and strain out the pieces and keep aside - else let the pieces cook for a minute or 2 longer and poke again with the fork to check if they are done.
• Now once the chicken are marinated for 15 minutes, add a 1/4 cup of clean water to the chicken in the pressure cooker. Close the pressure cooker and put the weight on. 

 (Chicken pieces generally release a lot of water when you cook them and so we don't really need to add water to cook it. But just to be on the safe side so as to avoid the pieces from sticking to the bottom of the cooker and burn - we add a little water.)

• Over a medium flame cook the chicken till up to 3 whistles. Once the 3 whistles are up - you may turn the flame off.  The cook time may vary depending on the brand of pressure cooker used.

(DO NOT open the pressure cooker immediately. Let the entire built up steam within the pressure cooker get released. Basically wait for the hissing from the pressure cooker to completely stop. Once the hissing stops - with a spatula or some long handle spoon carefully lift the weight up and ensure all the steam is gone and then and only then open the pressure cooker.)

• Now take a big pan. Over a low to medium flame, heat coconut oil, add the sliced onions and a pinch of salt. Sauté the onions till they turn translucent.
• Add the remaining sliced ginger and slit chilli, cardamom and curry leaves. Sauté till the raw fragrance of ginger is gone completely. 
• Now add 1/2 teaspoon garam masala and whole peppercorns. Cook for 2 minutes stirring constantly.
• I at this stage toss in the Cashew nuts and fry till its golden brown. But you could fry the nuts separately in ghee and add to stew at the very end.
• Now to this add the entire contents of the pressure cooker - chicken pieces and the watery stock. Let this come to a boil.
• Add in the cooked potatoes and carrots. And let it all cook for a minute.
• Now add the coconut milk Thin and the remaining pepper powder and garam masala. Bring it to a boil and let it simmer till you reach the desired consistency - the gravy shouldn't be too watery nor too thick. Also keep in mind that once the stew is done and as it cools the gravy is going to become thicker. 
• Once you have reached the right consistency - add in the coconut milk Thick and a sprig of curry leaves. Turn the flame to low and let it all cook for about 2 minutes to cook the coconut milk.

 (Do Not let the gravy boil once you add the Thick coconut milk - if it boils then the coconut milk will split and will just ruin the look and texture of the stew.)

• Taste to check the salt. Add if required and gently give it a mix.
• And you are done :-)

Suggestions

Now the taste of this Stew gets even better when you eat it the next day - The chicken just absorbs all the flavors from the gravy a lot more by then. And this amount of Istoo can easily serve 4 people.

Also, I have cooked this stew using only boneless chicken pieces a few times. But I have always found the stew to taste a lot more delicious when I use the bone pieces. The chicken stock that comes while cooking is much more flavorful when you use the bone pieces. 

 My husband and I enjoy this Istoo (Stew) with plain white bread / Brioche bread - thick slices of bread which can soak up all that yummy white gravy. We actually prefer this more that the traditional Paal Appam.

 Just be very careful using the pressure cooker. You can very well cook the chicken pieces in a pot/ pan or Kadai over a medium tending to high flame but its just going to take much longer when compared to the pressure cooker - About 25 - 30 minutes for chicken pieces with bone. Bone-less pieces cook much faster about 10 - 15 minutes. But this can vary with the size the pieces are cut into and the temperature at which its cooked at. 

Do give this a try and I'm sure it will be amazing.