If you're a food lover, visualize this: Soft, hot, fluffy and airy idiyappam with masala chicken curry! Want a bite? Head straight to the Central Junction in Adimali where Anas has a roaring business going in his thattukada.
The local folks call the special dish 'Idiyappam-chicken mix.' So enticing is its taste that you'll want more of it and quite often too. Even if the pieces are missing, the gravy will suffice. Just dip the idiyappam in the gravy and have it. It's like having a heady brew.
That's not all. There's an 'e' on the menu. Checkout it out and you'll see that the list of dishes beginning with a rhythmic and phonic 'e' which makes us curious. What's this 'e?' Here goes the list: Idukki kappa biryani, Idiyappam-beef mix, and idiyappam-botti mix. Yet other specials are puttu-chicken mix and kappa-chicken mix.
How to make idiyappam-chicken mix?
Pour oil in a tawa and add in big onions and green chillies. Sauté till they turn brown. Add chicken curry, idiyappam, garam masala, white pepper powder, and curry leaves and sauté once again.
The chicken curry with its fried and ground masalas is made tastier by adding a bit of fresh ground coconut.
Anas is pretty secretive and extremely possessive of his masala mixes. He'd rather not divulge the tricks of the trade. However, he has this to tell all food lovers: Fret not if your home-made idiyappam-masala curry gravy does not turn as good as what's got from the thattukada. For everything lies in the garam masala mix. The hit-maker is a perfect combination of cinnamon, cloves, and star anise.
Of all the innumerable thattukadas in Adimali, what makes the Anas shop tick? A regular diner explains, ''Only Anaz has the magic to combine two distinct dishes to perfection. It's a match made to entice.''
