Deep Dive
The Kerala curry and spice foundation
Chicken mafas originates in Kerala and leans hard on coconut and fresh flavor. Fallow opens by joking that he's about to offend South Indians by claiming this is quintessential South Indian food, then immediately undercuts himself by admitting he doesn't know what mafas means. The point lands: Indian food spans 38 distinct languages and regions so vast they're like different countries. This particular curry starts with warming whole peppercorns, cloves, cinnamon, and fennel seeds using the heat of your palm as a gauge — a trick his grandmother taught him. The goal isn't toasting or coloring; it's waking them up.
Building the masala paste
The masala gets ground fresh from crushed spices, quartered onions, and a splash of ice water in a blender, left intentionally textured rather than silky. Fallow uses a dedicated blender jug for savory (one for smoothies stays separate) and keeps the paste rough enough to bite whole seeds of peppercorn later. Into hot coconut oil goes a two-part onion-ginger-garlic base: green chilies added first to sizzle, then the first batch of aromatics cooked until golden, hit with a splash of water to release fond like a fond-deglazing move. The turmeric cooks out alone, then the masala paste joins, creating layered onion flavor throughout.
The cook and the finish
Raw chicken goes into the cooked masala — the traditional way that lets spice and onion flavor soak into the meat. Coconut milk goes in uncovered for about 30 minutes, reducing gently. The final act is a hot-oil tempering: mustard seeds popped in fresh coconut oil, curry leaves added once the heat drops slightly, then pearl onions and tomatoes stirred in off-heat. Fallow won't cook the onions and tomatoes much past that — he wants vibrancy, not softness. That last tempering is the flavor hack that makes the dish sing.