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1
Set a dry heavy pan over medium heat and roast the kopra pieces, turning constantly, until they are an even deep golden throughout — pale kopra will give you a flat, insipid masala because the oils in the dry coconut have not opened up fully. In the same pan, roast the Kolhapuri chillies until they blister and release their scent, then the sesame seeds until they begin to pop, then the stone flower for 30 seconds. Spread everything out and allow it to cool completely before grinding, so the residual steam does not make the paste watery.
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2
Grind the cooled kopra, Kolhapuri chillies, sesame seeds, and stone flower together with a small amount of water to a coarse-textured paste, so the kopra retains enough body to give the finished masala its characteristic grip on the chicken. The paste should be dark, speckled, and dense — not smooth.
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3
Heat the refined oil in a heavy karahi or wide pan over medium-high heat. Add the chopped onions and fry until deep brown — past golden, to the point where they smell nutty and the edges are dark — because it is this depth of colour that gives the base its sweetness and the masala its eventual dark hue.
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4
Add the ginger and garlic pastes and cook, stirring, until the raw scent is gone and the mixture begins to stick to the pan, so no sharpness carries through to the finished dish. Keep the heat active enough that the pastes fry rather than steam.
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5
Add the ground masala paste and cook over medium heat, pressing and folding it against the pan, for 8–10 minutes — this is where the dish lives or dies: the masala must be cooked until the oil separates visibly around the edges and the paste has darkened by a full shade, turning from a wet mixture to a deeply fried, clingy mass. Undercooked masala will taste raw and closed; properly fried masala smells roasted, slightly smoky, and intensely of coconut and chilli.
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6
Add the bone-in chicken pieces and salt, turning each piece to coat it thoroughly in the masala so that the spices begin to penetrate the meat rather than just sitting around it. Cook over high heat for 3–4 minutes, pressing the chicken against the pan until the surfaces colour.
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7
Add just enough water to allow the masala to cling — this is a dry preparation, not a curry — then cover and cook over low-medium heat until the chicken is cooked through and the masala has reduced to a dark, coating mass around each piece. The chicken is done when the bone joints yield easily and no pooling liquid remains, only a thick, clingy coat. Serve with jowar bhakri or thick chapati, raw onion, and lime.