Pepper Chicken

It was a rainy day here today and it reminded me of the monsoons back at home. Sometimes you crave for certain kind of food in rainy weather. Sometimes it could be samosas or a plate of hot garam pakodas with a tangy mint chutney or tomato ketchup to go with it or sometimes it could be your true comfort food like a bowl of fish curry or a spicy chicken roast with boiled rice. So when I think of comfort food on a rainy monsoon like day this spicy dish Pepper chicken definitely gets a place into my list. It is a very flavourful dish that is prepared by slow roasting the chicken in the spices and masalas.

Pepper chicken is a chicken roast type dish made with crushed black pepper as main masala ingredient where the chicken is coated well with this masala loaded with crushed black pepper. The black pepper gives the dish its unique taste and it is definitely a spicy hot dish and not for the faint hearted.

Black pepper is one of the many spices grown natively in various parts of South India and pepper also comes in a red and green form as well in the rural parts of Kerala where it is used for cooking. I recently watched a vlog done in Wayanad, in the high ranges of Kerala where a home chef grandma plucked fresh green pepper and used it in a marinade that she made for fish fry. She infact used minimal spices and this green pepper was the main ingredient that she used to marinate the sardines. I believe it does give a unique taste from the common black pepper that we use otherwise.

Pepper chicken is a common dish seen in South Indian cuisine namely Chettinad and Andhra cuisines where the dishes are usually spicier and this is best enjoyed as  a starter dish or as main course where it may be paired with Boiled rice/ Chapathi.

I would be sharing here the detailed recipe of this so that it can be whipped up in no time in your kitchens as well.

RECIPE

Ingredients

– Chicken – 500 grams (preferably with bone or boneless thighs or leg meat)

– Onion – 1 medium (thinly sliced)

– Garlic and Ginger paste – 2 tbsp

– Green Chillies – 2 finely chopped

– Curry leaves – a sprig (10 – 15 in number) (optional)

– Coriander leaves – to garnish finely chopped (optional)

– Crushed black pepper powder – 4 tbsp

– Coriander powder – 1.5 tbsp

– Garam masala – 1 tsp

– Turmeric powder – 1/2 tsp

– Oil – 3 tbsp (Coconut oil or Refined Oil)

– Salt to taste 

– Lemon juice – 2 tbsp

STEPS

1. Heat oil in a deep round bottomed non stick pan. When the oil is hot, add in the curry leaves into the pan and sauté for a minute. (It adds on flavours but this step is optional)

2. Add the thinly sliced  onions and saute till they turn golden. 

3. Add chopped green chillies and ginger garlic paste and sauté for 2 minutes.

4. Now add coriander powder, garam masala and crushed pepper.

5. Now add in the chicken pieces and cover the pan with a lid and cook on medium flame for about 10 minutes.

5. After 10 minutes , open the lid and mix well and cook on low flame until the oil gets separated.

6. Cook till you get the dark brown colour of the chicken by slow roasting on low flame but do not add water.

7. Garnish with curry leaves and lemon juice. Coriander leaves may be chopped finely and used for garnishing (optional).

8. Serve hot with boiled rice/ chapathi