Pepper Chicken

Pepper Chicken

A tasty dry curry in Kerala cuisine, made of cooked chicken and  spices. Excellent side dish with  rotis / Kerala parota / pulao / rice / or serve as a starter.

1st stage

Ingredients

For the chicken:

600 g chicken pieces (net weight after cleaning), cut into medium size

½ teaspoon turmeric powder

½ teaspoon salt

Wash and clean chicken pieces. Drain out water thoroughly. In a bowl, marinate chicken pieces evenly with turmeric powder and salt. Cover and keep aside for half an hour.

Other ingredients for the soup:

3 cloves

3 cardamom

1 cinnamon stick

¾ teaspoon red chilli powder

12 – 14 shallots (chuvannulli / small onion), chopped

1 teaspoon chopped ginger

10 cloves garlic, chopped

1 teaspoon vinegar

1 teaspoon salt (or to taste)

3 cups / 600 ml water

Method

In a wide bowl, boil marinated chicken pieces with spice paste, shallots (ulli), garlic, ginger, vinegar, salt to taste (first add 3/4 teaspoon and check the taste) and water (up to the level of chicken pieces), Cover with a lid and boil on a medium to low heat for 20 -  25 minutes until the water (stock) has reduced to about 2 cups / well cooked. Strain this  soup through a clean iron sieve and use for Chicken soup / any gravy dishes / to cook rice …

Here's the recipe Curried Chicken Soup !!

Here's the recipe of Rice cooked in Chicken stock !!

2nd stage

Pepper Chicken

Serves: 3

Ingredients

1 tablespoon oil

1 onion (1 big or 2 small size), finely sliced

8 cloves garlic, chopped

½ - inch piece ginger, chopped

6 – 8 curry leaves

2 green chillies, slit lengthwise

1/4 teaspoon turmeric powder

1 teaspoon pepper powder (3/4 to 1 teaspoon)

Cooked  chicken

½ teaspoon salt

Method

Heat 1 tablespoon oil in a pan. Add finely sliced onions and fry on a low to medium heat until golden color and crisp.

Add chopped garlic, ginger, curry leaves  and slit green chillies. Saute well and fry for 4 – 5 minutes or until fragrant.

Add turmeric powder and  stir well for 1 – 2 minutes.

Add pepper powder (3/4 to 1 teaspoon) and mix well.

Add cooked chicken pieces and adjust salt to taste. Mix all the ingredients well. Cover with a lid and cook on a low heat for 10 minutes or until chicken pieces well combined with all the spices (do not add water / soup while cooking). Serve as side dish with Parotta / Rotis / Rice / Pulao / Brown bread …