South Indian Pepper Chicken Curry

Course Chicken, Main Course

Cuisine Indian

Keyword Tamil Nadu Pepper Chicken

Prep Time 20

Cook Time 40

Total Time 1

Servings servings

Calories 322kcal

Author Chhavi

Ingredients

2 lbs Whole Chicken About 1 kg of Chicken, Bone in, small pieces. Check notes
1 tablespoon Ginger Grated, Pounded or in a Paste
1 tablespoon Garlic Grated, Pounded or in a Paste
1.5 teaspoon Turmeric
2 tablespoon Oil Coconut or Gingelly Oil
10-15 Curry Leaves
1 Green Chilli Optional; whole.
2 Cups Onions 2-3 Medium sized-Chopped ; 200 gms
2 Cups Tomatoes 2-3 medium sized -Chopped ; 300 gms
Salt to Taste about 1.5 tsp

Dry Masala

2 tablespoon Coriander Seeds or Powder
3 teaspoon Black Peppercorns
1 teaspoon Cumin Seeds
1 inch Cinnamon
1 teaspoon Fennel Seeds saunf
½ tablespoon White poppy seeds Khas Khas
3 Cloves
2 Dried red Chillies

Instructions

In a spice blender, blend all the whole spices - coriander seeds, black peppercorns, cumin, cinnamon, fennel Seeds, cloves, poppy seeds & red chili into a coarse powder and keep aside. If not, then substitute with two tablespoons of garam masala and 1 teaspoon of ground black pepper.
In a heavy-bottomed pot, heat the oil.
Add the onions , curry leaves, and green chili to the hot oil. Sauté till they start turning translucent.Add the garlic and ginger. Saute for 30 seconds.
Now add the ground spice blend. To make the curry less spicy, add only half the spice blend. Sauté for about 30 seconds. Add a splash of water if it starts to burn.
Add the tomatoes and cook until they start disintegrating. About 10 minutes. You can squash the tomatoes to speed up the process.
Add the chicken next and mix well. Let the chicken cook in the spices for 1 minute.
Add about 1 cup water, salt to taste(around 1 tsbp), and let it simmer for 30 minutes or so.
Mix it up. Garnish with coriander and serve hot.

Video

Notes

Notes Spice Mix

If you do not want to make the spice blend, swap out the spice mix with one tablespoon of garam masala and 1 teaspoon of ground pepper.

To Adjust the spice level of the curry

You can do the following

Leave out the Green Chili
Leave out the red chili
Reduce the Black pepper to ½ the quantity
Or use half the spice powder and save the rest for next time.

Chicken

I use skin on, bone in whole chicken, cut into medium size peices.In India, it's called curry cut.In the US, I just get an organic chicken cut up at whole foods.

Chicken drumsticks are a great replacement for whole chicken and are much more easily available everywhere.

Serve

Serve this curry over rice or with naan or our favorite- with dosas and kerala parottas.

Nutrition