Pepper Chicken Kuzhambu Recipe | Pepper Chicken Gravy | Pepper Chicken Masala

Monday, September 11, 2017

Pepper Chicken Kuzhambu Recipe | Pepper Chicken Gravy | Pepper Chicken Masala

I received requests from readers for the recipe of pepper chicken. Also, one of my friends personally pinged and asked this recipe. Though I make dry pepper chicken often at home, I somehow missed posting the recipe here. Recently, in Instagram when Mullai posted a picture of pepper chicken with rice, I was very much tempted to try. I bookmarked the recipe from her blog and gave it a try this weekend. It came out super awesome and I am here with the recipe. I will be posting the dry pepper chicken soon. Check out my other Chicken recipes too. Let us move on to the recipe:

Ingredients:

Chicken - 1/2 kg
Onion - 2 cups(finely chopped)
Tomato - 1 cup(finely chopped)
Green chilli - 1
Ginger garlic paste - 2 tsp
Red chilli powder - 1 tsp
Coriander powder - 2 tsp
Turmeric powder - 1/2 tsp

Salt - as required
Coriander leaves - few(chopped)

To Grind:

Cumin seeds - 1 tsp
Fennel seeds - 1/2 tsp
Cinnamon sticks - 1/2 inch piece
Cloves - 3
Cardamom - 1
Poppy seeds(kasa kasa) - 1 tsp

Whole black pepper - 2 tsp

To Temper:

Oil - 2 tblsp

Bay leaf - 1

Cumin seeds - 1/2 tsp

Curry leaves - few

Method:

1. Grind the items under 'To Grind' to a fine powder. Keep it aside.

2. Meanwhile, chop the onion, tomato and green chilli finely. In a kadai, add the oil and temper it with the items under 'To Temper'. Then add the chopped onions. Saute it until the onion turns transparent.

3. Now, add the green chilli and ginger garlic paste. Saute for a minute and add the chopped tomatoes. When the tomato turns mushy, add the washed and cleaned chicken pieces. Mix it all together.

3. Add the chilli powder, turmeric powder, coriander powder and ground pepper masala powder at this stage. Mix it all together, add the required salt and 1/2 cup water.

4. When the gravy starts boiling, cover it with the lid and cook it on a medium flame for about 20 to 25 minutes or until the chicken is cooked. By now, the gravy thicken and the masala coats well with the chicken pieces. Adjust the consistency of the kuzhambu as per your need. Garnish it with chopped coriander leaves and switch off the flame.

Serve it hot with steamed rice/roti/Pulao.

Points to remember:

Adjust the spiciness as per your taste buds. It is preferred to add whole pepper while grinding, instead of pepper powder to get the aromatic pepper chicken.
The gravy should be boiling for a minimum of 15 to 20 minutes to overcome the raw smell of the masalas.
It is better to do the entire process in the medium flame. Resting the curry for an hour before serving makes the kuzhambu delicious.
Either boneless chicken or chicken with bones can be used for this gravy. I used the combination of both.