Chicken Pepper Fry

I was only in class 3 or 4 when the first book of Harry Potter came into the market. It was an instant hit and the children as well the adults loved the first installment of that series. I read about the book in the Sunday special extras of a Bengali news paper. Even as a kid...I was a dedicated reader. In our house we had the complete collections of Tagore, Saratchandra, Sukumar Roy, Bankim Chandra, Bibhutibhusan...and I had already started reading them one by one. And it needs no specification that I was in a complete awe...lost in the treasures of the Bengali literature. I was not that much exposed to the English literature at that time...because my English was not at all strong to read through the prose easily and consulting the dictionary at every page appeared tiresome.

But I wanted to read Harry Potter. Its magic had already enchanted me and I was not ready to “obliviate”. Coming from a lower middle class family it was not easy to buy a book which was priced at that time at a whopping “399INR”. So I started saving the money that mother gave me to buy the lunch. I was not allowed to go alone anywhere and it was only at the time of book fair that I used to have the liberty to spend whatever I have saved, only on the books. So one year passed by with me resisting every urge to spend the money, to buy something else, to eat something good from the street. It was not easy but thank god I did. I can still remember the day of the book fair when I was finally able to buy my first Harry Potter book and that day, I stayed up till dawn to finish it in just one day. I just had to. And so began my abrasions with Harry Potter which is still here and refuses to go. I literally grew up with Harry Potter and those confusions of Harry’s teenage life made me feel secure that everyone...everyone screws up a bit. Even now...after so many years...after realizing that nothing of that sort exist...deep down I still wish...cherish the desire that one day a white owl will enter my room, flapping its wings and crashing on the bed, with the letter from Hogwarts, school of witchcraft and wizardy, sealed with its sign, engraved on the red solid glue, underneath which,  will be my call letter to Hogwarts, and off I will be to Diagon Alley to buy my wand and the books, the more the better. Walking down the corridors where Dumbledore once walked through...wouldn’t that be wonderful????? If only...dreams did come true....

Heat oil and add the ginger paste, garlic paste, chopped green chillies and curry leaves. Saute for half  a minute.

Add the sliced onions and cook until they turn golden brown.

Add the chopped tomatoes and cook until the oil separates.

Add the marinated chicken and add half of the ground cumin seeds and black peppercorns.

Cook until the chicken is tender. Add the remaining ground black peppercorns and cumin seeds and the curry leaves.

Mix and simmer until the gravy turns dry and clingy to the chicken pieces.

Chicken Pepper Fry is a dry chicken side dish from the southern part of India. Chicken pepper fry is famous for its dark deep almost black and brown colour as well as for its spice quotient. With a generous amount of pepper, this chicken recipe is a must for those who loves to add a hint of spice in everything.

Chicken Pepper Fry

Serves 4

Ingredients:

Chicken – 1 kg (boneless preferably, cut into bite size pieces)

1 and ½ onion – finely sliced

1 tomato – chopped

1 inch ginger – paste

Juice of 1 lime

6 cloves of garlic – paste

15-20 curry leaves

1 tsp turmeric powder

1 tsp red chilli powder

½  tsp coriander powder

2 tbsp black peppercorns – finely ground using a grinder or mortar and pestle

1 tsp whole cumin seeds – ground using a grinder or mortar and pestle

2 green chillies – roughly chopped

Salt

3-4 tbsp oil

Method:

Marinate the chicken with salt, lime juice, turmeric powder, red chilli powder, and coriander powder. Rub the spices all over the chicken pieces using your fingers and keep aside covered for around 1 hour.

Heat the oil and add the 10-12 curry leaves, ginger – garlic paste and chopped green chillies.

Sauté them for 2-3 minutes and then add the sliced onions to them.

Sprinkle some salt over the onions and cook them until they become golden brown.

Add the tomatoes and cook until the oil starts to separate at the edges.

Add the marinated chicken and add half of the ground peppercorns and cumin seeds.

Stir to mix and fry the chicken pieces until they change their colour.

Cover the kadai and cook for 10-12 minutes or until all the water that the chicken pieces released are evaporated. Stir every 2-3 minute to prevent the chicken pieces from sticking to the bottom of the kadai / pan.

When all the moisture is evaporated, add 1 and ½ cups of water and cover the kadai again. You have to do this step only if you are using chicken with bone as they take much longer time to cook than the boneless small chicken pieces.

Check every 2-3 minutes and cook until the chicken pieces are soft and tender.

Simmer until the gravy thickens, stirring almost continuously, and add the remaining ground cumin and black peppercorns.

Add the remaining curry leaves as well.

Mix and stir.

Taste and adjust the seasonings.

When the curry becomes dry enough to cling to the chicken pieces, switch off the flame.

Serve hot with plain rice or chapatti or paratha or naan.