Pepper chicken/Chicken masala

Hot hot chicken!

This is a Kerala recipe and a special guest post. The preparation was entirely by my husband who has the right to declare himself as the meat chef at home. He inherited some culinary skills and has the urge to put them to use at least once in a week. Good for me! After a week’s busy schedules, he enjoys cooking on weekends as it is relaxing for him and therapeutic for me. If there are guests, he would cook all non-vegetarian dishes to make my work bearable. Thanks, hun!

Chicken has lost its spell on him because he was brainwashed by my daughter, who degrades it as a factory meat. But he eats chicken occasionally…when there is no other alternatives. My husband is not reluctant to eat anything that runs for its life! I was mortified to watch him eat game meat from the restaurant rightly named ‘Carnivore’, in Nairobi. I have sat there helplessly herbivorous, eating salad and potatoes when the others savoured fine cuts of meat from Gazelle, Warthog, Zebra or Crocodile, barbequed to an irresistible glaze.

A menu from Carnivore.

Above is a menu in Carnivore (from Google). Hartebeest and Eland are huge deers and they have to procure a hunting license to bring game meat to the table. Don’t miss the vegetarian column being almost blank…but they offer something for basic survival. On a table in this picture, do you notice a food label, ‘Crocodile in the sky’? What the heck is that!

Okay, back to chicken, basically it is very popular as a versatile, white meat that makes cooking easy and speedy. It has the goodness of protein and minerals and can be a healthy choice if it is a road runner aka county chicken.

This pepper chicken is a great recipe with the combination of common ingredients that my husband whipped up with his paternal info and some research. A little gravy makes it perfect for chappati. When fried dry, it can complement rice and curry for a scrumptious dinner.

Ingredients

• 1 large chicken (1½ kilo) cut into medium size pieces

Marinade
• 1 tsp coarsely crushed pepper powder
• 1 tbsp lemon juice
• Salt

Marinate chicken with pepper, lemon juice and salt.

Clean chicken and marinate it with pepper, lemon juice and salt. Set it aside for 1/2 an hour to add flavour as the marinade penetrates and tenderises.

Spicy masala

• 3 tbsp coconut oil
• 2 medium onions sliced
• 2 tbsp ginger garlic paste
• 3 green chillies slit
• 2 tsp coarsely ground pepper
• ½ tsp turmeric powder
• 1 tsp crushed fennel
• 1½ tbsp chicken masala/garam masala
• Curry leaves
• Salt

 

1. Heat coconut oil in a heavy bottom pan and add sliced onion and brown it. (This adds colour.)
2. Add few curry leaves and ginger garlic paste and cook for a few minutes.
3. Stir well and add pepper powder, turmeric powder, crushed fennel and chicken masala.
4. Mix well and add marinated chicken pieces.
5. Cook chicken in its own juice on medium heat.
6. Cover the pan with a lid.
7. Check in between and stir it to cook well.
8. Allow all water to evaporate or to the right consistency.
9. Let it rest a while and serve it hot.

This spicy chicken is a fuss-free recipe, easy to prepare and has a heady flavour of pepper. If recovering from a cold and flu, pepper chicken will trigger and wake up the senses of taste and smell. From the look and smell of it, I assume, it is terrific! It was approved by the maker!

 

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