Pepper Chicken Gravy-Chettinad Style

        My Daughter loves chicken, she takes after her dad. Once a week I try to make chicken.
I am a veggie and before marriage I used to avoid non-veg like the plague. I remember that my mom used make everything separately for me.
       These days I do make chicken for my daughter and my husband. This Pepper chicken gravy  is one among the dishes i prepare, in typical chettinad style. The use of  fresh black pepper makes this gravy really authentic according to my husband. Chettinad  pepper chicken gravy and fry are really famous all over the world. This recipe is a hybrid recipe from a few sources , My Grandma, My mom and My mother in law.

Preparation time:15 min

Resting Time:1/2 hour 

Cooking time:45 min

Serves:2

Ingredients:
 To Marinate:

• 1/2 kg Chicken/Kooli
•  Pinch of Turmeric powder/manjal thool
• 1 Tsp chili powder/milagai thool
• 2 Tbsp of Curd/thayir

To Grind:

• 1-2 Medium Red Chilli's/milagai
• 1 Tbsp Roasted Gram/potukadalai
• 1 Tbsp coriander seeds/dhaniya
• 1/2 Tsp Black Pepper corns/milagu
• 1 Small onion/vengayam
• 1/2 medium size tomato.
• Ginger - 1 Inch piece/inji
• Garlic 4-5 pods/poondu

To Saute:

• 1/2 Small onion/vengayam
• 1/2 Medium size  tomato/thakkali.
• 2- 3 Coriander Leaves/kothamalli ilai

To Garnish:

• 1/2 lemon /lime juice (optional, if spices are reduced)
• 1 tsp fresh ground Black Pepper(milagu thool)

Method:
Preparation :

• Wash the chicken. I used boneless skinless chicken breast.
• Cut them in to 1 Inch pieces.
• Marinate the chicken with Turmeric, Chili powder and Curd .Leave it in the fridge for 1/2 hour

• Dry Roast Red Chillies,Roasted Gram,Coriander Seeds and Black Pepper.

• Roast the Ginger, Garlic,1 onion and 1/2 tomato.

• Combine all the roasted ingredients and grind them to a fine paste.

Cooking:

• In a sauce pan saute 1/2 an onion until it becomes translucent and 1/2 a tomato until it is soft.
• You can add fresh curry leaves. I omitted them because I did not have fresh curry leaves.

• Add the marinated Chicken and and cook it covered until it releases its juices.

• Now add the ground paste and salt and let it cook it medium heat till it coats the chicken.
• Now Add a 1/4 cup of water and let it simmer for 20 min in low flame. 
• The boneless chicken cooks really fast so cook the dish in medium low flame.
• The more it simmers the flavors concentrate and it will be super delicious.

• Finally add the fresh ground pepper and simmer for 5 min . You can add more pepper if you like it spicy. 
• The pepper gets added at the end to keep the pepper flavor fresh.

• After switching off the flame add the lemon juice (If you add it before it will turn sour)
• Chettinad Chicken pepper gravy is ready to be served.

Note:

• Add the ground pepper finally so that you get the pepper taste and smell while eating.
• After cleaning chicken wash your hands well to avoid germs.
• Cook the chicken halfway before adding the gravy .
• Adjust pepper ,salt to adjust your palate(taste).

You might be interested in Kozhi milagu varuval,Egg gravy