Black Pepper Chicken

My brother recently gifted me with a used cookbook find: Ajanta: Regional Feasts of India by Lachu Moorjani. So far, we love it.

It’s organized to offer you a complete meal, appetizers, bread, meat or fish selection and even dessert according to different regional cuisines. That structure is kind of irritating when looking for a specific recipe, but it would be fun to go through and make each feast. I’m not sure when I would have time, and enough guests to eat it all to do that, but someday I will. For now, we’re jumping around trying things out according to available ingredients or own food lust.

The first one we tried was Kozi Milagu Chettinad, which I’m having difficulty remembering. The translation is Chicken in Black Pepper Sauce. We’re calling it Black Pepper Chicken. It’s from Tamilnadu where peppercorns are grown. It’s delicious, but I think we might reduce the ground pepper to about 1 Tbsp (for a halved recipe). Here is the full recipe as it appears in Ajanta, but it serves 4-6 with large servings. We are halving the recipes for the two of us, and have ample servings with enough for lunch the next day.

Black Pepper Chicken
3 Tbsp oil
1 ½ inch piece of ginger, peeled and chopped
8-10 cloves garlic, chopped
3 medium onions, quartered and and sliced les than 1/16 inch thick
2 pounds chicken, cut into 1-2 inch pieces
1 ½ tsp ground turmeric
3 tsp ground coriander
2 ½ Tbsp freshly ground black pepper
1 ½ tsp salt (or to taste)
3 medium tomatoes, chopped
1 ½ C plain yogourt
8-10 curry leaves
2 tsp Garam Masala
3 Tbsp lemon juice

1. Heat the oil in a medium sauce pan. When hot, add ginger and garlic. Fry for about 10-15 seconds.

2. Add onions and sauté until slightly browned, about 10-12 minutes.

3. Raise the heat to high and add the chicken and stir fry until browned and excess moisture has evaporated.

4. Reduce heat to medium, add all spices and salt, except the Garam Masala. Stir for about 3-4 minutes and then add tomatoes and yogourt. Bring the mixture to a boil.

5. Reduce heat, cover and simmer slowly for about 15-20 minutes or until chicken is tender.

6. Add curry leaves, Garam Masala and lemon juice during the last 5 minutes of cooking.

7. Serve over rice.