AndhraPepper Chicken recipe with step-by-step photos & a recipe video. This South IndianPepper Chicken is a popular dry chicken recipe made with chicken, stir-fried with onions, garlic, curry leaves, and freshly ground black pepper masala. Serve this spicy pepper chicken fry as a side dish with steamed rice and dal, Naan, or Roti.
Prep Time10 minutesmins
Cook Time20 minutesmins
Total Time30 minutesmins
Course: Side Dish
Cuisine: Indian, South Indian
Servings: 4people
Calories: 370kcal
Author: Preeti
Equipment
Deep bottom pan
Ingredients
To marinate the chicken
600gchicken
¼cupYogurt
salt to taste
2teaspoonginger-garlic paste
For pepper masala
1teaspoonwhole cumin
2teaspoonwhole black peppercorns
1teaspoonfennel
1.5tablespooncoriander seeds
1-inchcinnamon
2green cardamoms
4cloves
Other ingredients
2tablespoonoil
2onionschopped
¼ teaspoon turmeric powder
½teaspoonred chili powder
salt to taste
1tablespoonlemon juice
2spring curry leaves
coriander leaves to garnish
Instructions
Preparations
Marinate the chicken with yogurt, salt and ginger-garlic paste. Cover and keep it aside for 30 minutes.
Chop the onions and set it aside.
Making pepper masala
Heat a deep bottom pan over medium-low heat.
Roast cumin, black peppercorns, fennel, coriander seeds, cinnamon, green cardamom and cloves until aromatic.
Transfer it to a plate. Let it cool down to room temperature. Grind it to a fine powder. Pepper masala is ready.
To make pepper chicken fry
Heat 3 tablespoon of oil in a deep bottom pan over medium heat.
Add onions and saute until onions are golden.
Add the marinated chicken and cook until the color of chicken changes from pink to white.
Add turmeric powder, red chili powder and pepper masala.
Combine and cook it for 2-3 minutes on low heat. If needed add 2-3 teaspoon water and stir until masala starts to release oil from sides.
Add ¼ cup water and combine. Cover and cook on low-medium heat until the chicken is cooked. Stir it frequently to avoid masala sticking to the bottom of the pan.
Taste the masala and add salt. Add lemon juice and curry leaves.
On medium-high heat, combine and cook until the gravy dries up. It will take around 1-2 minutes.
The masala starts to leave oil from the sides. It is an indication that the masala is cooked well.
Garnish with coriander leaves and serve.
Serve pepper chicken fry with steamed rice and dal.
Video
Notes
Marinate the chicken for at least 30 minutes to an hour. If you are marinating the chicken for an hour then cover and keep it in the refrigerator. Do not skip the marination step. Marinating the chicken makes it tender and juicy. Also, prevents the chicken from drying out.
Dry roast the ingredients, stirring continuously on low heat until aromatic. Stir continuously while roasting the spices so that they get roasted evenly.
Be careful while adding water to the recipe. It is a dry chicken recipe so add less water while cooking the chicken.
To reduce the spiciness - decrease the quantity of black pepper and skip adding red chili powder to the recipe. Similarly, if you want to make it spicy then increase the quantity of red chili powder in the recipe. The recipe I shared here will give you mildly spiced chicken.
Curry leaves give this chicken masala its authentic flavor and aroma. Do not skip it.
You can add 1 chopped tomato to it while adding the spice powders.