This chicken pepper curry is my mother’s recipe, tweaked and perfected by her over the years. Every house has a chicken curry recipe they swear by. I’ve tried different ones…elaborate recipes that seem to require the milking of a goat at dawn on the third Wednesday of the month…recipes that require twenty different spices carefully roasted…so I can now say with confidence that this simple chicken pepper curry tops them all.
You can use chicken drumsticks, or boneless chicken thighs, or chicken thighs with bone-in, really whatever tickles your pickle. You’ll need to adjust the cooking time slightly (probably five minutes less for boneless meat, and ten minutes more for bone-in thighs), but otherwise, it’s hard to mess up this curry. What you do need is an immersion blender, a nice sturdy one that isn’t afraid of coaxing onions into puree (this is the one I use).
You could probably try adding tomato to this curry, though I’d never do it because I find that the tangy taste of tomato overwhelms the pepperiness of this curry. I’m not the biggest fan of tomatoes. I use them sparingly in most recipes, and the only exception I make where I generously use tomatoes is in a fresh burrata salad, because where there’s cheese, there can be tomatoes. But I digress!
I like this curry to be thick enough to have with bread, so I’d recommend stirring often to make sure it doesn’t stick, without adding too much water beyond the single cup that is recommended in this recipe. This chicken pepper curry goes best with piping hot chapatis or flatbreads and a generous dollop of ghee. I wouldn’t have it any other way!
Chicken Pepper Curry
Ingredients
- 8 chicken drumsticks
- 1 onion (large)
- 1 green chili
- 1 tsp olive oil
- 1/2 tsp cumin seeds
- 1/4 tsp fennel seeds
- 3 cloves
- 1 tsp black peppercorns
- 2 tsp garlic paste
- 1 tsp ginger paste
- 1/4 tsp turmeric powder
- 1/2 tsp chili powder
- 1/2 tsp coriander powder
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 cup water
Instructions
- Chop the onion roughly and slit the green chili in half.
- Heat oil in a large pot for a few minutes.
- When hot, add the cumin seeds, fennel seeds, cloves and black peppercorns. Let the spices brown for a minute.
- Add the green chili, garlic paste and ginger paste and fry for a minute.
- Now add the chopped onion and sauté on medium-high for about 10 minutes till the onions are golden brown.
- Then add the turmeric powder, chili powder and salt. Sauté for 2 minutes.
- Turn off the heat and allow the mixture to cool for five minutes. Then blend with an immersion blender until you get a smooth paste.
- Bring the pot back to medium-high heat. Add the chicken drumsticks and sauté for a few minutes.
- Add a cup of water and bring the pot to medium heat.
- Cover with a lid and let it cook for about 20 minutes, until the chicken is tender. Stir every 5 minutes or so to ensure the curry doesn’t stick to the base.
- Serve with chapatis or flatbread!
Awesome.