Pepper chicken curry!!!

Hi guys!!!

When I sit down to blog about the pepper chicken curry I am reminded about a very sweet incident in my life. The day Ganesh and I got engaged, he took me out for dinner and as we were guided to our table he whispered in my ears 'For one day put aside ur diet and calorie calculation and eat properly. I am so happy today and don't wanna see u across the table drooling over the food and fighting urself from having too much'. Even now I don't know if this is a romantic or funny incident. :-)

What is the connection between the incident and pepper chicken??? If any of u have guessed already, yes, we had pepper chicken that day. Although it was pepper chicken fry and that was the first starter we had that day.. I have prepared pepper chicken curry a couple of times before but always felt something was missing. Finally last week, when I altered the usual recipe a little bit it turned out just mouthwatering tasty. This is a spicy curry and goes well with rotis.

So here goes the recipe.

Ingredients:
Serves - 2 people

Chicken - 300 gms
(I used boneless chicken breasts)
Onion - 1 big or 2 medium
Tomatoes - 1 big or 2 medium
Green chillies - 2
Ginger & Garlic paste - 1 tsp
Turmeric powder - 1/2 tsp
Chilli powder - 1 tsp
Corriandeer powder - 1 tsp
Fennel powder - 1/2 tsp
Black pepper powder - 11/2 tsp
Cloves - 4
Cardamom - 2
Cinnamon - 1" stick

To season:
Oil - as required
Mustard seeds - 1 tsp
Cumin seeds - 1 tsp
Curry leaves - a bunch

Procedure:

1. Heat oil in a kadai and add the mustard and cumin seeds. When they splutter add the curry leaves.
2. Next add the chopped onions and saute along with a pinch of salt. Adding salt helps the onions to be cooked faster. Saute till the onions are cooked and crisp.
3. Now add the cloves, cardamom,cinnamon, chopped chillies, ginger garlic paste and turmeric powder. Saute well and let it cook for a couple of minutes. The ginger garlic paste and turmeric powder takes some time to be cooked. You know it is done when the raw smell goes away.
4. Now add the tomatoes and saute till the onions and tomatoes are combined well and form a paste. This takes a couple of minutes.
5. Next add the diced chicken pieces and mix well. Following this add all the masala powders except pepper powder. Mix well so that the masala powders cling on to the chicken pieces.
6. Add the required amount of salt and mix again. The heat needs to be on medium. You can close the lid and let the chicken cook for about 10 minutes. There is no need to add water 'coz chicken releases moisture when cooked on medium heat.
7. Just stir now and then to ensure no sticking to the pan. When the chicken is completely cooked add the black pepper powder and mix well. Switch off heat and garnish with corriander leaves.

The spicy pepper chicken curry is ready!!!