Ingredients
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1 kg Organic country chicken
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1/2 tspn Black pepper powder
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3/4 tspn Turmeric powder
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1 tspn Ginger garlic paste
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6 tbsp Oil
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4 medium Onion
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1 Star anise
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2 Bay leaf
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2 inch Cinnamon
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2 Green cardamom
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1 Black cardomom
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4 Cloves
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2 medium Tomato
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few Curry leaves
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1/2 tspn Red chilli powder
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2 tspn Kashmiri chilli powder
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1 tspn Homemade onion garlic masala
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1/2 tspn Jeera powder
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1 tspn coriander powder
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Salt
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Finely chopped coriander leaves
Directions
About This Tamil Nadu Style Pepper Chicken
This recipe comes from my husband, who has been making pepper chicken this way for years. I was a vegetarian for most of my life and rarely ate chicken. In recent years, after my C-section, my gynecologist advised me to include lean proteins in moderation as part of my diet. Since then, I have started eating chicken occasionally, and this flavorful pepper chicken has become one of the few non-vegetarian dishes I genuinely enjoy.
Pepper chicken is one of the most popular non-vegetarian dishes in Tamil Nadu. Unlike restaurant-style chicken gravies that rely heavily on red chili powder, this traditional recipe gets its heat and flavor mainly from freshly ground black pepper. This is a total comfort food.
The beauty of this dish lies in its simplicity. A handful of everyday ingredients such as onions, tomatoes, curry leaves, ginger, garlic, and black pepper come together to create a deeply flavorful chicken preparation that pairs beautifully with rice.
Why We Prefer Country Chicken
For this recipe, we always use freshly cut organic country chicken. Country chicken has a firmer texture and richer flavor compared to regular broiler chicken. While it takes slightly longer to cook, the taste is worth the extra time.
The meat absorbs spices beautifully and develops a wonderful flavor when slow-cooked with caramelized onions and freshly ground pepper.
Health Benefits of Black Pepper
Black pepper is often referred to as the “King of Spices.” It has been used in Indian kitchens for centuries not only for its flavor but also for its traditional health benefits.
It is known to aid digestion, support metabolism, and provide warmth to the body. This is one of the reasons pepper chicken is commonly prepared during rainy and winter seasons.
Tips for the Best Pepper Chicken
The most important step in this recipe is patiently sautéing the chicken with onions. Allow the onions to turn lightly golden and coat the chicken thoroughly before adding tomatoes and spices.
This process develops a deep caramelized flavor that gives the dish its authentic homestyle taste.
Freshly ground black pepper also makes a significant difference. Avoid using old pepper powder, as it loses much of its aroma and sharpness over time.
Method to prepare this chicken:
- For 1 kg of chicken, in a mixing bowl add chicken, cut down larger pieces, and slit the leg pieces.
• Add black pepper powder, beaten fresh curd, turmeric and freshly ground ginger-garlic paste to the raw chicken and let it sit for 15 mins.
• In a pan, heat oil and add the whole spices as mentioned; add finely chopped onions. Now it’s time to add the marinated chicken and fry until the raw smell has gone.
• Let the onion turn slightly golden in color before adding the chicken. This is the caramalized taste that we are looking for our dish to be infused with.
• Add finely chopped tomato, followed by the salt. Add a handful of curry leaves.
• Add ground spices as mentioned. Keep it open and cook until soft. Allow the gravy to thicken, as this enhances the flavour of this dish.
• Garnish with finely chopped coriander leaves.
• serve hot with plain cooked rice and raita (curd with spices and salad)
Serving Suggestions
This Tamil Nadu-style pepper chicken tastes best with steamed rice and raita. It can also be served with chapati, parotta, dosa, or idiyappam.
A side of onion salad and curd balances the heat of the pepper beautifully and completes the meal.
Note:
We prepare this dish by sautéing the chicken in onion for a longer period of time. The caramelized onion gives taste to this chicken.
So add tomatoes and spices only after the chicken is well coated with caramelized onion.
