Nadan chicken pepper fry

Today I am sharing the recipe of nadan chicken pepper fry / Kerala style chicken pepper fry, which is one of my favorite chicken dishes..I just love adding black pepper to my chicken or mutton dishes especially the freshly ground pepper, may be that's why whenever I dine out, I mostly look in the menu for dishes with lots of pepper in it like chicken pepper fry , mutton pepper fry, prawns pepper fry etc etc..My love for black pepper started even before my marriage..During my teenage years I used to enter kitchen once in a while to help my mom  (especially after a lots of emotional blackmailing from her ) and the one thing which I used to make at that time was Chammanthi / Chutney, and I used to add black pepper even to my chammanthi/chutney, and this  annoys my mother and as usual just because of adding a little black pepper to the chutney she starts worrying about my future especially the part after my marriage and I had to argue even with my sister for this black beauty, because she dosent like pepper in chammanthi...but unfortunately at that time I didn't know much about the medicinal uses of black pepper..:( , otherwise I would have won that debate.

Black pepper helps in digestion, reduces intestinal gas, alleviates constipation and even helps to fight against cancer. I have already shared a recipe of pepper chicken with gravy some time back which was perfect with chapathi / rice, but this dish doesn't have gravy and here after cooking we fry it in oil for sometime...I adapted this recipe from a malayalam cookery show and tried making it with couple of modifications and my family loved it...:)

Ingredients

Chicken ( Boneless ) ~  1/2 kg 

Garlic ~ 7-8 garlic cloves (Peeled and crushed )

Ginger ~ 2 medium sized pieces ( Peeled and crushed )

Green chillies ~ 4-5 nos (Chopped )

Shallots / Kochu ulli ~ 15 nos ( Finely chopped )

Tomato ~ 2 nos ( Medium sized , chop and grind it to a paste using a mixer grinder )

Turmeric powder ~ 1/2 tsp
Black pepper powder ~ 3 tsp

Lemon juice ~ 3/4 tbsp 

Home - made garam masala ~ 1/2 tsp

Grated coconut ~ 1/2 cup

Coriander powder ~ 2 tsp

Curry leaves ~ 2 stems

Salt to taste

Coconut oil / Regular vegetable oil

Method

• First clean the chicken pieces and cut it to medium sized pieces and then drain it nicely. Next marinate the chicken pieces with 1/4 tsp turmeric powder, 1/2 tsp pepper powder, 3/4 tbsp lemon juice and little salt and refrigerate it for about 30 minutes. 

• Then heat oil, preferably in a non-stick pan and add mustard seeds and when it pops up, add curry leaves followed by crushed ginger and garlic and fry for 2-3 minutes. Next add finely chopped shallots and green chillies and saute till shallots become transparent and in a very low flame, add 2 tsp coriander powder, 1/4 tsp turmeric powder and fry for less than a minute. Then add ground tomato paste along with 2-3 tbsps of water and cook till the tomatoes are nicely cooked and until almost all water is evaporated. 

• Next add marinated chicken pieces along with enough salt and mix it nicely and cook covered for around 20 minutes without adding water. Then cook uncovered for another 10-15 minutes and then add 2 1/2 tsp black pepper powder, 1/2 tsp of garam masala, grated coconut  and 1 stem of curry leaves and mix it nicely and then keep it in a low flame till the chicken pieces becomes dry and slightly brown in color and at this point you can add 1-2 tbsps of oil. Do stir in between in order to avoid the chicken from sticking to the bottom of the pan.

Cheers!!

Jisha