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Wednesday 5 March, 2008

Pepper Chicken Masala

Yesterday, when it was time to cook dinner I was going through the contents of my fridge to find out what I could cook. As Cape Town is a place where not much of Indian vegetables are available, it is a daily hassle for Indian wives like me to bring up those beautiful smiles when food is served. My regular phrase is "Curry is a constant worry". Now going back to my fridge contents, I found a small chicken. The regular chicken curry is not exciting anymore so armed with Lekshmi Nair's Magic Oven Recipe book I started cooking Pepper Chicken Masala. It is a fairly easy and good recipe.

Ingredients:

  1. 1 small chicken (cut into small pieces)
  2. 1 onion cut into big pieces
  3. 2 tomatoes (blend to a smooth paste)
  4. 2 inch ginger
  5. 6 cloves of garlic
  6. 1tsp. chilli powder
  7. 1 tsp. coriander powder
  8. 1/2 tsp. turmeric powder
  9. 2 tblsp. black pepper
  10. 1 piece cinnamon
  11. 5 cloves
  12. salt to taste
  13. 3 tblsp. butter or oil
  14. a few curry leaves (optional)
  15. 1/2 cup dhaniya leaves (coriander leaves)

Method:

  • Grind onions, ginger, garlic, coriander powder, chilli powder, turmeric, salt and 1 tblsp. black pepper into a fine paste.
  • Marinate the cut chicken pieces with this mix for approximately 1 hour.
  • Cook the chicken pieces until it is 3/4 th done and the water has all evaporated. The masala must have covered the chicken by now. Keep it aside.
  • In a heavy bottomed vessel, heat oil or butter and put in cinnamon stick, cloves, and curry leaves.
  • In this put one tablespoon ground pepper (it should be medium ground) and heat until it gives out a fried smell. Now add the tomato paste.
  • When all the water has evaporated from the tomato and oil starts bubbling add the 3/4 done chicken and cook until properly done.
  • Garnish with coriander leave and serve it with rice or rotis.

Source: Magic Oven Recipes by Lekshmi Nair


8 comments:

Anonymous said...

Sujo,

Thanks a lot for the recipe. As a novice cook, I have a couple of questions though. Please do answer if you have time. How do I get rid of the raw smell from the onions. I did boil it till the water had evaporated quite a bit...Also, at what point is addition of salt the best?

-Anup.

Sujo said...

Anup,
When I cooked this recipe I did not get the raw smell of onions but if you feel you get it, then there is one way out. You can saute the items in Step 1 first and then marinate with it. Secondly, salt can be added in the marination or while cooking the chicken pieces.
The recipe book has left it out and I also forgot to put it down. Thanks for pointing it out.

Rosly said...

Hi Sujo Aunty

This recipe is really good and watery ;) ... I love this and i gona try this after EASTER. Will update u once i do it successfully :) ..

I would also like to get some fish curry recipes..

Rosly

Sujo said...

Hi Rosly,
Thanks for the comment. I shall surely post some more fish curry recipes. I have Goan fish curry on my other blog http://vanitharecipes.blogspot.com. Try that it is a good one especially with angel fish.

Rahi said...

hi sujo,
can u please post more lekshmi nair recipes especially beef recipes as i am a big fan of hers
thanks in advance
blossom

Unknown said...

hi sujo , just discovered yr blog as i was searching for lakshmi nair's recipes . if u hv her VANILLA COOKIES recipe PLEASE could u post it on yr blog ?
thnk u ,
sheila.
keep up th blog , its goood.

Unknown said...

hi sujo, just discoverd yr blog as i was searchng for lekshma nair's recipes....PLEASE could u post her VANILLA COOKIES recipe,if u hv it .....thnk u .
sheila,
keep up th blog ...its goood .

Sujo said...

Hi Ranji,
Sorry,I do not have the Vanilla Cookie recipe with me. Was out of touch with my blog for some time.