Pepper Chicken

We once visited one of our friend's place and I had a very bad cold then.She suggested that she would make pepper chicken to soothe the cold. She added an extra spoon of pepper to treat the cold. The dish was excellently tasty and hot, so that I sat with a pack of hand tissue next to me and promisingly, it got out most of the phlegm. Since then, I adopted her version of the recipe and of course with a little less pepper!

Ingredients:
Chicken - 500 gms
Any cooking Oil - 1 Tablespoon
Gingley  oil - 1 Tablespoon
Cardamom - 2
Cloves - 2
Cinnamon - 1 (of 1/2 inch)
Bay leaf - 1
Fennel seeds - 1/4 Tablespoon
Cumin seeds - 1/4 Tablespoon
Onion - 2 medium (finely chopped)
Tomato - 2 medium (finely chopped)
Ginger garlic paste - 1 Tablespoon
Turmeric powder - 1/4 Tablespoon
Red chilli powder - 1/2 Tablespoon
Coriander powder - 1 1/2 Tablespoon
Salt - to taste
Pepper powder - 1 Tablespoon
Onion - 1/2 (chopped lengthwise)
Curry leaves - 10 to 15 leaves
Salt - to taste
Water - 1/2 cup


Method
1. Heat both the oil in a deep thick bottomed pan and add cloves, cardamom, cinnamon, bay leaf, fennel seeds and cumin seeds and fry them for 10 seconds.
2. Add onion and sauté till it becomes golden brown and add ginger garlic paste and cook till the raw smell goes off.
3. Then add turmeric powder, red chilli powder and coriander powder and fry till the raw smell goes away.
4. Add tomato and salt and cook till the tomato gives out the juice and is completely cooked.
5. Add the chicken and sauté till the meat becomes white. Then add water to the chicken, cover the pan with a lid, reduce the flame to medium and cook for next 30-40 minutes till the meat is soft and cooked completely. Give a quick stir in between so that the chicken do not stick to the bottom of the pan.

6. Once the meat is cooked and the gravy has thickened, add the onions cut length wise and the curry leaves.
7. Cook for a minute and then add pepper powder and  cover the pan with the lid.
8. After a minute, turn off the heat and mix everything together.
Care should be taken that the onions added in the step 6 are not cooked completely. It should be crunchy.
 Hot pepper chicken is ready to be served.

Note
* The curry leaves and the pepper powder added towards the last gives a whole new dimension to the dish, flavour wise and taste wise.
* If gingely oil is unavailable, just the 2 tablespoon of the cooking oil can be used. Gingely oil gives good flavour to any chicken or fish dish.