Sri Lankan black pepper chicken curry.

Using pepper as the key ingredient and Sri Lankan curry powders, here’s how you make a delicious pepper chicken curry with a thick coconut sauce.

By using fresh ground pepper to make the chicken curry, you are giving this dish a unique flavor.

When you get tired of cooking a really spicy Sri Lankan chicken curry using red chillies and need a change in taste then this black pepper chicken curry will make a difference.

Cooking chicken with black pepper.

Since black pepper is well-known for its health benefits, especially when it comes to digestion and antibacterial quality, adding them to your cooking gives you a chance of getting more of the benefits into you.

Too much or too little will make a difference in how the pepper chicken curry tastes.

When making the dish, you need to keep an eye on the amount of Pepper you use(as per your taste) since pepper can be a tricky spice.

What I mean is, too little and the chicken curry doesn’t have much of the peppery flavor you are going for, too much and you’ll get a slight bitterness in the back of your throat.

I don’t know about you but I also feel quite thirsty if I add too much pepper sometimes.

Serving ideas for Black pepper chicken curry.

If you are serving a Sri Lankan menu for lunch, you can definitely use any of the coconut milk-based curries and a vegetable stir-fry for a meal.

Dinner can be bread with pepper chicken and coconut sambol or a milky dhal curry.

Breakfast- for a change replace the usual red chilli chicken curry with this pepper chicken and serve with coconut roti or kiribath with lunumiris.

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Substituting ingredients for Black pepper chicken curry.

For the curry, I’ve mentioned 1 teaspoon cumin powder and coriander powder, you can replace these two spices with a tablespoon of curry powder.

Can I lightly fry the chicken and at what stage do I fry them?

You can lightly fry the chicken when you are simmering the chicken on low heat to get rid of the liquid, once the liquid evaporates, pour in 2 tablespoons of oil and fry them until they turn slightly brown, make sure the spices don’t burn while you do this. 

Continue with the next step of adding coconut milk.

More chicken curry recipes.

Sri Lankan chicken curry.

Kalupol chicken curry.

Sri Lankan devilled chicken curry.

Pepper chicken in yogurt curry.

Jaffna curry powder chicken curry.

Chicken curry without coconut milk.

RECIPE DIFFICULTY-LITTLE CARE NEEDED

How to make pepper chicken curry.

Please make sure to read the recipe instructions carefully to avoid mistakes.

Ingredients

Ingredients mentioned below use standard measuring cups and spoons.

500g of chicken(can include legs and other parts)

2-3 tablespoons of tamarind juice(1 tablespoon of tamarind soaked in 1/4 water for 5 minutes)

4 tablespoons of oil

A handful of curry leaves

A 2-inch piece of pandan leaf

1 tablespoon of garlic and ginger paste(3 cloves and a 1-inch piece of ginger can be minced for this purpose)

1-inch cinnamon piece

3 cardamom pods

1 large onion sliced fine

2 whole green chillies

1 medium-sized tomato sliced into four

1/2 teaspoon of turmeric powder

1 teaspoon cumin powder

1 teaspoon coriander powder

2 tablespoons of pepper(start with 1 tablespoon and add more as per your taste)

Salt to season

1 cup of coconut milk

Method

Wash, clean and place the chicken parts in a bowl, add one 1/2  teaspoon of salt, tamarind juice(3 tbs), mix and let it marinate for 15 minutes. 

Over medium heat, place a cooking pan and pour in the oil(4tbs).

Once the oil heats(1 minute), add the curry leaves, pandan leaf(2-inch), cardamom(3), cinnamon(1-inch) followed by ginger-garlic paste(1 tbs).

Cook for 2 minutes and then add the onions(1 large), green chilllies(2) and tomatoes(1 medium).

Sautee the ingredients over low-medium heat until onions and tomatoes turn soft. 5-7 minutes.

Reduce heat and add the chicken(with the marinade)to the cooking pan.

Add turmeric(1/2 tsp), cumin(1 tsp), coriander(1 tsp), pepper(2tbs) over the chicken and while the heat is low, mix all the ingredients in the pan for 3-5 minutes while cooking the meat with the spices.

Cover and let the curry simmer for 5-7 minutes until there is no liquid left if you prefer to fry the chicken at this stage add 2 tablespoons of oil and let the chicken brown slightly OR continue to cook until all liquid evaporates and proceed to the next stage.

Pour in the coconut milk, reduce heat, season with salt if necessary then cover and simmer until gravy thickens and takes on a darker hue.15-25 minutes.

Serve warm with your favorite rice and curry dishes.

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