Kerala Pepper Chicken Fry
Preparation time: 1 hour + 4 hours marination | Serves: 4 people
My dad is from North India and my mum is South Indian, so even though I grew up in Delhi, I enjoyed trying delicacies from the South at a young age. It was a time where regional Indian cuisine didn't stretch too far from the states’ borders, and eating locally grown ingredients wasn't a fine-dining concept – it's just what everyone did.
True to the tropical nature of the area, curry leaves, mustard seeds, good quality pepper and coconut grow in abundance and are used in almost everything.
This homemade Kerala Chicken Fry recipe features those classic South Indian ingredients and eating it reminds me of how far we can travel from our kitchens, without even leaving home.
Use the best pepper you can find for this Pepper Chicken Fry recipe -
As the name suggests, good quality pepper is such an important ingredient in this recipe. Kerala is often known as the birthplace of black pepper and grows some of the best pepper in the world - hence this aromatic spice features largely in several traditional recipes from there.
While I didn’t have the chance to use pepper from Kerala for this recipe, I did use a beautiful Australian brand called Pep, who source their peppercorns from the Memot region in Cambodia, known for its deeply complex flavours.
For this Kerala-style chicken dish, whole peppercorns are dry toasted with fresh curry leaves and coconut, then ground into a fragrant spice powder which helps to thicken the curry while adding nutty, earthy notes.
This is meant to be a ‘dry curry’ hence the name ‘fry’. I love serving it with lots of toasted curry leaves and soaking up all the flavours with a flaky Malabar Paratha.
See more suggestions and tips in the recipe notes below.
Ingredients
1kg skinless, boneless chicken thighs
1-2 tbsps. coconut oil
1 red onion, diced
5-6 garlic cloves
1 inch ginger
1 green chilli
1 tomato, diced
Spices -
1/2 tbps. peppercorns (I used Pep)
2 tsps. fennel seeds
4 tbsps. desiccated/ ground coconut
Handful of curry leaves + more to serve
1 dry red chilli
1 tsp. mustard seeds
2 tsps. Kashmiri chilli powder
2 tsps. ground turmeric
2 tbsps ground coriander
3 tsps. garam masala
Salt and ground pepper, to taste
To serve -
Malabar paratha/ parotta
Method
Cut chicken into bite-size pieces and marinate with 1 tsp each of chilli, coriander, turmeric and garam masala, plus salt. Marinate overnight or minimum 4 hours.
Toast whole peppercorns and fennel seeds in a dry pan for 2-3 minutes until fragrant.
Add coconut and 10-12 curry leaves, toast until golden. Cool and grind to a powder.
Heat 1 tbsp coconut oil in a large pan. Add mustard seeds and dried chilli - when seeds pop, add onion and fry until soft.
Make a rough paste with garlic, ginger and fresh chilli, then stir into the pan with onions.
Pour in remaining oil and spices, fry for a few minutes until fragrant.
Add chopped tomato and cook until liquid reduces and mixture thickens.
Stir in marinated chicken and the ground coconut pepper powder. Simmer uncovered 20-30 minutes until chicken is cooked through.
Adjust consistency with water if needed, or cook down to thicken. Season with salt and a big pinch of pepper.
Serve with flaky parotta and toasted curry leaves.
Swaps, Serves & Storage
Do I have to use boneless chicken pieces?
Skinless, boneless chicken thighs are the easiest and quickest cut of chicken to cook, however you can use diced chicken breast or chicken drumsticks instead. Adjust the cooking time accordingly - longer for bone in cuts of chicken, and shorter for chicken breast.What else can I serve this chicken with?
You can serve this chicken with dosa, idli, roti, appam or rice. I’d suggest adding more water and having more of a ‘gravy’ if serving with rice.How long can I store the Kerala chicken fry for?
You can store this chicken for up to 5 days in the fridge. The flavours will develop and deepen over time, and as everybody knows curry always tastes better the day after!
Check out my other chicken recipes -
