Kalimirch Chicken Curry (Pepper Chicken)

Winter has always felt like a long, drawn-out test of endurance—a season that seeps into your bones and makes you question why anyone would willingly live through it. The days shrink, the sun turns shy, and there’s a quiet loneliness in the cold that creeps into the house no matter how tightly the windows are shut. Cooking in winter is less about recipes and more about survival—about finding warmth where you can. 

And that’s what got me through this winter — cooking this Pepper Chicken Curry in the dead of winter, when the world outside was brittle and sunless. It’s the kind of dish that clears the fog inside you—the sharp bite of black pepper rising up through your throat, curling into your sinuses, and forcing the winter out, like it’s wringing the cold from your very bones. It doesn’t just open your senses; it wakes them up, rough and honest, the way a sudden gust of wind slams open a window.

Ingredients:

• 
  450 gm skinless chicken thighs 
• 5 medium onions (pyaaz)
• 1 green chilly (hari mirch)
• 1 cm ginger (adrak)
• 5-6 garlic cloves (lasun)
• 1 tsp fennel seeds (saunf)
• 2 tbsps coriander seeds (dhania)
• 1 tsp whole black peppercorns (sabut kalimirch)
• 1 tsp finely ground black pepper powder (kalimirch)
• 1 tsp garam masala
• 2 inch cinnamon stick (dalchini)
• 2 bay leaves (tejpatta)
• 2 green cardamom (chhoti elaichi)
• 150 gm beaten curd (dahi)
• Salt to taste (namak)
• Cooking oil (tel)
• 1 tsp clarified butter (ghee)
• Freshly squeezed juice from half a lemon (nimbu)
• Chopped coriander for garnish (dhania)

Instructions:

1. In a large bowl, marinate the chicken with the finely ground pepper powder, lemon juice and salt to taste. Keep aside for half an hour.
   
   
2. Thinly slice the onions and green chilly and keep aside. Finely chop/ grate the garlic and ginger.
   
   
3. Dry roast the coriander seeds, peppercorns and fennel seeds for 1-2 minutes and then crush using a pestle and mortar to a coarse powder.
   
   
4. Heat cooking oil (I've used sunflower) in a pan over medium heat.  Add the cardamom, bay leaves and cinnamon.
   
   
5. Stir for a few seconds and then add the onions and sauté till they turn transparent. You want to slow cook the onions so that they release more flavour.
   
   
6. Next add the garlic, ginger and green chillies. 
   
   
   
7. Stir for a minute or two to get rid of the rawness, and then add the marinated chicken.
   
   
8. Cook the chicken on each side for five minutes on low heat and then add the crushed spices and garam masala.
   
   
9. Add the beaten curd at this point and stir quickly to avoid the gravy becoming granular. Make sure you add the curd when the heat is low.
   
   
10. Mix well and cover and cook for 20-25 minutes.
    
    
11. You can add half a cup of water if you want a runnier gravy, but I've found that the water released from the chicken while it cooks is usually sufficient. You can also add a tsp of ghee at this point to add a beautiful aroma, though this is totally optional.
    
    
12. Turn off the heat and garnish with fresh coriander leaves. Serve hot with roti or steamed rice.

Suggestions:

• If you're adding water to the chicken to increase the amount of gravy, make sure you add in lukewarm water instead of room temperature, as this keeps the chicken from becoming chewy.
• You can substitute the curd for coconut milk.
• I've used red onions for this recipe, as most Indian curry recipes use red onions. White onions can also be used, but they do tend to render the curry more sweet so adjust the spice levels accordingly.

There’s a strange kind of peace that comes after a meal like this. When the plates are empty, and the last traces of spice still linger on the tongue, the house feels a little less cold, the night a little less long. That’s the thing about food—it can’t fix the winters of the world, but it can offer you a small, flickering light in the middle of it.