Make this garlic pepper chicken to give your taste buds a kick of sizzling garlic and freshly crushed black pepper! Your healthy meal just got a makeover and you can thank me later for this!
This garlic pepper chicken is not as intimidating as regular chicken curry!
Making a good Indian healthy chicken curry may seem to be challenging at times as you may only imagine a very oily and super-spicy gravy with deep-fried chicken in it! But that’s not the reality!
There are many tasty Indian chicken curries which does not come with loaded calories and that’s exactly what I’ve got for you all today! My weekly staple, this garlic pepper chicken is high on flavors while using minimal oil and spices.
I have applied few tricks while making this garlic pepper chicken so that I can cut down on oil drastically. Yes, oil it the main culprit which significantly increases the calorie content of any of your food without you even realizing it.
The more you fry any ingredient in oil, the lower its health quotient becomes. So your primary target must be to use as less oil as possible. But hold on! Don’t omit oil altogether as this minimal fat is absolutely needed for proper absorption of nutrients in our body!
How this garlic pepper chicken is different from my regular chicken curry?
My regular home-style chicken curry is everyone’s favorite at home and mine too. It required good amount of oil as the curry base is made with lots of onion and tomatoes. To properly fry the onions, you will require enough oil.
This will definitely turn out to be a super-tasty chicken curry, but I suggest you to keep it as occasional affair especially if you are trying to lose weight which is why I have put a pause on it. Instead, apply these tips and tricks to make a healthier garlic pepper chicken which you can savor guilt-free!
The very first trick is to use less amount of onion. Trust me, it won’t impact the taste at all. Lesser the amount of chicken, lesser the oil you will need. For about 750 grams of chicken pieces, I used just a cup of sliced onions as opposed to about 4 cups of onion for my chicken curry.
The thickness of the garlic pepper chicken curry will come from yogurt or plain curd. Even with less onion, you will end up with a smooth and velvety gravy.
How to cook tasty pepper chicken with less oil? My quick tips & tricks!
When you use less oil to cook a chicken curry, you will need to have little more patience while the chicken is being cooked. Once you drop the chicken into the kadai, you give a good stir and close the wok with a lid so that chicken is cooked in the trapped steam.
That way you won’t need to stir-fry the chicken in oil for a long time which is another reason behind high calorie content. Let the chicken cook till it is half done and then you add curd which will make the chicken pieces soft and tender with a melt-in-mouth texture.
This garlic pepper chicken is not a spicy dish, let me call that out loud. I haven’t even used the typical Indian spices like turmeric, cumin or coriander in this recipe. The ultimate flavor of this chicken curry comes from garlic and freshly crushed black pepper.
I use little more garlic than usual as I like garlicy flavor plus the combination of garlic and pepper in a yogurt based gravy makes it irresistible. You can also throw in some veggies of your choice like I used lightly sautéed capsicum in my dish.
All in all, this garlic pepper chicken is a very satisfying meal which you can enjoy without any worry! But do remember about portion control!
- Chicken curry cut – 750 gms, thoroughly washed and drained
- Onion – 2, medium, thinly sliced (about 1 cup of sliced onion)
- Ginger – 2 inch piece, grated or pureed
- Garlic – 8 to 10 cloves, grated
- Tomato – 1, finely chopped (about half a cup)
- Capsicum/green bell pepper – 1, small, cut into 1-inch chunks
- Plain curd/yogurt – ½ cup, beaten until smooth
- Freshly crushed black pepper powder – 1 to 2 tsp depending on the level of heat you like
- Sugar – 1 tsp
- Salt to taste
- Cooking oil of your choice (try to avoid any kind of refined oil) – 4 tbsp
- First sauté the capsicum in a kadai or small frying pan in little oil, about 1 teaspoon, until they are lightly golden but still has its crunch left. Take them out and set aside.
- Heat a wok or kadai large enough to hold all the chicken and veggies. Once hot, add the oil and let it warm up.
- Once the oil is medium hot, add sliced onion and fry on medium flame until the onion turns golden brown. It would take about 12 to 15 minutes on medium flame.
- Then add the grated ginger and garlic and cook for another 5 minutes until the raw smell is gone.
- Now add the chicken pieces. Stir the chicken pieces into the onion mixture to mix everything well. Cover the wok and let the chicken cook on medium heat for 15 minutes until they develop golden brown color.
- Now add the chopped tomatoes and stir fry until the tomatoes are mushy and soft. Add salt, sugar and pepper powder. Mix well.
- Now add the beaten curd and give a thorough mix. Keep sautéing the chicken on medium until the curd is almost absorbed completely.
- Add half a cup of hot water and bring to boil. Then cover the kadai and simmer for 15 minutes.
- Uncover the wok and check the doneness of chicken. If it’s still not tender to your liking, then cover the kadai and continue to cook for 10 more minutes.
- Once the chicken is completely cooked, throw in the sautéed capsicum and give a good mix.
- Gravy should be thick by now. You can make it thinner by adding little more water or leave it as is.
- Switch off the flame and sprinkle little more black pepper powder (it is optional though) for additional kick. Serve hot with phulka (Indian flat bread)! Enjoy!
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