Pepper mushroom and Pepper chicken

This pepper dish is one of the weekends special in my childhood. My mom does with mutton. Pepper is well–known as a natural cold remedy. The freshly roasted and ground pepper will give the dish an extra flavor. If you want to clear your stuffy nose, this pepper fry works like magic.
I have made two versions one with mushroom vegetarian and the other one chicken.
There are people who doesn’t like mushroom, just because of the chewy texture. I feel the mushroom is great substitute for Non-veg eater.
Important: Don’t try to substitute with pepper powder, roasting and grinding fresh pepper is important to bring the full flavor for this dish.
Both vegetarian and non-vegetarian are spicy but really good remedy when you have cold! They are slightly different each other.

Vegetarian Peppery mushroom fry

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Ingredients:

Mushroom: one packet (8 oz)/ cleaned and sliced
Onion: 1 medium / minced
Ginger-garlic paste: ½ tsp
Black whole Pepper: 1 tbsp
Coriander powder: 1 tbp
Garam masala: ½ tsp
Curry leaves: 2 sprigs
Salt: per taste
Oil: 1 tbsp

Method:

Roast the pepper:
Add a few drops of oil in small saucepan. Fry the whole pepper until they start to pop and aromatic.
Grind into a smooth paste or powder.
Heat a pan with oil, add the minced onion, and fry until translucent. Add the gin-garl paste after few minutes; drop the sliced mushroom, coriander powder, pepper paste/powder and salt. Cover the pan; the mushroom should be cooked by releasing own water, in medium heat.
When the water is evaporated, sprinkle the garam masala and curry leaves.
The curry can be enjoyed with rotis or rice.

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Pepper chicken/Millagu Kozhi

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Ingredients:

Chicken: 3 thighs (4 drumsticks) - cleaned
Onion: 1 minced
Whole black pepper: 1 tbsp
Ginger-garlic paste: 1 tsp
Chilli powder: 1 tsp
Coriander powder: 1 tsp
Turmeric: ¼ tsp
Salt: per taste
Curry leaves: 2 sprigs
Oil: 2 tbp

Seasonning:
Clove:2
Bay leaves: 1
Cinnamon stick: ½ inch

Method:

Marinate the chicken:
Marinate the chicken with turmeric, chilli powder with ½ tsp of ginger- garlic paste for ½ hour.

Roast the whole black pepper:
Add few drops of oil in pan and roast the pepper until they start to pop and aromatic.
Grind into powder or paste.
Note: In India, the chicken takes a little more time to cook. I would suggest the whole process could be done in pressure cooker pan and leave one whistle.
Heat the pan with oil; start with the seasoning ingredients and add the onion fry until translucent. Add the remaining ginger garlic paste. After few minutes, add the marinated chicken, pepper powder/paste, coriander powder, salt, add ½ cup of water. Cover the pan and cook until the chicken is done, remove the lid and keep in medium heat until the chicken start leaving the oil. Sprinkle the curry leaves and switch off the stove.
The pepper chicken and plain rice with rasam is great combination.
Another Note: If you think at the end it is less spicy, try to add green chillis, the dish will turn spicy or extra spicy!
Both version of pepper dish, is for Dhivya who is hosting Think Spice: Think pepper originated by Sunita.