Chicken with Bell Peppers

Chicken with Bell Peppers

Its been over 6 months that I last visited Gangtok but the taste of the Chicken with Vegetables that we enjoyed during the last day of our stay at Hidden Forest Retreat still lingers to this day.Over the period of a week that we had styed in town, we had mostly vegeterian food apart from the last day when we were treated to this light and tasty recipe. And January being very chilly, we enjoyed it being served piping hot with fried rice.The chicken was served with carrot,beans,bell pepper,tomato in a soya sauce based gravy with diced garlic and peeled onions.

Being inspired by the recipe, I decided to try Chicken with Bell peppers(Capsicum/Shimla Mirch) of different colours and give a Indian twist to the same.For this recipe I used medium sized breast and some wings pieces.

Preparation(10 mins):
Ingredients:

• Chicken Breast - 500 gms. Cut into medium sized pieces.
• Vinegar - 2 tbsp.
• Salt - to taste
• Vegetable Oil - 1/2 tbsp.

Marination(120 mins):

• Mix all the above ingredients and keep aside for 2 hours in the open.

Cooking(45-60 mins):

Hidden Forest Retreat,Gangtok

Ingredients:

• Onion - 4 medium sized(200 gms).3 of them made into peels. The remaining one made into a paste.
• Garlic - 10 cloves.Diced.
• Ginger - One Half inch piece.Crushed.
• Tomato - 1. Deseeded and cut into square pieces.
• Green Capsicum/Bell Pepper - 1.Deseed and cut into square pieces.Pieces like the ones you see in the photo.
• Yellow Capsicum/Bell Pepper - 1.Deseed and cut into square pieces.
• Red Capsicum/Bell Pepper - 1.Deseed and cut into square pieces.
• Chopped Coriander Leaves.
• Green Chilli - 2.Slit.
• Vegetable Oil: 4 tbsp.
• Salt to taste.

Powdered Spices:

• Tumeric Powder - 1 tsp
• Coriander Powder - 1.5 tsp.
• Black Pepper Powder-1.5 tsp.

Sauces: 

• Dark Soya Sauce - 1 tbsp.
• Red Chilli Sauce - 1 tsp.

Procedure:

• Heat the vegetable oil in a pan. 
• Once the oil is hot, add the ginger,garlic and slit green chillies.
• When the smell of the added ingredients evolve, add the peeled onions.
• Wait till the onion turns brown. Then add the entire contents from the chicken marinade.
• Increase the heat to high.
• Stir the mixture thoroughly and wait for the chicken to be browned.This should require 15 mins.
• Once the chicken turns brown-Add:Onion Paste,Tomato and Powdered Spices.
• The gravy should contain sufficient mositure due to the onion paste and tomato slices.Incase it becomes too dry then add 25-30 ml of warm water.
• Stir and mix thoroughly for another 8-10 minutes. The mixing process will enable to spices to get into the chicken.
• Then add the Bell Peppers, Coriander leaves and the sauces to the mixture.
• Reduce the heat to low. Add water, only if the gravy  becomes too dry. And stir the ingredients.
• Check for the salt content.Add more salt if required.
• Turn the oven to low.
• Cover the pan with a lid.Check regularly for the moisture content and add warm water if required. Let the chicken and the peppers cook for  30-40 minutes.The chicken should be done by now and the aroma from the pepper will be infused into the gravy, which completes this dish.

Serve with Chinese Fried Rice.