Pepper Chicken

 Pepper chicken and rice has been our Friday night regular for quite a while now :) The love for pepper chicken began after we had it once at Wang's kitchen. Its a Hakka (Indo-Chinese) cuisine restaurant. I've always loved Wang's Kitchen, cos my hometown in India has its franchises too. Even though I would not mind eating pepper chicken from Wang's Kitchen every week, I have to admit it may not be the most healthy choice with the deep fried chicken, high sodium content and MSG. So I came up with my own relatively- healthy version of Pepper chicken. It is easy, simple and quick. The steps may seem long, but once you get the hang of it, its easy. Its almost like a 1 pot cooking. I hope you enjoy it as much as I do :)

Ingredients:

Chicken Marinate:

•  Boneless chicken - As required, chopped into bite size pieces. I use boneless thighs.
• Corn starch (corn flour) - 2 Tblsp
• Low sodium Soy sauce - 1 Tsp 
• Salt - 1/2 Tsp
• Pepper Powder - 1/2 Tsp

For Sauce:

•  Oil : 2 Tblsp
• Chilli sauce - To taste
• Pepper powder - To taste
• Salt - To taste
• Corn starch (corn flour) - 1Tblsp
• Low sodium Soy sauce - 1 1/2 Tblsp
• Onion - 1 Chopped (half finely chopped, half of it cubed)
• Ginger - 1/2 inch, finely chopped
• Garlic -  3 cloves, finely chopped
• Green peppers (Capsicum) - 1 or 3/4th chopped, depending on the size. Should not be more than the chicken, can be equal amount.
• Water - As required.

Steps:

• Mix the boneless chicken with 1tsp soy sauce, corn flour, 1/2 tsp salt and 1/2tsp pepper powder. make sure all the pieces are coated with corn starch.
• Heat Oil in a pan on high heat. When oil is hot gently drop all the chicken and fry till all sides are brown. We are not deep frying here, just shallow frying. Just cooking the chicken 3/4th. The aim is to create a brown coating on it.
• Remove the chicken from the oil. In the same oil in the pan, add the chopped ginger and garlic and saute for a minute.
• Add onions and green pepper and saute. Add a tiny amount of oil, if you think its drying up.
•  Now add soy sauce and chilli sauce and saute well till the raw soy smell is gone.
• Add the fried chicken and saute.
• Add a splash of water and cover immediately before the steam escapes. Cook for 3- 5 mins.
• When the chicken is cooking, mix the remaining corn starch with 2 tblsp of water.
• Now remove the lid and add the cornstarch liquid and stir well. Add pepper powder to your liking.
• You have 2 choices now. To leave it as a dry dish without gravy (sauce) or to make a gravy (with sauce, like in the pictures). 
• For a dry dish, saute till the corn starch is cooked. remove from heat without adding any extra water.
• To make a sauce just add about half cup of water or more and let it cook to the consistency you like. Don worry about adding too much water, it will thicken up because of the corn starch already in it.