A black pepper chicken to tingle your taste buds

I mentioned to my mom the other day about this blog and we were discussing various recipes of hers that I have learnt over the past years and even some that I taught her.:) She mentioned various relatives that have visited her over the last month.One of them being Kashi Mama(uncle), one of my uncles who is a true foodie. When I was a child I had heard my Dadu( Grandpa) talk about his older brother, my great uncle who was another food lover. He used to write letters to my Dadu about how many rosogollas he had eaten during a wedding reception. It was not one or two, but he would devour 60-70 rosogollas in one go. Kashi Mama, his son seems to have inherited his foodie genes among his five brothers. He is the kind of guy who welcomes you into his home with open arms and treats you to a sumptuous meal that he has cooked.
Kashi Mama introduced my mom to a tasty Black Pepper Chicken which needs only a few ingredients and is very easy to cook. I gave it my own twist to give it more color and flavor.

Ingredients:

One pound chicken cut into small pieces
One and half cups of plain yogurt
One inch ginger
Four cloves of garlic
1 tablespoon of black pepper
Salt to taste
Two tablespoon milk
One pinch of saffron

Two teaspoon oil

• Whisk the yogurt.
• In a bowl mix the chicken with yogurt, salt and black pepper.
• Marinate the chicken 8 hours or preferably overnight.
• Grate the ginger and garlic.
• In a pan heat the oil and add the grateed ginger and garlic and saute for 30 seconds.
• Add the marinated chicken and cook it on low heat until cooked.
• Warm the milk and add the saffron to the milk and mix it till you get the golden yellow color.
• Add the saffron colored milk to the chicken and mix it.
• Serve it with rice or naan garnished with cilantro.

Saffron is a wonderful herb and the most expensive one. It is mostly used in Middle Eastern and Spanish cuisine. The herb has been used in Indian cusine for more than 200o years but has become more popular with the Mughlai Cuisine and is mainly used in pulaos and biryanis. In Indian cuisine the main ingredient used to color the food is turmeric as it is inexpensive and has more antiseptic value. I decided to use saffron as an additional ingredient to Mama's recipe. I also added ginger and garlic for some extra flavor.