Instant Pot Kali Mirch Chicken Curry

Kali mirch chicken curry is a pour and cook recipe made by simmering chicken thighs in a spiced yogurt sauce.

We’re tossing chicken thighs and a spiced yogurt sauce in an instant pot, pressing the start button, and calling it a day. These crazy times call for low maintenance, fuss-free recipes. Thankfully this murgh kali mirch (black pepper chicken curry) is as simple as it gets.

This quarantine is physically and mentally exhausting. Figuring out what to cook is in itself stressful, especially when you have a million other things on your mind.

I think a lot of us want good food and we don’t want to spend a lot of time making it. In fact, it’d be nice if a meal just cooked itself. Is that too much to ask?

I’m here for you with a dish that requires very little effort. You just need to blend a few things together to make a sauce and then sit back and wait while the instant pot cooks dinner for you.

Kali mirch means black pepper and since that’s a featured ingredient in this dish, you’ll want to use freshly ground black pepper for the best flavor. While in normal (pre-covid19) circumstances, I’d tell you to wait to make this until you can get your hands on black peppercorns – given what’s going on, I actually think this will still be pretty good even with regular black pepper.

The other ingredients you’ll need are chicken thighs, yogurt and a few spices.

If you want to put in a bit more effort, you can stir some cashew flour into the curry after it’s done cooking. This makes the dish a little nuttier, creamier and thicker. My husband prefers this dish with cashew flour but I think it’s great either way, so if you’re nut-free, no worries.

You might wonder whether you can add cashews directly to the blender while making the sauce (the way I’ve done in previous recipes – my green chicken masala, for example) but the answer is no – I’ve tried a few times and have gotten the dreaded burn sign. Rather than adding more water to the recipe/blender, I think this dish turns out best if you stir ground nuts in at the end.

You can serve this chicken curry over plain basmati rice or jeera rice or pea pulao.

I’ll be sharing more simple pour and cook recipes over the next few weeks. In the meantime, if you’re looking for a few more ideas, try my coconut chicken curry, everyday dal, thai chicken, green chicken or salsa chicken.

Instant Pot Kali Mirch Chicken Curry

Instant Pot Kali Mirch Chicken Curry

4.86 from 14 reviews

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Servings 4

Cuisine Indian

Ingredients

 

• ▢ 1 ½ pounds boneless and skinless chicken thighs

Black Pepper Sauce:

• ▢ 1 cup yogurt
• ▢ 1 onion roughly chopped
• ▢ 4 garlic cloves
• ▢ 1 inch ginger
• ▢ 1 green chili
• ▢ 1 tablespoon kasoori methi
• ▢ 1 teaspoon ground coriander
• ▢ 1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• ▢ 1 teaspoon salt
• ▢ ¼ teaspoon garam masala

 

• ▢ 2 tablespoons cashew flour optional

Instructions

 

• Blend the ingredients listed under “black pepper sauce” and pour this over the chicken thighs. Mix well.
• Secure the lid, close the pressure valve and cook for 5 minutes at high pressure. 
• Naturally release pressure or wait 10 minutes then release pressure.
• You can either shred the chicken right in the pot or use kitchen shears/scissors to cut the chicken into cubes.
• Optional step: Press the sauté button, add cashew flour to the pot and cook for 1-2 minutes.
• Garnish with additional black pepper and serve.

Notes

• *Adding cashew flour will make the sauce a bit nuttier, creamier and thicker.

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