Country Captain Chicken

Before you start

• Rub the chicken with the turmeric, half the black pepper, 1 tsp salt and the ginger-garlic paste and leave it 30 minutes at room temperature.
• Slice the onions as thinly and evenly as you can. They are half the dish, and uneven slices give you burnt shreds next to raw ones.
• This is a dry curry, so use a wide kadhai or frying pan rather than a deep pot.

Method

1. Heat the oil in a wide kadhai and fry three-quarters of the sliced onion over medium heat until brown and crisp at the edges, 15 to 18 minutes. Lift out and drain.Brown, not black. Burnt onion turns the whole dish bitter and there is no rescuing it.
2. In the same oil, fry the whole dried chillies and curry leaves for 20 seconds until the chillies darken and smell toasty.
3. Add the remaining raw onion and cook 5 minutes until soft and translucent.
4. Turn the heat high, add the marinated chicken and fry hard for 10 minutes, turning the pieces so every side takes colour.Crowding the pan steams the chicken. Do it in two batches if your pan is small.
5. Lower the heat, cover and cook 12 to 15 minutes, stirring once or twice. The chicken releases its own liquid and cooks in it.
6. Uncover, raise the heat and cook off the liquid until the pieces are coated and shining rather than sitting in sauce, about 5 minutes.
7. Crush most of the reserved fried onion between your fingers and stir it in with the remaining black pepper, the slit green chillies and the sugar.
8. Splash in the vinegar, toss for 1 minute and take the pan off the heat.Vinegar at the end, off the boil, keeps its brightness. Added early it just cooks away.
9. Scatter the rest of the fried onion and the coriander leaves over the top and serve with plain rice or bread.

Storage

Keeps 2 days refrigerated. Reheat uncovered in a dry pan so it stays dry; a microwave makes it soggy. Do not add water.