Pepper Chicken (Dry or not)

My family has always been a sucker for "fresh only" but thats just in our dreams. We tend to appreciate fresh fruits, fish & meat but eventually when the going gets tough the "frozen" gets going !!
We do depend a lot on frozen foods & sometimes it easy to work with them rather than the fresh counterpart. I can't say much about the chicken that we get from the frozen section, but for this recipe, I would have preferred fresh yet I worked with frozen & it worked like a charm. Such a charm that my 3 yr old also ate with joy (with his daily dose of khichdi* & curd of course).

What I used

• A pack of frozen chicken thigh nuggets (I defrosted in the MW). Weight was around 1.18 Lbs
• 1 medium red onion - chopped fine
• 1/2 inch of ginger - chopped fine
• 6 fat cloves of garlic - chopped fine
• 1 medium plump red roma tomato - chopped fine
• 8 - 10 Pepper corns
• 2 tsp pepper powder
• 2 tsp red chilli powder (may be less)
• 1 tsp turmeric powder
• 2 tsp coriander powder (may be more for that amazing smoky flavor)
• 15 - 20 curry leaves (fresh from the backyard, its finally paying off)
• Salt to taste
• Oil for cooking

How I did it

• First the defrosting was done. This is necessary because of obvious reasons. We can not marinate frozen chicken. So I defrosted the chicken, cut them into bit size cubes (or small for my kid) & marinated for about 30 mins with : Salt + Turmeric + Pepper powder + Red chili powder + coriander powder. 
• Put a non-stick pan on medium heat. Heat oil. I used mustard oil because thats what I saw in front of me. 
• When oil is hot add pepper corns & onions & fry for like 5 mins till onions turn pinkish-brown color. 
• Next goes in the chopped ginger & garlic.
• Fry until the garlic is light brown & fragrant.
• Next goes the marinated chicken & curry leaves. 
• Fry with no cover for 5 - 6 mins. Since the chicken tenders were small bite size pieces, they'll get softer, but our intention is to brown them. They'll eventually cook when we go to the next step.
• When the chicken is brown & lost the raw color, then add the tomatoes & wee bit of salt & cover & cook for around 7 or 8 mins or until the chicken is cooked nicely (not too hard). 
• After 7 mins, open the lid & cook on open pan for 2 or 3 more mins & you'll see the tomatoes getting lost in the chicken and the gravy clinging to the chicken pieces. Thats when you know your dish is ready. 
• If you want more gravy, then you may stop now & cover the whole thing for 5 mins before serving. If you'd like a little dry side dish type thing, then cook on open fire until water dries out. Its completely your choice.