Sri Lankan Black Pepper Chicken Thighs

Ingredients

• 2 lb Chicken Thighs, chopped
• 2 tbsp black peppercorns, coarsely crushed — the headliner
• 1 onion, sliced + 4 cloves garlic + 1 tbsp ginger
• 2 tsp curry powder + ½ tsp turmeric
• 10 curry leaves or 2 bay
• 1 cinnamon stick
• 3 tbsp coconut oil
• ½ cup coconut milk
• Lime

Method

1. Toast the crushed peppercorns in the dry pot 1 minute until fragrant and slightly smoking — blooming the pepper is what separates this curry from every other.
2. Add the oil, onion, garlic, ginger, curry leaves, and cinnamon; fry golden.
3. Add the Chicken Thighs with the curry powder and turmeric; sear well.
4. Add the coconut milk and simmer uncovered 20 minutes until the sauce clings dark and dry-ish to the meat (165°F for chicken) — this is a 'dry' curry; the coating IS the sauce.
5. Finish with lime. The pepper builds heat in wayes rather than strikes — Sri Lanka's oldest spice showing why it once moved empires.