Clean chicken pieces, and squeeze out water. Mix in lemon juice, pepper powder and salt and let the chicken rest for atleast half an hour.
Mix other ingredients for marinade - chili powder, turmeric powder and water to form a thick paste. Rub the marinade into chicken, making sure all the pieces are coated well. Let the chicken rest for another 15 to 30 minutes.
Heat oil in a wok in order to deep fry chicken over medium flame. Fry chicken in batches till golden brown and cooked through. Keep aside.
Remove oil from pan leaving behind about 1/4 to 1/2 cup.
Fry ginger, garlic and green chilies over low heat till aromatic.
Fry onions and shallots till light brown. Add some salt to speed up the browning of onions.
Add chili powder, turmeric powder and coriander powder and fry over low heat.
Add tomato and tomato sauce and saute.
Continue sauteing till gravy starts thickening, and mixture leaves sides of pan. Add more oil to pan if the mixture catches.
Sprinkle over garam masala, add fried chicken pieces, curry leaves and mix well. Cover and cook for 5 minutes.
Take off heat, serve hot with rice, chappathi or boiled kappa (tapioca)
Notes
~ You can replace onions with shallots or vice versa.
~ Use _piriyan _chili powder or Kashmiri chili powder for color.
~ Use coconut oil for authentic Kerala flavor. But if the taste doesn't agree with you, you can use vegetable oil or sunflower oil.
