Sri lankan chicken curry
This is a spicy chicken curry that we've been making in our family for years. Well worth the time and effort as the flavours are amazing.
Ingredients
Serves: 4
- 400g boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut into cubes
- 2 tablespoons vinegar
- 1 teaspoon tamarind juice
- 25g curry powder
- 1 tablespoon salt, or to taste
- 1 teaspoon ground black pepper
- 2 tablespoons coconut oil
- 1 red onion, sliced
- 4 green chillies, halved lengthways
- 8 cardamom pods
- 6 whole cloves
- 12 curry leaves
- 1 teaspoon fresh ginger, minced
- 1 (5cm) cinnamon stick, broken in half
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 120ml water
- 1 1/2 tablespoons tomato puree
- 3 tablespoons roasted curry powder (see note)
- 200ml coconut milk
Method
Prep:25min ›
Cook:35min ›
Ready in:1hr
- Combine the vinegar, tamarind juice, Madras curry powder, salt, and pepper in a bowl. Add chicken and toss to coat.
- Heat the coconut oil in a frying pan over medium heat. Cook the sliced onion, green chillies, cardamom pods, cloves, curry leaves, ginger and cinnamon stick until the onion has softened, about 5 minutes. Reduce heat to medium-low, and continue cooking and stirring until the onion is very tender and dark brown, 15 to 20 minutes more. Stir in the garlic and cook for an additional minute.
- Add the chicken mixture, water and tomato puree. Stir and simmer until the chicken is cooked through, about 10 minutes. Add the roasted curry powder and stir until evenly dispersed.
- Gradually stir in the coconut milk and simmer for 2-3 more minutes. (Do not overheat or the coconut milk may curdle.)
Tip
Roasted curry powder and tamarind juice are available in Asian supermarkets or online.
Fresh curry leaves:
If curry leaves are unavailable, you may substitute 2 bay leaves.
Roasted curry powder:
To roast your own curry powder, heat 3 tablespoons of curry powder in a dry frying pan over medium heat, stirring frequently, until fragrant and slightly browned. Immediately transfer the spices to a bowl to cool.
Similar recipes
Recently viewed
Reviews & ratings
Average global rating:
(21)
Reviews in English (16)
This curry was fab - 04 Jun 2017
Exotic, spicy, delicious! I reduced the salt & pepper, instead just shaking them well over the chicken & marinade mixture while stirring. I didn't have everything on hand so omitted tamarind, curry leaves; subbed canola for coconut oil, used yellow onions and whole dried red chili peppers cause that's what I had... This was fabulous. I think the quality of the curry powder matters, the recipe calling for at least twice what I've ever used in one dish before. I used a Madras curry powder purchased at an Indian shop near my parish. Served this to company, everyone had seconds. Goes great with beer. - 31 Dec 2010 (Review from Allrecipes US | Canada)
This curry was one of the best and most delicious I've ever had. It was rich and had a wonderful blend of flavours. Definitely a keeper. The only thing I will do differently in the future is to cut down on the salt a tad. Thank you for sharing this recipe! - 26 Sep 2010 (Review from Allrecipes US | Canada)
Write a review
