Chicken curry
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Filed under My recipes; Poultry; Asian, chicken, coconut & derivatives
One thing I learned during my trip to Singapore and Malaysia is that there are many, many ways to cook curried dishes. And that the inclusion of potatoes is a European addition. Curried dishes can be quite dry or saucy and the color of the stew varies depending on the kind of curry paste used — yellow, red or green. I’ve already gotten my hands on the recipes for all three kinds of curry paste, I do intend to make them one of these days but, for now, let me just share with you this five-step chicken curry recipe (six, if you include the step when you serve the dish) as an update and addition to the chicken curry recipe originally published on September 8, 2005 which you will find on page two of this entry.
Serves 4.
Ingredients:
1 whole chicken (or chicken quarters), about 1 kg.
2 to 3 stalks of lemongrass (see entry on how to prepare lemongrass)
2 kaffir lime leaves, dried or fresh
1 onion (or 2 to 3 shallots)
2 to 3 cloves of garlic
a thumb-sized piece of ginger
2 tbsps. of vegetable cooking oil
2 to 3 tbsps. of curry powder
1 c. of coconut cream (see entry on how to extract coconut cream and milk)
patis (fish sauce), to taste
Click the thumbnails for the step-by-step guide or scroll past them for the all-text version of the recipe.
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- Step 1
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- Step 2
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- Step 3
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- Step 4
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- Step 5
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- Step 6
Prepare the herbs and spices.
Finely slice two to three stalks of lemongrass. Finely slice an onion (two to three shallots would be better). Crush and roughly chop two to three cloves of garlic. Peel and slice a thumb-sized piece of ginger. Strip the leaves of a couple of sprigs of Thai basil. Separate the kaffir lime leaves.
Heat the cooking oil in a thick-bottomed pot. A pot or pan with a thin bottom will likely cause scorching since you will be simmering the stew in a thick coconut cream.
Saute the onion (or shallots), garlic, lemongrass and ginger until the onions start to turn translucent. Add the curry powder. Now, not later. Spices do have essential oils and you want those oils released for maximum flavor. Stir for about 30 seconds.
Add the chicken pieces. Stir to coat each chicken piece with the curry. Cook, stirring often, until the chicken changes color.
Pour in the coconut cream. Throw in the finger chilis. Season with patis (fish sauce). Stir, cover and simmer for 40 to 45 minutes. Check the liquid after 20 minutes or so. If the mixture appears too dry, add a little water, no more than a quarter of a cup. Too much water and you’ll have a soup instead of a stew.
If you want to add potatoes, add them after the first 20 minutes, bring to a gentle boil then continue simmering.
Before turning off the heat, taste and season with more patis (fish sauce) if necessary.
You’re now ready to serve your chicken curry. Place a chicken (and potato, if using) on top of hot rice, smother with sauce and serve at once.
Alternatively, serve the chicken (and potatoes) in individual bowls with some of the sauce.
Click the link to page two for the older chicken curry recipe.
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hi ate connie…..i’m trying to find that sambal oelek, what kind of spice is it? malaysian, indonesian or thai?
Grace it is a mixture of spices. Comes in jars. Am not sure of the country of origin.
where can i buy sambal oelek?
Market! Market! Sarj
Hi Ms. Connie,
I am an avid silent fan of your site. I tried your chicken recipe for my Father in Law’s birthday (my hubby’s request) & they love the chicken curry, my sister in law even requested me to cook it for their office party (hehehe). I am a bicolana & we love spicy foods, sambal oelek is a new ingredient to me but it makes the difference to the ordinary chicken curry… but instead of using just 1 tsp, i used half of the bottle… delicious… half of the bottle was used for my sweet & spicy shrimp… thank you so much for the inspiration…
Hi Connie, where in Market Market do I find the sambal oelek? Can I use siling labuyo instead? Your recipe sounds so mouth watering!
At the supermarket, Kate. Yes, you can use siling labuyo but you’ll have to grind them to a paste.
Hi Ms. Connie!
I live here in the US, and being away from the regular Filipino brands, I am not sure if I bought the right ingredient for this recipe. I read one of your posts that distinguishes coconut cream from coconut milk. So I specifically bought coconut cream for this recipe. However, when I opened the can of “coconut cream”, it was so thick and the color is that of (school) paste! I tasted it a bit, and it was very very sweet, like “runny” macapuno! I used coconut milk instead. Should I have used that “cream”? The label clearly said coconut cream, but I don’t know if that is the kind you used for this dish. Please let me know cause I plan to cook this dish again. Thanks and more power to this very helpful site!
The difference between cream and milk is the water content. Cream is the first extract (kakang gata) without (or with very little) water added. Coconut milk is either diluted coconut cream or the second and third extracts with much water added. I don’t know how coconut cream/milk are labeled in the US as it depends a lot on their country of origin.
Thanks Ms. Connie! The brand I got is from Thailand, but I think it is the kind that is used for pastries. Regular coconut milk worked fine, and it was delicious! I took a pic of it, and will try to send it to you for the Reader’s Gallery. Thank you for sharing your recipe!
Hi miss connie. love chicken curry . May i suggest you try putting curry leaves next time. It will SMELL so great. Curry leaves are very easy to grow and we use them a lot in indian dishes.. Around 6 to 7 leaves in a dish will do…
When I find where I can buy potted curry, I will. Thanks.
Hello Mamsi,
Where could I get curry leaves?
I always thought that “curry” was a mixture of different spices and that it did not come from any particular tree.
Thanks for your suggestion.
Hi natz, curry leaves (kadi patta-in india ) are herbs. Currrry powder is a mixture of spicies.. The leaves are for flavor and aroma .I got mine in greenhills(tiangge area where plants are sold ) several years ago . They dont need a lot of work . Just water everyday..
Greenhills? Ok. Got that.
There are indeed many ways to cook curries. I love the recipe you used. So delicious!
hi Connie, it ok to use evap milk in lieu of coconut cream?
Yogurt is a better option.
hmn, i worked in saudi for 15mos or so. curry dishes never had any appeal and literally scares me specially after seeing bangladeshi and indian guys prepare it, (please don’t take it negatively.). they cook thier food for hours just letting it simmer and stew. in add, they put what ever it is available on thier fridge. that’s how i remember curry… its a real messy nightmare. too much said. i tried this curry dish and it was wonderful, it erases my curry-phobia. better way to simplify things, dishes are marvelous thier each and every way but its the people who makes it special and loved-filled.