Coconut Chicken Curry

On a sultry summer afternoon in July 2013, I dressed up in a maroon shirt and jeans and drove to meet my boyfriend’s parents for the first time. A twenty minute drive later, I was sipping a lovely cuppa of strong tea discussing films, school and college friends and about life in general. Minutes turned to hours and before I knew it, they proposed I have an early dinner with them as they had a delicious coconut chicken curry that would be even more delicious since it was a day old! And the sucker that I am for food and good company, I stayed to relish this super yummy curry that was perfect in every sense of the word! We chatted about eating with hands, eating chicken with bones and food habits in general.

Four years later, I still attempt to recreate that awesome curry. I come close but it still is not as amazing as the curry we had with my now husband’s parents that evening. We’ve repeated the menu several times in Dubai after that but I think the secret to a memorable meal is also the people you share it with. Needless to say, it’s always on the menu when we visit his parents in Delhi!

I would call this an elaborate recipe as there are a number of steps and a detailed list of ingredients. You can adjust the level of heat by using lesser number of red and green chillies and using kashmiri red chilli powder instead of the hotter variety.

This coconut chicken curry a really flavourful curry and is best once it’s old. This is true for most coconut based curries as the coconut and the chicken absorb the flavours more deeply when it’s kept for sometime. This applies to the other recipes I’ve previously shared ~ the Parippu Dal, Chilli Coconut Dal Palak, Ulli Theeyal and Ripe Mango Curry.

Here is how I make this delicious Coconut Chicken Curry

Ingredients

Chicken on the bone, skinless, 1/2 kg
Shallots (small onions- ulli), peeled, 1/2 cup – OPTIONAL

For roasting:
PART 1
4 tsp coriander seeds
1-2 small cinnamon sticks
2 tsp jeera/ cumin seeds
1 dried red chilli
1 tsp fennel seeds
1/4 tsp methi/fenugreek seeds
2 tsp whole black pepper
2 cloves

PART 2
2 tsp Turmeric powder
5 tsp Coriander powder
2 tsp Kashmiri red chilli powder
2 cups fresh shredded Coconut

For the curry
Onions, 2 medium, sliced
2- 3 Tomatoes- chopped/ puréed
Garlic, 2-3 cloves – chopped
an inch of ginger – chopped
1/2 tsp mustard seeds
2 tbsp Seasame/ coconut oil
a sprig of curry leaves
1 teaspoon Chicken Masala Powder (See recipe notes below)

Method

In a heavy bottom pan or wok, dry roast the peeled shallots till they have some black spots on them. Once done, keep them aside to cool down. You can use regular onions too or skip this step altogether. The onions add volume to the curry.

In the same vessel, add the whole spices  (listed in Part 1 above) and roast them till you can smell the aroma. Take them out so that the spices cool down. Coming to Part 2 of the roasting, add the shredded coconut and cook till the coconut turns light golden. To this add red chilli powder, coriander powder and turmeric. Roast for another 2 minutes. Remove from heat and let the mix cool down.

I usually roast the spices and and the coconut separately because I process the whole spices first and then add the coconut to it to get a finer paste. You can add the spices and coconut together if your mixie/ processor can grind the paste well.

While the spices and coconut cool down, wash and pat dry the chicken with paper towels. If using chicken breast, cut into cubes. Keep aside.

Transfer the shallots and the roasted coconut spice mix to a mixer-grinder or blender. Add a bit of water and process till it becomes a thick paste. You’ll have to adjust the quantity of water while grinding to make a smooth yet thick paste.

Heat oil in a pressure cooker. Add mustard seeds and wait for them to crackle. Next add curry leaves, onions and chopped garlic. Fry till the onions are golden. Add the chopped tomatoes, green chilli and ginger to this. Add salt, coriander powder, chilli powder and cook till the oil separates. Next add the chicken pieces and cook for 10 minutes on medium high heat.

Next, add the coconut spice paste and some water* to adjust the thickness of the gravy, but the thicker it is the better. Pressure cook for 1 whistle and it’s done.

Garnish with fresh coriander and serve this Coconut Chicken Curry hot with steamed rice.

Recipe Notes

• In a recent version, I added a heaped teaspoon of Chicken Masala (By Eastern) and that lent a more well rounded flavour to the Chicken Curry. So that’s highly recommended!
• *This curry is better when it is thicker. So be careful to not add too much water while grinding or when you finally add the coconut paste to the final curry. I usually give it one whistle in the pressure cooker and the curry remains almost as thick (or runny) as it was before it was cooked under pressure.
• Not skimping on the amount of tomatoes, coriander powder and coconut results in a far superior curry each time! 
• This recipe can also be adapted to the InstantPot. Incase you do try it on the InstantPot, please do share the results/experiences.
• The amount of chilli powder in most of our recipes on the blog yields a spicy dish because well, that’s how most Indian dishes are. Please adjust the amount of chilli powder you use according to your tolerance to spices. If you feel that using less chilli doesn’t result in the curry to be the same colour, switch to using Kashmiri Red Chilli Powder which is less hot and has a brilliant red colour. Your nearby Indian Grocery store should stock Kashmiri Red Chilli Powder in all likelihood.

Print Recipe

Coconut Chicken Curry

A decadent and spicy Kerala style chicken curry in a toasted coconut gravy. Best served with steamed rice and some poppadum.

Prep Time30 mins

Cook Time50 mins

Total Time1 hr 20 mins

Course: entree, Main Course

Cuisine: Kerala cuisine, South Indian

Keyword: Coconut Chicken Curry, Kerala Chicken Curry, Nadan Chicken Curry, toasted coconut chicken curry, varutharacha chicken curry

Servings: 4

Author: Sakshi Kapoor

Equipment

• Pressure Cooker
• Mixer Grinde or Blender

Ingredients

• 500 grams Chicken on the bone skinless
• 1/2 cup Shallots/ small onions or ulli peeled (Optional)

For Toasting (part 1)

• 4 tsp Coriander seeds/ Sabut Dhaniya
• 1 to 2 Cinnamon Sticks/ Dalchini small
• 2 tsp Cumin seeds/Jeera
• 1 Dried Red Chilli
• 2 tsp Fennel Seeds/ Saunf
• 1/4 tsp Fenugreek Seeds/ Methre
• 2 tsp Whole Black Pepper/ Sabut Kaali Mirch
• 2 Cloves/ Laung

For Toasting (part 2)

• 2 cups Shredded Fresh Coconut/ Nariyal (You can also use frozen)
• 2 tsp Turmeric/Haldi powder
• 5 tsp Coriander/ Dhaniya Powder
• 2 tsp Kashmiri Red Chilli/ lal mirch Powder

For the Curry

• 2 Onions/ Pyaaz medium sized, sliced
• 2 to 3 Tomatoes/ Tamatar Chopped or puréed
• 2 cloves Garlic/ Lassan chopped
• 1 inch piece of Ginger/ Adrak cleaned and chopped
• 1/2 tsp Mustard/ Sarson Seeds
• 2 tbsp Sesame/Til or Coconut/Nariyal Oil
• 1 sprig Curry Leaves/Kadi Patta
• 1 tsp Chicken Masala (optional), see notes below

Instructions

• In a heavy bottom pan, kadhai or pressure cooker, dry roast the peeled shallots till they have some black spots on them. Once done, keep them aside to cool down. You can use regular onions too or skip this step altogether. The onions add volume to the curry.
• In the same vessel, add the whole spices (listed in Part 1 above) and roast them till you can smell the aroma. Take them out so that the spices cool down. Coming to Part 2 of the roasting, add the shredded coconut and cook till the coconut turns light golden. To this add red chilli powder, coriander powder and turmeric. Roast for another 2 minutes. Remove from heat and let the mix cool down.
• While the spices and coconut cool down, wash and pat dry the chicken with paper towels. If using chicken breast, cut into cubes. Keep aside.
• Transfer the shallots and the roasted coconut spice mix to a mixer-grinder or blender. Add a bit of warm water and process till it becomes a thick paste. You’ll have to adjust the quantity of water while grinding to make a smooth yet thick paste*.
• Heat oil in a pressure cooker. Add mustard seeds and wait for them to crackle. Next add curry leaves, onions and chopped garlic. Fry till the onions are golden, around 10-12 minutes.

  Add the chopped tomatoes, green chilli and ginger to this. Add salt, coriander powder, chilli powder and cook till the oil separates, another 7-10 minutes. Next add the chicken pieces and cook for 10 minutes on medium high heat.
• Next, add the coconut spice paste and some water* to adjust the thickness of the gravy, but the thicker it is the better. Pressure cook for 1 whistle and its done.
• Once the pressure releases, open the pressure cooker and garnish with fresh coriander.

  Serve this Coconut Chicken Curry hot with steamed rice.

Notes

•  I usually roast the spices and and the coconut separately because I process the whole spices first and then add the coconut to it to get a finer paste. You can add the spices and coconut together if your mixie/ processor can grind the paste well.
• In a recent version, I added a heaped teaspoon of Chicken Masala (By Eastern) and that lent a more well rounded flavour to the Chicken Curry. So that’s highly recommended!
• *This curry is better when it is thicker. So be careful to not add too much water while grinding or when you finally add the coconut paste to the final curry. I usually give it one whistle in the pressure cooker and the curry remains almost as thick (or runny) as it was before it was cooked under pressure.
• Not skimping on the amount of tomatoes, coriander powder and coconut results in a far superior curry each time!
• This recipe can also be adapted to the InstantPot. Incase you do try it on the InstantPot, please do share the results/experiences.
• The amount of chilli powder in most of our recipes on the blog yields a spicy dish because well, that’s how most Indian dishes are. Please adjust the amount of chilli powder you use according to your tolerance to spices. If you feel that using less chilli doesn’t result in the curry to be the same colour, switch to using Kashmiri Red Chilli Powder which is less hot and has a brilliant red colour. Your nearby Indian Grocery store should stock Kashmiri Red Chilli Powder in all likelihood.

Coconut Chicken Curry

2019-06-06 14:27:15

Serves 4

A decadent and spicy Kerala style chicken curry in a coconut gravy. Best served with steamed rice and poppadums

Prep Time

30 min

Cook Time

50 min

Total Time

1 hr 20 min

Prep Time

30 min

Cook Time

50 min

Total Time

1 hr 20 min

Ingredients

1. Chicken on the bone, skinless, 1/2 kg
2. Shallots (small onions- ulli), peeled, 1/2 cup – OPTIONAL

For roasting

1. PART 1
2. 4 tsp coriander seeds
3. 1-2 small cinnamon sticks
4. 2 tsp jeera/ cumin seeds
5. 1 dried red chilli
6. 1 tsp fennel seeds
7. 1/4 tsp methi/fenugreek seeds
8. 2 tsp whole black pepper
9. 2 cloves
10. PART 2
11. 2 tsp Turmeric powder
12. 5 tsp Coriander powder
13. 2 tsp Kashmiri red chilli powder
14. 2 cups fresh shredded Coconut
15. For the curry
16. 2 Onions- sliced
17. 2- 3 Tomatoes- chopped/ puréed
18. 2 cloves garlic – chopped
19. an inch of ginger – chopped
20. 1/2 tsp mustard seeds
21. 2 tbsp Seasame/ coconut oil
22. a sprig of curry leaves
23. 1 teaspoon Chicken Masala Powder (See recipe notes below)

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Instructions

1. In a heavy bottom pan or wok, dry roast the peeled shallots till they have some black spots on them. Once done, keep them aside to cool down. You can use regular onions too or skip this step altogether. The onions add volume to the curry.
2. In the same vessel, add the whole spices (listed in Part 1 above) and roast them till you can smell the aroma. Take them out so that the spices cool down. Coming to Part 2 of the roasting, add the shredded coconut and cook till the coconut turns light golden. To this add red chilli powder, coriander powder and turmeric. Roast for another 2 minutes. Remove from heat and let the mix cool down.
3. I usually roast the spices and and the coconut separately because I process the whole spices first and then add the coconut to it to get a finer paste. You can add the spices and coconut together if your mixie/ processor can grind the paste well.
4. While the spices and coconut cool down, wash and pat dry the chicken with paper towels. If using chicken breast, cut into cubes. Keep aside.
5. Transfer the shallots and the roasted coconut spice mix to a mixer-grinder or blender. Add a bit of water and process till it becomes a thick paste. You’ll have to adjust the quantity of water while grinding to make a smooth yet thick paste.
6. Heat oil in a pressure cooker. Add mustard seeds and wait for them to crackle. Next add curry leaves, onions and chopped garlic. Fry till the onions are golden. Add the chopped tomatoes, green chilli and ginger to this. Add salt, coriander powder, chilli powder and cook till the oil separates. Next add the chicken pieces and cook for 10 minutes on medium high heat.
7. Next, add the coconut spice paste and some water* to adjust the thickness of the gravy, but the thicker it is the better. Pressure cook for 1 whistle and it’s done.
8. Garnish with fresh coriander and serve this Coconut Chicken Curry hot with steamed rice.

Notes

1. In a recent version, I added a heaped teaspoon of Chicken Masala (By Eastern) and that lent a more well rounded flavour to the Chicken Curry. So that’s highly recommended!
2. *This curry is better when it is thicker. So be careful to not add too much water while grinding or when you finally add the coconut paste to the final curry. I usually give it one whistle in the pressure cooker and the curry remains almost as thick (or runny) as it was before it was cooked under pressure.
3. Not skimping on the amount of tomatoes, coriander powder and coconut results in a far superior curry each time!
4. This recipe can also be adapted to the InstantPot. Incase you do try it on the InstantPot, please do share the results/experiences.
5. The amount of chilli powder in most of our recipes on the blog yields a spicy dish because well, that’s how most Indian dishes are. Please adjust the amount of chilli powder you use according to your tolerance to spices. If you feel that using less chilli doesn’t result in the curry to be the same colour, switch to using Kashmiri Red Chilli Powder which is less hot and has a brilliant red colour. Your nearby Indian Grocery store should stock Kashmiri Red Chilli Powder in all likelihood.

Print

By Sakshi Kapoor

Kitchenpostcards https://www.kitchenpostcards.com/

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