Classic Sri Lankan Chicken Curry!

Hi Lovelies,

As my first ever post on the blog, I decided to go with my all time favorite "Classic Sri Lankan Chicken Curry". This is an essential curry in our homes as Sri Lankans. Growing up, I learnt how to make this dish from my auntie who made the best chicken curry I have ever tasted. She is from the southern province in Sri Lanka and it is well known how good southern food are and how good most of them were at cooking. Although I am not from the south, I am lucky to have so many relatives from there.  So she thought me how to do this dish and ever since, I always made the chicken curry at home when my mom did the rest of the dishes, it was so good.

Well, living in Melbourne and having to adapt to the way things are here, I had to do some things a bit differently, this is the way I do this so it is super delicious, quick and easy at the same time. Trust me, I didn't have to compromise much. Melbourne is one of the cities where a lot of Lankans live, so we are able to find so many authentic Lankan food from the number of Lankan shops that you can find all over Melbourne.

The most important ingredient in this recipe is the Chicken Curry Powder. Make sure you get your hands on a good quality chicken curry power, and that will make your life so much easier. I use the Wijaya brand and I think its pretty good.

Next thing, don't buy chicken breast!!! I don't know about you, but I am not a big fan of chicken breast in general and I believe its not a good cut of chicken for the curry at all!. For the curry to be flavorful, you've got to have a lot of bones. So always buy bony cuts like thigh or leg if you are doing curry. For me, I always get a whole chicken. I find that its the cheapest and the best way with chicken. I know cutting it can be a bit of a challenge, but I am used to it now and I do that so I can get the cuts I want for what ever dishes I want to make that week and freeze them. This is the most cost effective way as well if you eat a lot of chicken in a week, like we do. I will do a post on how to cut a whole chicken very soon!

So that's about it, we can get started,

Ingredients:

1 kg of Chicken
3 tbsp Chicken curry powder
1 1/2 tsp Salt
3 tbsp of Lemon juice
1 tbsp Oil
1 tsp Mustard seeds
1 tbsp Ginger + Garlic paste
1 small piece of Cinnamon stick
2 tbsp Onions chopped
1 tbsp Green chilies chopped
1 tbsp Tomatoes chopped
Few Curry leaves
1 tbsp Red chili powder
2 Cups of Coconut milk

1. Cut the chicken into preferred sized pieces and wash. Marinate the chicken by adding Chicken curry powder, salt and lemon juice and mixing them well together. Leave it for at least 10 mins.

2. Into a saucepan, on medium to low heat, add oil and when heated add mustard seeds. Let them pop for about 5 to 10 secs. (Cover for a bit until it is done popping to avoid it going everywhere and splattering on your face. Make sure it is popped, as mustard seeds that are not popped tastes bitter, it also should not be popped for more than 5-10 secs or it will burn). Then add the Cinnamon stick along with the ginger garlic paste. Leave for a bit and add onions, curry leaves and green chilies. Cook until the onions are translucent.

3. Then add the red chili powder and saute for a min. Increase the heat to high and add in the chicken pieces that were kept to be marinated. Fry the chicken in the spice mix for about 5 mins. This step ensures the chicken has a nice crispy texture on the outside when done. Then add about 1 cup of water to the remaining marinate and add the water to the chicken. Add the tomatoes and cover and cook until it boils.

4. Check the chicken if its cooked through and then add the coconut milk. Mix well and check salt and add as necessary. Don't cover after adding coconut milk just cook until its nicely reduced to a thick curry.

Take it off the heat and have it with your favorite rice, roti or bread! I hope you enjoyed my recipe and I would love to hear your feedback and comments on it. Let me know how it went if you tried and and let me know how you make your chicken curries.

See you in my next post!

Lots of Love,
Chama