Name: Sri Lankan Chicken Curry
Prep time: 15 min
Cook time: 40 min
Total time: 55 min
Yield: 4 servings
Cuisine: Sri Lankan
Ingredients: 3 tbsp coconut oil; 1 onion, about 150 g, finely chopped; 4 garlic cloves, crushed; 1 tbsp ginger, grated; 2 green chillies, slit; 3 g cinnamon stick; 3 g pandan leaf, tied in a knot; 1 sprig curry leaves; 2 tbsp Sri Lankan roasted curry powder; ½ tsp ground turmeric; ½ tsp chilli powder; 700 g chicken thighs and drumsticks on the bone, skinned; 1 tomato, about 100 g, chopped; 1 tsp salt; 150 ml water; 300 ml coconut milk

Sri Lankan Chicken Curry

Chicken simmered in coconut milk with roasted Sri Lankan curry powder, cinnamon, pandan leaf and curry leaves.

55 min total Serves 4 servings Easy

The Method for Sri Lankan Chicken Curry

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Heat the oil. Add the onion, garlic, ginger, green chillies, cinnamon, pandan and curry leaves and cook for 5 minutes.
Add the curry powder, turmeric and chilli powder and cook for 1 minute. Add the chicken, tomato, salt and water.
Cover and simmer for 20 minutes. Pour in the coconut milk and simmer, uncovered, for 10 minutes until the chicken is tender and the sauce has thickened slightly.

Keep an Eye on These

Roast your own curry powder for the best flavour.
Remove the pandan leaf before serving.
Taste for salt at the end.

Common Substitutions & Variations

If coconut is a problem, a cooking cream (dairy or plant-based) can stand in for the coconut milk in a sauce; the dish will lose the coconut flavour and taste noticeably different.
Dried chilli flakes can stand in for the green chillies. Heat varies a great deal between chillies and between jars, so start with a small pinch and add more to taste.
If you only have ground ginger, a quarter-teaspoon for each tablespoon of fresh is the ratio usually given; it tastes warmer and less bright than the fresh root.

The Short Version

The colour of the curry powder is the clue: Sri Lankan roasted curry powder is dark brown, almost chocolate, because the spices are roasted before they are ground. That roasting gives the curry its character. A pale curry powder gives a flat, yellow dish.

The base is simple. Onion, garlic, ginger, green chillies, a cinnamon stick, a pandan leaf and a sprig of curry leaves cook in coconut oil for 5 minutes. Then comes the curry powder, with turmeric and a little chilli. Cook the powder for 1 minute in the oil before adding liquid. Raw curry powder tastes bitter.

The chicken goes in on the bone, skinned, so the sauce picks up body from the bones. Thigh and drumstick pieces suit best. Add tomato and a little water, cover, and simmer for 20 minutes.

Coconut milk is stirred in at the end, in two stages if you want to be traditional: thin milk first, thick milk last. Simmer gently for another 10 minutes. The curry should be loose and oily, with a deep reddish-brown colour. Serve with white rice and a few sambols.

On the Table Alongside

Steamed rice · Pol sambol · Dhal curry · Papadam

Keeping Sri Lankan Chicken Curry

Keeps in the fridge for 3 days. The flavour improves overnight.