Recipe Chicken Curry Sri Lankan

A chicken curry recipe is always a great curry to cook and serve. there are so many meal ideas you can plan around this main dish.

The chicken curry is spicy and aromatic from the Sri Lankan curry powders used here but it’s also thick and creamy from the coconut gravy.

Make this Sri Lankan chicken recipe once and it’s going to be your all-time favourite red chicken curry dish, which you will make all the time.

Sri Lankan Easy Chicken Curry

If you make the chicken curry with bone-in parts, a mix of Sri Lankan curry powders, spices, and coconut milk then you’ll cook the best and the tastiest chicken curry.

First, the chicken parts are marinated in tamarind juice and different curry powders. this allows the chicken parts to soak in most of the tangy flavours and aroma of the spice powders.

Once the water is reduced and the chicken curry is cooked through, you add the coconut milk to give the Sri Lankan curry its creamy yet spicy, strong taste.

Grandma's Best Sri Lankan Chicken Curry

A Sri Lankan meal usually includes 4-5 extra dishes but choose one or two to serve with this chicken curry and your choice of rice.

Storing– store in glass containers as plastic containers tend to stain heavily. once the curry cools, can be refrigerated and used within 3 days.

Freezing- once cool can be frozen for 1 week, you can freeze longer, if you stop the cooking process where you add coconut milk as per the recipe instructions.

Sri Lankan Chicken Curry » Dish Magazine

Only add the coconut milk once you take it out of the freezer, let it reach room temperature and add coconut milk.

1/4 cup of tamarind juice(soak 1 tablespoon of tamarind in half a cup of water for 5 minutes, squeeze the seeds and pulp out to collect the tamarind juice, if you are using tamarind pulp 1 tablespoon should do.)

The chicken parts– to have the real authentic flavours and consistency, I would recommend using different parts of the chicken or a whole chicken cut into pieces failing which you can use chicken breast or a combination of parts.

Sri Lankan Coconut Chicken Curry

Pandan leaves and curry leaves-if you are unable to find curry leaves and pandan leaves, check out the Asian stores near you, they may have the dried version.

For some reason, if you are unable to get both these curry powders then substitute with a good curry powder. 3 tablespoons)

Using Tamarind pulp– highly concentrated so use the amount mentioned unless the quantity of the chicken is increased then increase the tamarind and other ingredients as well.

Srilankan Chicken Curry

Place the chicken parts in a large bowl and add tamarind juice(1/4 cup juice or 1 tablespoon pulp), turmeric(1/2 tsp), chilli powder(1 tbsp), and cumin(1 tbsp), coriander powder(2 tbsp), salt to season.

Pour in the oil. add curry leaves(a sprig), pandan leaf, cardamom(3-4 pods), cinnamon(1-inch), cook for a few minutes and add ginger(2 tablespoons) and garlic(2 tablespoons)followed by sliced onions(2 medium).

Once all the liquid evaporates, slightly pan sear the chicken if that is your preference, just add a tablespoon of oil to do this.

Chicken Ceylon (sri Lankan Chicken Curry)

5 minutes before removing the chicken curry from the stove, add 1 teaspoon of dark roasted curry powder(optional) to give the Chicken curry a more intense flavour.

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Each recipe on this blog has been written with great care and love to the best of my ability with you in mind. It’s freeand on theblog, for you to try anytime.

Michael Weldon's Sri Lankan Chicken Curry Recipe

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Interesting. A bit different from the Sri Lankan chicken curries I'm familiar with which usually use just tamarind (and maybe a dash of coconut vinegar) but no tomatoes. Also lemongrass is a common addition along with the pandan and curry leaves.

Hi Anu, I do use tamarind to marinate the chicken. it is on the recipe ingredient list. lemongrass is an optional ingredient that you can use or not. the difference in this chicken curry is that instead of using a generic all-in-one curry powder, I use coriander and cumin powder separately for a thicker and heavier curry flavor as it is. Regards J

Sri Lankan Traditional Spicy Chicken Curry

Such a beautiful recepie, going to make it today. But can I substitute with lemon juice instead of tamarind juice? And Also want to skip coconut milk!!

Hi Shaya, Thank you. There is no substitute for tamarind and I'm afraid lime juice won't do but what you can do is slit the chicken parts, season them with salt for 5 minutes and proceed with the recipe instruction given. Hope this helps, Regards J

Great recipe Jehan! Tried it out at home and substituted soya meat for chicken because we wanted something vegetarian. Without the chickens flavour we needed to put in some yoghurt too but otherwise followed it to a tee and had a very creamy, authentic srilankan flavour. Was a lovely recipe, will definitely use it again!!

How To Make A Slow Cooker Sri Lankan Red Chicken Curry

Hi Thulasee, Thank you for trying out the recipe and what a wonderful way of adapting the recipe to suit your diet. since you mention using soya meat, you might find my two soya meat curry recipes on the blog useful. just search soya meat to find the recipe. And thank you for letting me know how well the recipe turned out. Regards jehan

Amazing recipe!!! Cooked it exactly the way you described. Came out seriously mouthwatering :) My first time cooking Sri Lankan, and also first time cooking meat with Tamarind. Was skeptic a bit, but the result was mind blowing :). Loved how the taste of tamarind and spice was balanced by the coconut cream. I used half quantity of meat, but found out I needed less than 1/4 cup of tamarind pulp. 1/6th cup would be perfect to my taste. Thank you for the amazing recipe :) Picking up more recipes from you to try. Falling in love with your cooking :)

Thank you for trying out the recipe, I'm so glad you enjoyed the srilankan way of cooking food. Let me know if you need any help with the recipes. I have a Monday theme going with typical lunch bowls that combine recipes please take a look at it, you might enjoy some of the combos. This is my goal, to showcase the simple cooking from a srilankan home. And thank you taking the time to try out one of my recipes☺If you’re looking for the BEST chicken curry recipe, then this authentic Sri Lankan Chicken Curry recipe will tick all the boxes! I’ve also provided some tips on how to cook this incredibly flavorful chicken curry and how to adapt it to your taste!

Sri Lankan Black Pepper Chicken Curry

If there’s one dish that I could quite literally make with my eyes closed, this is it. ThisSri Lankan Chicken Curry is one that I make and have made AT LEAST once a week for many years now. It’s quintessential comfort food for K and myself, and we are instantly reminded of Sri Lanka, of our childhood, of home, of full and comforting meals, every time we eat this Sri Lankan chicken curry.

We do like any kind of curry, but this chicken curry really is our go-to. Besides, chicken curry is probably the most common type of curry eaten in Sri Lanka and any other part of the world for that matter.

A great Sri Lankan chicken curry is a very versatile and easy to make dish. Sure, there are plenty of slow cooker versions and quick versions of this chicken curry that you could find online with a google search. These recipes mostly employ the “dump and cook” method of adding all the ingredients into one pot at the same time and then cooking all the way through. That’s how you get the difference between a mediocre chicken curry and a truly mind-blowingly flavorful curry! HOW you cook the curry determines the flavors just as much as the ingredients.

Sri Lankan Chicken Curry With Coconut Milk

So here I’ll share the inside scoop, some of the well-known “secrets” to cooking a fantastic chicken curry. Plus, I’ll also share some variations to standard Sri Lankan chicken curry as well.

You can easily adapt this same chicken curry recipe to make either of these versions of chicken curry. We prefer the “kirata” style with the coconut milk that is a richer tasting curry because of the coconut milk. However, we make the “mirisata” style more often so that I don’t use too much coconut milk in everyday cooking.

You can make this chicken curry with bone-in pieces from a whole chicken, or just bone-in pieces of just chicken legs or chicken thighs. Or for convenience, you can just use boneless pieces of chicken. Obviously, boneless chicken will cook faster, and is my choice when I want to cook a quick curry that can be ready in less than 30 minutes. BUT, a GOOD chicken curry uses bone-in chicken pieces because the bones flavor the curry sauce (or as we call

One Pot Sri Lankan Coconut Chicken Curry