Homestyle Chicken Curry (咖喱鸡) - The Burning Kitchen (2024)

First published: Aug 27, 2016 | Updated: Nov 22, 2018

Update: This recipe was featured on Mediacorp Channel 8 Morning Express <<晨光第一线>> on 21 Nov 2018. Click here to watch!

When we stayed in Ang Mo Kio and my children were still young, it was a family routine for us to travel to the east and have a picnic almost every weekend by the beach. They always looked forward to the big pot of Curry Chicken served with a french loaf from Delifrance, and the big pot of Fried Bee Hoon that I would prepare. Those were the days.

Ironically,afterwe shifted to the east, we hardly went to the beach. A couple of weeks ago, I suggested a repeat of what we had done in the past, but this time around, my grandchildren were part of the party. There we had our long forgotten picnic, and this Chinese style chicken curry again. I hope that this dish will also find a place in your family bonding time, and bring back great memories you have this dish with your loved ones!

• It’s a family dish, meaning that it’s not meant to be eaten alone, but shared! Make this for your family to impress them, and make great memories with this dish.
• The surprisingly soothing taste of curry sauce/soup.You might think that curry is spicy, but you’ll be surprised at how warm and subtle this curry sauce, or soup, is! This is due to the coconut milk in the dish.

Remove the chicken head and innards in the chicken cavity. Next rub with coarse salt all over and in the cavity to remove the yellow membrane, then wash thoroughly and drain dry.

1. Shallots, garlic and lemongrass are a must as they provide that deep flavour typical of curries. More shallots will give the curry a denser texture and a heavier body.
2. Use fresh coconut milk for extra fragrance. For convenience, you can use Kara or Heng Guan coconut cream. Kara has the benefit of a much longer shelf life, because it is UHT. But Heng Guan is slightly more fragrant. However, if you want it to be super fragrant, use freshly squeezed coconut milk instead (see recipe here).
3. Ready-made Chicken Curry Paste is available at Indian and Malay stalls at selected wet markets, including Geylang Serai and Tekka market) if you don’t want to make your own curry paste.

1. Try to cook the curry in the morning or the day before if you are planning to have curry for dinner. The longer the chicken and the potatoes steep in the curry gravy, the better they will taste. Overnight curry always tastes better because the potatoes steeped in the curry will release starch, giving the curry more body.
2. Fry the potatoes first to help prevent them from breaking up after it is added to the curry mixture.
3. Do not add all the coconut milk from the start because it gets burnt easily.
4. Adjust the amount of salt added depending on the types of curry paste. Some curry pastes are already quite salty, so make sure you taste the mixture first before adding the salt.
5. Stir the curry mixture constantly, especially after the second half of the coconut milk has been added to it, as it has the tendency to stick to the bottom of the pot and get burnt easily. The worst thing to happen is for it to get burnt, as burnt curry tastes awful. Once burnt, there is no remedy, dump it and start over.
6. Leave the pot uncovered to allow the chicken curry to cook more slowly, giving it more time to steep in and absorb the aromas and flavours of the spices.
7. Never cover the pot completely with a lid when cooking curry or any other curries, otherwise the curry will turn out to be very lumpy and not smooth.

• Egg-Free: No modifications needed.
• Fish-Free: No modifications needed.
• Nut-Free:No modifications needed.
• Shellfish-Free:No modifications needed.

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