Sri Lankan spicy chicken curry is one of my favourite dishes. First of all, in Sri Lankan style chicken curry, one has to have the bones (not the feet, of course). Having a curry with just the flesh without the bones robs the curry a lot of its texture and flavours.
Correctly done, the meat should not be too tender nor uncooked. And it must be very spicy. The gravy should also be neither too watery nor too thick. One of my pet peeves in Toronto, Canada, is that not many eateries can make a great Sri Lankan style spicy chicken curry dish.
So, recently I decided to make my own chicken curry.
I bought chicken thighs with bone in. I also decided to make my own curry powder.
Ingredients for the Sri Lankan Spicy Chicken Curry
Curry powder
- 4 cups of red dried chillies (lightly roasted)
- 3 tbsp of fennel (lightly roasted)
- 3 tbsp of cumin (lightly roasted)
- 3 tbsp of black pepper (lightly roasted)
Note: You can grind them together or separately. I ground the chillies separately and all the rest together so that I can use the amount I feel is right.
Other ingredients
- Chicken 2 lbs. (bone in)
- 6-8 Curry leaves
- ½ Pandan leaf, split into smaller slices
- Pinch of asafoetida
- ½ onion, sliced
- 2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
- Ginger, finely chopped
- 3 tbsp of oil (I used gingelly oil but you can use any oil you prefer)
Cooking
- Marinate the chicken using about a quarter of the ground mix and leave for about 30 min.
- Heat oil in the pan and gently sauté the ginger.
- Add the onions and sauté.
- When the onions start turning translucent, add some of the curry leaves and ½ the pandan leave chunks. Stir & sauté.
- Add some of the ground powders. Stir and sauté.
- Add the marinated chicken. Stir.
- Add some water.
- Add about 65-70 percent of the ground powders and the rest of the pandan leaves.
- Add salt.
- Stir.
- Close the lid and let it cook.
- Regularly check for sufficient liquid.
- About 25 minutes later, reduce the heat, add the rest of the powders and the curry leaves and taste.
- If needed, add salt.
- Close with the lid and shut off the heat.
Curry is ready. It should be hot, spicy and the chicken pieces appropriately cooked.
You can enjoy this with rice or any type of bread (naan etc.,)
Here is the video for the curry.
Here is a website, run by a Russian (I think), I found with some interesting dishes from Sri Lanka.
