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Chicken curry with coconut milk

Santosh Allada
The best chicken curry with coconut milk recipe that has layers of flavors, mildly spiced, and a hint of sweetness. You can make some changes in the recipe to make this your special coconut milk chicken curry.
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Prep Time 10 minutes
Cook Time 30 minutes
Total Time 40 minutes
Course Curry, Main Course, Side Dish
Cuisine Indian, South Indian
Servings 6 people

Ingredients
  

For Coconut Milk

  • 1 small Fresh Coconut
  • 2 cups Water

For Chicken curry

  • 1 kg Chicken with bone
  • 1/4 cup Oil
  • 3 Cloves laung
  • 2 Bay leaf tej pata
  • 1 inch Cinnamon stick dalchini
  • 2-3 Green cardamom elaichi
  • 1 Star anise chakra phool
  • 1 Mace javithri
  • 3-4 medium Onion finely chopped or sliced
  • 5-7 Curry leaves
  • 2-3 Green chilies roughly chopped
  • 1-2 tbsp Ginger garlic paste
  • 1/2 Turmeric powder
  • 1 tbsp Red chili powder
  • 1/2 tbsp Coriander powder
  • 1 tsp Garam masala or curry powder
  • Coriander leaves
  • Salt to taste

Instructions
 

How to make coconut milk

  • To extract coconut milk at home, add fresh coconut slices or grated coconut in a grinder jar. Add 1 cup of water and grind on high for 1-2 minutes.
  • Strain through a fine sieve or cheesecloth. Put back the coconut residue into the grinder jar, add 1 cup of water, and grind on high until the coconut is ground well.
  • Strain in the same bowl. Press the remaining solids with the back of a ladle as much as possible. Discard the coconut residue.
  • Keep the coconut milk aside.

Make the coconut chicken curry

  • Heat oil in a pan over medium flame. When hot add bay leaf, cumin, cloves, cinnamon stick, green cardamom, star anise, and mace. Saute until aromatic.
  • Add thinly sliced onions, curry leaves, and green chilies. Saute until onions turn a light golden color.
  • Add ginger-garlic paste and saute till the raw smell goes away.
  • Next, add mint leaves and saute for 5 seconds. Add turmeric powder and mix well.
  • Add chicken pieces and cook on high heat for 5 minutes, mixing once in a while.
  • Add salt and give a good mix.
  • Reduce the heat to low, cover the pan and cook for 10 minutes stirring once in a while.
  • Add red chili powder and mix well. Next, add the coconut milk and give a good mix.
  • Add coriander powder and garam masala. Mix well.
  • Cover the pan again and simmer for 10-15 mins or until the chicken is tender.
  • Remove the cover and cook on medium flame until the gravy is thickened and the oil separates.
  • Lastly, add coriander leaves.
  • Chicken curry with coconut milk is ready to serve.

Notes

Use 1 whole small size coconut to get a creamy curry or half of a big size coconut.
If using canned coconut milk, dilute it with water.
Prefer chicken with bone. You can also use boneless chicken, the cooking time will vary depending on the size of the pieces.
Sear the chicken pieces on medium-high flame.
Make the gravy semi-thick.