I absolutely love curry! Every time I make it I think back to many a lunch with my piano teacher at the Indian restaraunt close to her home. During those long extended practice seasons leading up to big performances or examinations, she would delight in taking us to this Indian cuisine for a break. So many wonderful memories…which has inspired my family to love Indian food!
I think I will always be perfecting this recipe, but here it goes for your enjoyment as promised! This dish can be made very easily with very little meat and have lots of flavor still! The key: fresh ginger & garlic, and lots of it! Serve over brown rice or alongside Indian naan (Indian flat bread). Naan can be made at home or is available at Middle Eastern stores or Trader Joes.
Chicken Curry
Makes 6-8 servings
This recipe extends for several meals at our home! It is very freezable as well! Serve a smaller portion, balanced with vegis and rice and/or naan and it will stretch quite a bit!
2-4 Chicken thighs, cut into chunks (depending on how much meat you would like!)
2 Tbsp whole wheat flour
1 Tbsp curry powder
4 Tbsp ginger, fresh and finely chopped
4-6 garlic cloves, fresh and finely chopped (start with four and add more as needed)
1 large onion, chopped
1/2 green apple, chopped
3 Tbsp curry powder
6 or more Tbsp whole wheat flour
1 Tbsp sea salt (lower this amount to 1-2 tsp if you are using canned chicken broth)
1 Tbsp rapadura or other natural sweetener
2 1/2 cups (or approx. 1 1/2 -15 oz cans) chicken broth
2 1/2 cans (14 oz) coconut milk
Optional additions: sweet potato, zucchini, carrots (I usually add one of each of these to our curry with delicious results!)
Combine chicken, 2 Tbsp of flour & 1 Tbsp of curry powder in a Ziploc or bowl to coat. Fry lightly in oil (preferably coconut oil) in a frying pan for just a few minutes until cooked. Set aside.
Combine fresh garlic, ginger, onion, apple, curry powder, flour, sweetener and salt in frying pan (add optional veggies at this time as well). Allow to fry under medium heat to mold the ingredients together (around 10 minutes), until onions are transparent, heated completely through. Add liquids – chicken broth & coconut milk, and stir frequently until heated through and thickened. Add more flour to thicken as needed. Add breaded chicken.
This was my frugal & nutritious meal for the week!
For the Freezer:
This recipe freezes remarkably well. You have two options.
1. Layer a greased pan with cooked brown rice and then top with the cooked curry sauce. Cover and freeze. When ready to serve, thaw, and reheat at a low temperature.
2. Wait to prepare your brown rice till the day you desire to serve this and simply freeze the curry sauce in a container. Glass canning jars work very well. Give plenty of expanding room and make sure it is completely cooled before freezing. When ready to serve, thaw the sauce, and then prepare your rice and reheat your sauce.
is there anything i can substitute the coconut milk with?
You can use yogurt if desired. The coconut milk adds the perfect contrast in sweetness as designed in most curries so its a hard one to replace.
I tried this tonight using some leftover chicken and after a little tweaking it turned out quite yummy. My husband, son, and father-in-law all seemed to really enjoy it.
I had some difficulty cooking this recipe. When I placed the curry, flour, ginger, vegetables, etc. in the pan to cook, I ended up with vegetables that would not cook and flour/curry lumps. I had to add a few tablespoons of chicken broth to get the onions to cook without burning the flour/curry. I’m not sure what I might have missed in the recipe. Was I suppose to add oil or something else to this mixture? Also I think I misunderstood the recipe and did not add enough coconut milk. I used a 400g can (which is just over 14oz). I think I needed 2 cans equivalent to 14oz each. The sauce was a bit acidic tasting and HOT. I added about a half tsp of sugar and shredded an additional carrot and this took some of the acidic taste out. It also took awhile for the chunks of potatoes to cook. Overall I was satisfied with the results. I will try this recipe again in the future doubling the coconut milk. Thanks
Silly question, how do you cut chicken thighs into chunks with the bone and all?
Skinless Chicken breasts are your best choice here.
When do you add the optional veggies (sweet potatoes, zucchini, etc)? Do you cook them before you add them?
I would add them at the same time as the onion and apple and saute all them together.
I LOVE this curry! It is the only curry I’ve made that I actually like. My Hubby loved it too- I’m going to give it to our 8.5 month old tonight and see what she thinks! It is the perfect blend of sweet, creamy and spicy (I can’t tolerate much spice). I add in a diced sweet potato- yum. Thanks so much for sharing.
Hi
I love this chicken curry almost like the one that I cook at home
I love your site and get quite an inspiration reading about your organizing and cooking skills
thanks…
I have made this numerous times but have not made it recently and can’t think if shrimp instead (or even with) chicken would be good? I no it would be less frugal, but I ended up with some and want to use it in a curry.
I’ve never tried shrimp in curry. Sorry!
I made this tonight and it was delicious!! I did add one potato and three carrots. I think I could have increased that even more though. I had dinner guests over and was concerned that I wouldn’t have enough food and even thought about doubling the recipe. Boy am I ever glad I didn’t! It made a HUGE batch! I fed six people, sent some to a family of four, froze a portion for us and put a portion in the refrigerator! This will certainly be on my rotating menu from now on
oh yeah, and potatoes would be really good in it too, I think:)
I made this two nights ago and my husband and I love it. We would eat indian food all the time if we could, but the only good place around here is way too expensive. I added some ground coriander for the fun of it and may try a couple of cardamom pods next time (because there WILL be a next time:) )
Any suggestions to sub for the coconut milk? My daughter cannot have coconut or any other nuts products.
A few helpful tips all over your web blog,will likely be back again shortly for another good read.
Hi Lindsay, have a quick general question for you. I have bought in the past coconut milk in a can (Thai Kitchen brand) but have recently seen organic coconut milk (So Delicious brand) in a carton. What is the difference and how do you know which to use? Does it matter? May seem like a silly question but I am wondering. Thanks so much!
So Delicious is watered down and thus more suitable for general drinking. For curry, you definitely want to use the can as it is more concentrated. I use Native Forest brand now as it is BPA free.
Thanks for an easy and fast curry recipe for leftovers also–I modified for cooked chicken by cooking veggies first, then adding the cooked chicken with flour/curry tossed together, and then blending in the liquids. I just made this tonight and it was wonderful. My hubby loved it and my 5 yo daughter too. 5yo son said to the “no thank you bite” for tonight.
Made this for supper tonight and it was a big hit! This is a stupid question, but do you freeze the sauce with the chicken or without? Thanks!
It can be frozen with the chicken and saved for another meal. Yum!
I just made this dish and it is great!
Is this spicy? I made a curry dish the other day and it was SOOO spicy. My heat tolerance is around medium salsa.
I made this last night and it was SO good! I can’t say enough how much we enjoyed it. I’ve added it to my official recipe box and weekly menu plan repertoire. THANK YOU for sharing. We live overseas in East Asia right now and I have a hard time finding recipes I can actually make (i.e. inability to find the ingredients!). The was simple and oh so tasty. We’ll have the leftovers for lunch today!
Thank you for all you do Lindsay, you are such a blessing!
I live in East Asia too! I love her recipes because most of them do not require cans, mixes or sour cream!! Do you know of any good resources for other recipes like these?
Has anyone tried the sour cream starter from cultures for health? Just curious to see if it actually tastes like the real deal.
Oh, I love curry dishes and am interested by this version since it has apple in it. Unique and I am sure, delicious!
I made this last night, after my sister made the recipe for us during her visit last month and my husband loved it. It ended up good, but needing some revisions. First, the second step in the recipe didn’t say to saute all the ingredients in oil, but I figured that it was just left out on maybe an assumption. I used chicken leftover from making chicken stock, so I didn’t fry it as in the first step. I also used that stock (completely saltless) for this dish and when I added 1 Tablespoon of sea salt, it was waaaay too salty. I love salt and have no aversion to it, and was surprised that no one else said anything about the saltiness. I’ve had many curry dishes before (authentic homemade and also restaurant style) and the salt in my dish was overpowering the other flavors. So I ended up adding more coconut milk and some water and a little more sweetener and it worked out okay. I think next time I’ll start with a teaspoon and work from there. This is a new favorite dish in our home!
This was delicious!! I made it tonight and was also surprised at the amount of salt but it came out wonderfully. I’m known for not using enough salt so my hubby said that the saltiness was perfect. I also like my curry on the sweeter side so I added 1 extra TBS of Sucanat.Thank you Lindsay for this fun recipe!!
I can’t wait to try this! I love curry dishes but they’re usually way to hot for me to be able to eat. This looks promising!
I made this last night and of course it was another “Lindsay” hit!! YUM! I did make a change and that was to puree all the curry in the blender before adding the breaded chicken. This prevented any whole wheat flour clumps in the sauce. Once pureed I sauteed one more chopped green apple and added it to the sauce. Fabulous! Next time I will add one more green apple.
Thanks again!
I just tried this recipe, super yummy! I’m used to making/eating Thai curry, so this was a nice change. I added carrots, potato, & zuchinni (I love veggies) Now I’m gonna try freezing some for later… Thanks for your great recipe ideas
I made this last night and loved it! My daughter is allergic to milk and eggs and so I was excited to find a curry recipe that was dairy free. My daughter is only 16 months and had never had Indian food before…she loved it!
We just made this tonight – loved it! Big hit with the girls and my husband. Thanks for the great recipe!
Oops! I didn’t realize my post would take up so much space! Sorry about that…
Thanks for the yummy recipes, Lindsay! We loved this one. Joe kept asking for more! Yay for cost efficient meals that the guys enjoy.
p.s. Gabe’s brilliant idea was to throw the onion, ginger, garlic, and apple into the food processor rather than chop them individually. It worked really well (and prevented teary burning eyes!)
Thanks for all these tasty recipes…I just tried this one for dinner, and it was a hit with the hubby (and myself) yum! We live overseas in China, so ingredients are so very limited, so I have been blessed by your simple, healthy recipes and have been cooking/baking lots, which is so wonderful for our marriage, eating healthy and home-cooked meals! Thanks again for all the effort you put into sharing with us! Blessings!! amy
YUM! I am saving this one to try next week! Do you also have a recipe for naan? I have tried making it before, but it didn’t come out so well.
That’s neat, Lindsay. The recipe that I was remembering also had green apple in it, and your recipe reminded me of it. I forgot how much I liked the apple in curries! I will have to try this one out too (I bet the coconut milk is delish in it).
I love curry, and this looks really easy!
I have to tell you a funny story. I work for an Indian doctor, and one time she made me some lamb curry. I asked her if it would be spicy, and she said, ‘just a little.’ Yeah, right! This stuff was ON FIRE!!!! But, oh, my gosh…you know how something tastes so good you just can’t stop eating it? That was me…with a lot of milk to drink, too. So the next day I told her that her idea of ‘a little spicey’ wasn’t the same as my idea. She laughed and said, “well, you really are supposed to eat yogurt with it to cut the heat!”
I think I’ll like your recipe, too–at least I can control the ‘heat,’ LOL!
mom2fur, that is hilarious. I have an Indian neighbor who said almost the exact same thing when I asked her if a dish she shared with me was spicy. She replied, “Just a little bit…” with her cute Indian accent. She has shared many recipes with me and I have posted a few of them below. I’ve changed them to fit into my Nourishing Traditions cooking phase:
YELLOW RICE
3 c. brown Basmati rice, cooked
1 tbsp. chana dal beans, presoaked and drained
1/4 c. raw cashew pieces or raw peanuts (soaked and dehydrated)
1 tsp. turmeric
2-3 tsp. sea salt
1 tbsp. olive oil
1 tbsp. black mustard seeds
dash lemon juice
handful cilantro leaves, fresh (dried can be used too)
Toast cashew pieces, mustard seeds, and chana dal in olive oil until lightly browned. Remove from heat. Add to rice along with salt, turmeric and lemon juice.
ALMOND/CASHEW BURFI
3 c. cashews/almonds (presoaked for 7-12 hours)
1/2 c. cultured butter
1-4 to 1/2 c. raw honey depending on level of sweetness desired
1/2 c. water
(If using almonds, remove skins after soaking.)
Grind cashews with water in food processor. Mix ground cashews, butter and honey in saucepan.
Cook over medium heat for 20 minutes or until it becomes a big lump, stirring constantly. Pour into greased pan and spread. Let air dry for 6-8 hours. (Dehydrater can also be used.) Cut into squares or traditional diamond shapes.
Sometimes she adds dried milk to the mixture but I don’t know the proportion since I don’t eat dairy anymore. It gives it a nice creamy flavor which I miss very much. They also tend to dry faster with the dried milk.
WHOLE WHEAT TORTILLAS
2 tsp. olive oil
3/4 c. water
1/2 tsp. sea salt
2 c. whole wheat flour (sprouted, dried, and finely ground)
Blend flour and salt together. Form a well in the middle. Pour in olive oil. Add water a little at a time, mixing as you add. Gather dough together in your hands, squeezing it together to make an evenly moist ball of stiff dough.
Knead for 2 minutes. Cover with a damp towel and let dough rest for 30 minutes. Divide dough into 12 pieces, rolling each into a ball. Roll out each ball into a thin tortilla.
Place tortillas into hot frying pan. Cook until lightly brown. Turn. Place 1 tsp. olive oil on top. Cook, turn and place 1 tsp. olive oil on top. Freezes well, layered between sheets of waxed paper.
I like eating the whole wheat tortillas with chicken curry.
Hmmm…this sounds good. I also love curried dishes. Is this based off of Sue Gregg’s recipe? It sounds similar. I used to make one of her recipes that I always enjoyed, except I don’t think that it had coconut milk in it. Anyway, I have fond memories of it!
Kimi, this is actually sort of compiled recipe from a old neighbor of our families who is into gourmet and exotic cooking. He has been teaching some things to my sister, and she is inspiring me through it as well! He never gave exact measurements, so that has been the challenge of perfecting and writing it all down!