kalupol-Sri lankan chicken curry.
What’s special about this chicken curry is the gravy. It’s made with a combo of toasted coconut and raw rice with a few spices, making the gravy. Love lots of thick gravy in your chicken curry? Then you’ll want to try this version of a Sri Lankan chicken curry.
- Prep time
- 15 min
- Cook time
- 1 hr
- Yield
- 4 servings
- Difficulty
- MEDIUM
Ingredients
Quantities are shown as originally provided.
- Ingredients mentioned below use standard measuring cups and spoons.
- 500g chicken cleaned, washed and cut to the required size(boneless or with bones).
- For the chicken+spice marinade
- 1 tablespoon of chilli powder
- 1/2 teaspoon turmeric powder
- 1 and 1/2 roasted tablespoons of Sri Lankan curry powder
- 1/2 teaspoon cumin powder
- 2 tablespoon of tamarind paste(if using paste 1/2 teaspoon should do)
- For the raw spice powder
- 1 tablespoon raw rice
- 2 tablespoon freshly grated coconut
- 2 red dried red chilli
- 1 tablespoon black mustard
- 1 teaspoon fennel seeds
- 1 teaspoon cumin seed
- For tempering and cooking the curry.
- 4 tablespoons of oil
- A sprig of curry leaves
- 2-inch pandan
- 1-inch cinnamon piece
- 2 medium-sized onions sliced fine
- 2 tablespoons of ginger-garlic paste
- 2-3 green chilli split in the middle
- 1 teaspoon pepper powder
- Salt to season
- 1/2 cup of water
Instructions
- 1
If you are using a whole chicken or a beginner’s cook, then read my post on how to cut a whole chicken first.
- 2
Have all the ingredients needed to marinate the chicken to make the Sri Lankan chicken curry.
- 3
Marinating the chicken.Place the chicken(500g) in a bowl, add turmeric powder(1/2 teaspoon), red chilli powder(1 tablespoon), roasted curry powder(1 and 1/2 tablespoon), cumin powder(1/2 teaspoon), tamarind juice(2 tablespoons, if using tamarind paste 1/2 teaspoon) and salt to season.
- 4
Combine the spices with the chicken and set aside in the marinade for 10-15 minutes.
- 5
Making the coconut+raw rice+spice roasted powder.Place a frying pan over low heat, let the pan dry and warm for a few seconds.
- 6
Once dry, add the raw rice(1 tablespoon) and grated coconut(2 tablespoons), gently toast these two ingredients until they turn golden.
- 7
Toast them on low heat so you won’t burn them. If you are worried about burning the rice too soon, toast the individual ingredients(raw rice and grated coconut separately).
- 8
Do not leave the pan unattended, and constantly shake or move the ingredients so they toast evenly. Set aside to cool in a bowl.
- 9
Use the same method to toast the red dried chillies(2), fennel seeds(1 teaspoon), cumin seeds(1 teaspoon) and mustard seeds(1 teaspoon).
- 10
Toast over low fire until they release their aroma(less than 5 minutes).
- 11
Set aside to cool.
- 12
Once all the ingredients are cool, by this I mean both the toasted spices and the raw rice+grated coconut mix.
- 13
Use a coffee grinder or spice blender to grind them to a somewhat fine powder.
- 14
The spice powder need not be powdery fine, make sure to use the coffee grinder in short pulses to avoid the grinder motor overheating.
- 15
Making the”kalupol” chicken curry.Place a cooking pan over medium heat, pour in the oil(4 tablespoons).
- 16
Gradually add curry leaves(a sprig or 5-6 leaves), pandan(2″ piece), onions(2 medium sliced), ginger-garlic paste(2 tablespoons), green chilli(2-3), pepper powder(1 teaspoon).
- 17
Temper all the ingredients over medium heat for 3 minutes or until the onions turn translucent.
- 18
Once this is done, add the coconut, raw rice and the spice powder you made.
- 19
Combine and let it cook for exactly 3 minutes over low heat.
- 20
The result should be a dark and dry spice paste.
- 21
Add the marinated chicken to the spice mix.
- 22
Combine the chicken with the spice paste in the pan.
- 23
Cook for 3 minutes.
- 24
Pour in 1/2 cup of water, stir, season with salt if necessary, cover and slow-simmer the chicken curry until the gravy is reduced by half.
- 25
This curry doesn’t have a lot of gravy, so how long you want to slow-simmer in the final stage of making the chicken curry will result in how much gravy is left, and I would leave it to you.
- 26
Made this recipe?
- 27
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