Sri Lankan Jaffna curry powder, a spicy chicken curry to serve with your rice and curry.

You’ve made your Jaffna curry powder, now let’s cook a spicy chicken curry worthy of the curry powder.

Be prepared to sweat, enjoy and savour this delicious chicken curry recipe that is everything you look forward to in Sri Lankan cuisine.

Especially when it comes to this meat dish, seasoned with homemade Jaffna curry powder.

With a dark brown gravy rich in spices, this chicken curry is ideal for anyone who loves spicy food.

Furthermore, your rice and curry dish will taste better with this hot chicken curry.

READER REVIEW.
I am from Germany and married a Sri Lankan, so I am always looking for nice recipes. We are so happy that you share this wonderful recipe with everybody.”
Yesterday we made Jaffna Curry and the chicken. so good.
Thank you very much.

Spicy chicken curry with Jaffna flavours.

I mentioned my favourite curry powder and how much I loved cooking meat curries using Jaffna curry powder.

If you missed my post on it, I would recommend reading it and making a jar of the spice blend.

I promise you won’t regret it.

For those of you who like to eat extra spicy food, this is for you.

It’s slow-cooked and comes together in a single pot using a few extra spices and ingredients to enhance the taste of the curry.

So let’s get cooking…

What to serve with Jaffna chicken curry

• Rice dishes to serve with this spicy chicken curry.
  • how to cook rice on the stove.
  • Sri Lankan Yellow Rice(turmeric rice)
  • egg biryani (one pot rice dish/stove-top)
  • Indian fragrant ghee rice(nei choru).
  • garlic and egg fried rice(in 30 minutes).

• Roti and flatbreads, to pair with Jaffna chicken curry.
• How to make Sri Lankan egg roti/paratha.
• Sri Lankan paratha(godamba)roti
• How to make poori(deep-fried Indian bread).
• Sri Lankan pol roti(coconut roti).
• Stovetop Naan bread( Indian Naan bread)
• Garlic Naan recipe without yeast.

• Here are some vegetarian dishes you can serve with this spicy chicken curry.
  • kalupol pumpkin curry
  • Sri Lankan dhal curry or Dhal curry with spinach
  • Sri Lankan butternut squash curry
  • Spicy green bean stir fry or a Sri Lankan beetroot curry
  • cabbage curry with coconut milk
  • Eggplant sweet and sour curry(Sri Lankan brinjal pahi).

• More side dishes to serve with the chicken curry.
  • Gotukola mallum
  • Parsley and coconut salad
  • Sri Lankan bittter gourd salad
  • Sri Lankan pol sambol

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Frequently asked questions: spicy Jaffna chicken curry

• How spicy is the jaffna chicken curry?
  • If you don’t love spicy food and stay away from them then the chicken curry can be quite spicy. the jaffna curry powder has a double dose of whole dried chill blended into it. this gives the curry powder its dark colour and punch.
  • You can add coconut milk and reduce the amount of curry powder for a milder version.

• Can I use coconut milk for this chicken curry?
  • Although using coconut milk is an option.
  • For this recipe, I am not using coconut milk as I want to keep the dish spicy which in turn makes the gravy thinner than usual.
  • Adding coconut milk will certainly give you a thicker and richer gravy but will certainly reduce the spiciness of the dish. Hence, no coconut milk.

• How do I add coconut milk to the chicken curry?
  • If you do use coconut milk, here’s how you do it.
  • Instead of adding water where the recipe instruction mentions adding liquid,
  • Pour in 1/2 a cup OR 1 cup of coconut milk (depending on how much gravy you want).
  • Season with salt accordingly and slow-cook until you have a thick gravy with tender spicy chicken.

• Can I use chicken breast or other parts to make the chicken curry?
  • Yes, you can but I would recommend using bone-in parts as the flavours of the curry powder are more enhanced.

• If I do cook a whole chicken, can I use all the parts?

Yes, except for the wing tip, I include all parts of the chicken including the gizzard, neck, etc.

Appliances and utensils needed

Chopping board

Knife/ cleaver

large bowl to marinate.

large pot to cook the curry.

More Sri Lankan chicken curry recipes

Sri Lankan chicken curry recipe

Sri Lankan devilled chicken.

Sri Lankan pepper chicken curry.

Chicken ambulthiyal

Chicken and potato curry

Storing-use glass containers or old containers with lids to store as the curry powder stains. refrigerate and consume within 2-3 days.

Freezing- can be frozen for up to 3 weeks. let the chicken curry completely cool before storing.

Reheating-remove curry from the freezer, let it reach room temperature and then heat over stovetop or microwave, use microwave cover to avoid splattering.

Stop food waste by cooking only as much as you need, the rest can be stored in the fridge or frozen to be used later in the week.

RECIPE DIFFICULTY-LITTLE CARE NEEDED

Sri Lankan Jaffna curry powder chicken curry.

The ingredients mentioned below use standard measuring cups and spoons.

Ingredients to cook spicy Jaffna chicken curry

1 whole chicken, washed, cleaned, and cut into the required size( 700g- 1kg)

1 teaspoon of turmeric powder

1 and 1/2 tablespoons of fresh pepper powder

3 tablespoons of Jaffna curry powder(you can add 1 more tablespoon if you can handle the heat)

Salt to season

2 tablespoons of tamarind soaked in 1/4 of a cup of water(if using tamarind paste,1 tablespoon should do)

3 tablespoons of oil

A sprig of curry leaves

A long piece of Pandan leaf

2 tablespoons of ginger-garlic paste

1 large onion finely sliced

1 medium-sized chopped Tomato

3 whole green chillies split in the middle

1 piece of cinnamon (1inch)

4 slightly bruised cardamoms

Method

If you’ve never cut a chicken before, use this post on how to cut a whole chicken as a reference.

How to marinate the chicken parts

Add the cleaned and washed chicken parts to a bowl. Make sure to drain any excess water.

Add the turmeric powder(1 tsp), Jaffna curry powder(3 tbsp, add 1 more tbsp if you can handle the heat), pepper powder(1 and 1/2 tbsp), salt to season, and tamarind juice(2 tbsp tamarind soaked in 1/4 of a cup of water, if using tamarind paste,1 tablespoon should do) to the chicken parts.

Combine, cover, and set aside for 15-20 minutes(as long as you can).

Cover and refrigerate if you are marinating the chicken parts for more than 30 minutes.

How to cook spicy chicken curry

Place a wok or a pan large enough to hold chicken parts and gravy, and let it heat over medium fire for a few seconds.

Pour in the oil(3 tbsp), then in the given order, add curry leaves(a sprig, substitute with 1 bay leaf), pandan leaf, onions(1 large onion sliced fine), tomatoes(1 medium), cinnamon(1″ piece), ginger-garlic paste(2 tbsp), cardamom(4), green chilies(3).

Sauté the ingredients over medium heat(less than 5 minutes)or until they release their aroma.

As the ingredients sauté, take out the marinating chicken pieces and gradually add these to the pan with tempering ingredients.

Do not throw away whatever marinade liquid is left, we will be adding it to the curry later.

Combine and let the chicken semi-fry with the tempering ingredients in the pan over medium heat for at least 7-10 minutes.

Try to brown the chicken as much as you can while avoiding the chicken sticking to the pan. For this purpose, you can add a tablespoon of oil. for 10-15 minutes.

Once the chicken turns slightly golden at the edges, pour the left-over marinade into the pan.

Then, add one and a half cups of water(depending on how much gravy you need, you can reduce it to one cup).

(If you prefer to add coconut milk and give it a creamier flavour, instead of adding water as instructed above, add a cup of coconut milk and continue with the instructions given below).

Cover and slowly simmer the curry for 45 minutes.

20 minutes into slow-simmering, check for taste, and season with salt if necessary.

Avoid increasing heat to cook the chicken faster, maintain low-medium heat, and slow-cook until gravy reaches your desired consistency.

A reader recommended changes you can try
Looks like a good recipe. Just a note that might be interesting, it’s not at all common in Jaffna to use tamarind in meat curries.
We use tamarind in fish curries, but I’ve yet to see anyone from Jaffna use it in chicken.
Instead, we add a squeeze of lime, often towards the end of the cooking so that the brightness isn’t lost by cooking it too long.
I was very intrigued to find your chicken curry recipes using tamarind, so I tried your ‘Spicy Sri Lankan Chicken- Coconut Curry’ yesterday and it came out quite nicely.
I may use that technique again in the future, but not for the Jaffna chicken curry 😉.

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