By Jehan Yusoof  |  Updated September 12, 2026  | ★ 4.7 (3 reviews) | 3 comments

Jaffna chicken curry is a dark, fiery Sri Lankan Tamil curry from Jaffna, in the north of Sri Lanka.
Bone-in chicken is marinated in roasted Jaffna curry powder, then slow-cooked in one pot with curry leaves, pandan and green chillies until the gravy turns a deep, dark brown. You may also see it called Jaffna curry or Jaffna-style chicken curry.

A reader from Germany, married to a Sri Lankan, wrote: “We are so happy that you share this wonderful recipe with everybody. Yesterday we made Jaffna curry and chicken. So good. Thank you very much.”

★★★★★
If you try this, I’d love to know how it turned out. Just tap the stars on the recipe card; it helps other cooks find it.

Why This Recipe Works

• Homemade Jaffna curry powder.
  • It carries a double dose of whole dried red chillies, which gives the curry its dark colour and punch.
• One pot, slow-cooked.
• A few extra spices: cinnamon, cardamom, curry leaves and pandan
• Browned and semi-fried chicken parts: Semi-frying the chicken before it simmers builds a dark brown gravy rich in spices.
• Bone-in pieces: They carry the flavour of the curry powder best.

Tips for the Best Jaffna Chicken Curry

• Drain the chicken well before adding the spices, so the marinade clings.
• Marinate for 15 to 20 minutes, or as long as you can. After 30 minutes, cover and refrigerate.
• Don’t throw away the leftover marinade; it will be added back into the curry.
• Semi-fry the chicken as much as you can without the meat sticking to the bottom of the pan; add a tablespoon of oil if it does.
• Slowly simmer the chicken curry; avoid boiling the chicken. Taste after 20 minutes of simmering and season with salt as needed.

Ingredients for Jaffna Chicken Curry

You’ll find exact quantities in the recipe card below.

• Chicken: one whole chicken, cut into curry pieces. Bone-in gives the most flavour.
• Jaffna curry powder: make my homemade Jaffna curry powder. You can use store-bought Jaffna curry powder as well.
• Tamarind: tamarind soaked in water, or 1 tablespoon of tamarind paste. Many Jaffna cooks use lime instead.
• Spice powders: turmeric powder, freshly ground black pepper and salt.
• Curry leaves and pandan: use 1 bay leaf as a substitute for curry leaves. Leave out pandan leaf if it is not available.
• Aromatics: onion, tomato, ginger-garlic paste, green chillies, cinnamon and cardamom.
• Water: as needed
• Coconut milk: optional, only if you need a milkier curry.

What you will need in the kitchen

• Chopping board and Knife/ cleaver.
• A Large bowl to marinate the chicken parts
• A Large pot to cook the curry with a wooden spoon
• A large bowl to serve with a spoon

How to make Jaffna chicken curry

Photo tutorial.

Marinate the chicken

If you’ve never cut a chicken before, use my guide on how to cut a whole chicken.
Add the cleaned chicken pieces to a bowl and drain off any excess water.
Add the turmeric powder, Jaffna curry powder, pepper powder, salt to season, and tamarind juice(tamarind soaked in water; if using tamarind paste, a tablespoon should do) to the chicken parts.

Combine, cover, and set aside for 15 to 20 minutes(as long as you can).
Cover and refrigerate if you are marinating the chicken parts for more than 30 minutes.

Temper the spices

Place a wok or a large pan large enough to hold chicken parts and gravy, and heat over medium fire for a few seconds.
Pour in the oil; in the given order, add curry leaves (a sprig; substitute with a bay leaf), pandan leaf, sliced onions, chopped tomatoes, cinnamon, ginger-garlic paste, cardamom, and green chillies.
Sauté the ingredients over medium heat (less than 5 minutes)or until they release their aroma.

Frying the chicken

As the ingredients sauté, remove the marinated chicken pieces and gradually add them to the pan with the tempering ingredients.

Don’t throw away the remaining marinade liquid; we’ll add 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 to 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 to 15 minutes.

Simmer the Jaffna curry

Once the chicken turns slightly golden at the edges, pour the leftover marinade into the pan.
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 the 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. 😉

Frequently Asked Questions

• What Is Jaffna Curry?
  • Jaffna curry is the cooking of Jaffna, the Tamil north of Sri Lanka: curries made with a dark, roasted, chilli-heavy Jaffna curry powder, and hotter than most curries elsewhere on the island. Goat, mutton, crab and prawns are common; this is the chicken version.

• Tamarind or Lime. Which Is Authentic?
  • Both are used. My version marinates the chicken in tamarind, which I’ve tested many times. A reader from Jaffna says cooks there usually skip tamarind in meat curries and add lime near the end instead — see Variations
• 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 it will certainly reduce the spiciness of the dish. Hence, no coconut milk.
• 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.

What to serve with Jaffna chicken curry

• Rice
  • Plain white rice
  • Sri Lankan Yellow Rice (turmeric rice)
  • Egg biryani (one-pot rice dish/stove-top)
  • Indian fragrant ghee rice (nei choru)
• Roti and flatbreads
  • Sri Lankan roast paan
  • How to make Sri Lankan egg roti/paratha
  • Sri Lankan paratha (godamba)roti
  • Sri Lankan pol roti (coconut roti)
• Vegetable curries
  • Kalupol pumpkin curry
  • Sri Lankan dhal curry or Dhal curry with spinach
  • Sri Lankan beetroot curry
  • Cabbage curry with coconut milk
• Sambals
  • Gotukola mallum
  • Sri Lankan bitter gourd salad
  • Sri Lankan pol sambol

How to store Jaffna chicken curry

Storing: Use glass containers or old containers with lids to store, as the curry powder stains. Refrigerate and consume within 2 to 3 days.
Freezing: Freeze 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 it over the stovetop or microwave. Use a 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.

More Sri Lankan chicken curries

• Sri Lankan chicken curry recipe with coconut milk
• Sri Lankan chicken curry without coconut milk
• Sri Lankan devilled chicken
• Sri Lankan pepper chicken curry
• Chicken ambulthiyal
• Chicken and potato curry
  • More Jaffna recipes
    • Jaffna prawn curry
    • Sri Lankan Jaffna curry powder

Watch more Sri Lankan recipes on my YouTube channel

Continue to Content

Jaffna chicken curry

Yield: 5

Prep Time: 15 minutes

Cook Time: 40 minutes

Additional Time: 20 minutes

Total Time: 1 hour 15 minutes

Sri Lankan Jaffna curry powder spicy chicken curry.

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

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

4.7 Stars (3 Reviews)

Print

Ingredients

• Ingredients mentioned below use standard measuring cups and spoons.
• 1 whole chicken, washed, cleaned and cut into 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 coconut oil
• A sprig of curry leaves (5 to 8 leaves, substitute with 1 bay leaf)
• A long piece of Pandan leaf (optional)
• 2 tablespoons of ginger-garlic paste (3 cloves garlic, 1" piece garlic crushed together)
• 1 large onion finely sliced
• 1 medium-sized chopped Tomato
• 3 whole green chillies split in the middle
• 1 piece of Cinnamon (1-inch)
• 4 slightly bruised Cardamoms
• 1½ cups (360 ml) water, or 1 cup (240 ml) for less gravy

Instructions

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

Marinate

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

1. Add the turmeric powder (1 teaspoon), Jaffna curry powder (3 tablespoons; add 1 more tablespoon if you can handle the heat), pepper powder (1 and 1/2 tablespoons), salt to season, and tamarind juice (2 tablespoons tamarind soaked in 1/4 of a cup of water, if using tamarind paste,1 tablespoon should do) to the chicken parts.
2. Combine, cover, and set aside for 15 to 20 minutes (as long as you can).
3. Cover and refrigerate if you are marinating the chicken parts for more than 30 minutes.

Temper and semi-fry

1. Place a wok or large pan ,enough to hold chicken parts and gravy, and let it heat over medium fire for a few seconds.
2. Pour in the oil (3 tablespoons), in the given order, add curry leaves (a sprig; substitute with 1 bay leaf), pandan leaf (optional), sliced onions (1 large), tomatoes (1 medium), cinnamon (1″ piece), ginger-garlic paste (2 tablespoons), cardamoms (4), green chillies (3).
3. Sauté the ingredients over medium heat (less than 5 minutes)or until they release their aroma.
4. As the ingredients sauté, remove the marinating chicken pieces and gradually add them to the pan.
5. Don't throw away the marinade, we will add it to the curry later.
6. Combine and semi-fry the chicken with the tempering ingredients over medium heat for at least 7 to 10 minutes.
7. 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 to 15 minutes.
8. Once the chicken turns slightly golden at the edges, pour the leftover marinade into the pan.

Simmer

1. Then, add one and a half cups of water(depending on how much gravy you need, you can reduce it to one cup).
2. (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.)
3. Cover and slowly simmer the curry for 45 minutes.
4. 20 minutes into slow-simmering, taste and season with salt if necessary.
5. Avoid increasing heat to cook the chicken faster; maintain low-medium heat and slow-cook until the gravy reaches your desired consistency.

Made this Jaffna chicken curry?

I'd love to know how it turned out.

Leave a ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ rating and a comment; I read every one; it helps other visitors trust the recipe and helps them find me too.

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Nutrition Information:

Yield: 5 Serving Size: 1
Amount Per Serving: Calories: 443Total Fat: 26gSaturated Fat: 11gUnsaturated Fat: 14gCholesterol: 104mgSodium: 110mgCarbohydrates: 17gFiber: 11gSugar: 5gProtein: 35g

Nutrition facts are an estimate and not guaranteed to be accurate. Please see a registered dietitian for special diet advice.

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
JEHAN
Recipe creator. Food Blogger. Video creator
I’ve been cooking and sharing Sri Lankan recipes, along with other dishes I love making at home on Island Smile since 2015. I’ve tested every recipe on this site more than once in my own kitchen before it goes on the blog.
I grew up eating this food, and I still cook it the same way my family taught me, just written down clearly enough that you can follow it too.
If a recipe doesn’t work the way I say it will, tell me in the comments; I read every one, and I’ll help you fix it.