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Nyonya Chicken Curry - Chicken curry is made with bone-in chicken and curry leaves are used to infuse the chicken curry with their intense fragrance.
Nyonya loves their chicken curry, or kari ayam in Malay.
When it comes to making chicken curry, I always choose the easy way out—I buy instant chicken curry paste, which is both convenient and quite tasty.
However, back home in Penang, my family would always make curry chicken from scratch.
Well, first of all, you just can’t beat the authentic great taste of a red-hot chicken curry (click the picture above to check out the chicken curry gallery); secondly, no instant curry mix would rival the fresh and exotic aroma of homemade spice paste of turmeric, fennel, cumin, coriander seeds, and other aromatics.
So, the answer is pretty clear. If you want the best chicken curry, be prepared to spend some time in your kitchen…
Chicken curry is made with bone-in chicken traditionally, and curry leaves are used to infuse the chicken curry with the intense fragrance of the curry leaves.
My family love eating chicken curry with nasi kunyit (turmeric sticky rice) but I will have to share that recipe in the future. For now, do check out this mouthwatering chicken curry recipe prepared by my sister-in-law in Penang.
Frequently Asked Questions
This recipe is only 169 calories per serving.
What To Serve With Nyonya Chicken Curry
For a wholesome meal and easy weeknight dinner, I recommend the following recipes.
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Nyonya Chicken Curry
Ingredients
- 1 whole chicken, remove head, neck, feet and chopped into pieces
- 200 g (7 oz) potatoes, peeled and cut into wedges
- 200 ml thick coconut milk, to taste, optional
- 1 sprig curry leaves, use only the leaves
- 1 star arise
- 1 cloves
- 1 stick cinnamon
- 5 tbsp oil
- 1 ½ cup water
Spice Paste (ground):
- 3 cloves garlic
- 18 shallots
- 12 dried chili, soaked and remove seeds
- 15 g (½ oz) turmeric
- 15 g (½ oz) coriander seeds
- 1 teaspoon fennel
- 1 teaspoon cumin
- 20 g (¾ oz) shrimp paste, toasted
- 1 stick lemongrass, white part only
Seasoning
- 1 tablespoon salt
- 1 teaspoon sugar
Instructions
- Heat up your wok, pour in 5 tablespoons of oil, and sauté the cinnamon stick, star anise, and cloves over low heat. Add the spice paste and stir-fry until fragrant.
- Add the chicken, potatoes, and curry leaves, and fry well. Then add water, cover the pot, and braise over low heat until the chicken and potatoes are cooked through.
- Add the thick coconut milk, salt, and sugar. Continue to simmer over low heat for 20-30 minutes, or until the chicken is tender. Remove from heat and serve with white rice, bread, nasi kunyit, or roti jala.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
My dish was yellow! I want it red like yours. What went wrong?
Did you use dried chili? It is important to make it “red’. I usually add a little capsicum powder to make it redder.
Yes I did. You can use red chili powder to make it red.
I tried it yesterday and it was my first time. It turned out pretty well but mine is more yellowish than red in your pic.
Probably it will taste better today. Thanks
Can you freeze this please?
Yes.
Can we make without shrimp paste?
Yes you can.
Hi :) The turmeric – is that 15g fresh or 15g powder?
Thanks. Looking forward to trying this out!
Fresh.
Mine turned out bitter, too. I used turmeric powder. Did you use fresh turmeric?
Cut down on the amount if it’s bitter.
Be careful not to burn the rempah, garlic and tumeric turns bitter when burnt. Use low to medium low fire and slowly fry.
Thank you so much Bee for this great recipe! We loved it for its aroma and tastiness.
We even substituted chicken with pork and it tasted just as nice. :)
How many people that can serve with this recipe?
Thank you for sharing this tasty looking recipe. I don’t have access to Asian style shallots but I can get French shallots. I think using 18 of those would be too much as they are bigger than their Asian counterparts. What would be the equivalent of 18 shallots in your recipe in grams?
Use half if they are bigger.
Ok, thank you.
Hi, thanks for the recipe. I just tried it out. My curry has a slight bitter after taste. Was wondering whether this is normal?
That’s not supposed to happen. Make sure you didn’t burn the curry powder before you add the liquid.
15g of turmeric? Is this right? Seems a huge amount