A flavourful Nepalese chicken curry recipe made in just 20 minutes.
Perfect for weeknight dinners, packed with fresh herbs and spices.
- The spicy coconut chicken is lovely with rice or even with noodles.
- Similar to my Thai basil chicken, but slightly less spicy.
Full recipe below.
How to make Nepalese chicken curry
Ingredients:
- 500 g Chicken breasts
- 5 cm Ginger grated
- 4 cloves Garlic
- 1 Onion
- 1 Red chilli pepper
- 2 Fresh tomatoes
- 1/2 tsp Ground turmeric
- 2 tsp Ground cumin
- 1/2 tsp Garam masala
- 1 Cinnamon stick
- 4 Cardamon pods
- 400 ml Coconut milk
- 200 ml Chicken stock
- 3 tbsp Olive oil
- Salt and Pepper
Equipment
- 1 Wok
- 1 Large Bowl
- 1 Knife and chopping board
Instructions
- Cut the chicken breasts into bite size pieces, put in a bowl and add 1 tbsp olive oil
- Add the grated ginger, turmeric, cumin and garam masala powder, salt and pepper in a bowl and mix well – make sure all the chicken pieces are covered. Leave to flavour in a fridge – you can even make it the night before.
- Cut the pepper length-ways, remove the seeds and then cut diagonally into smaller pieces. Peel and dice the onion, crush the garlic, chop the tomatoes into bite-sized pieces and chop the coriander. Also crush the cardamom to release the flavour.
- Heat oil in a wok and fry the chicken pieces – until they start to turn brown (about 3 to 5 mins)
- Then add the onion and garlic – and continue to fry until they turn golden. Add the pepper, tomatoes and cardamom pods and cook for 1 to 2 minutes
- Pour in the chicken stock and coconut milk. Add add the cinnamon stick. And cook until it starts turning thick and gooey (about 15 minutes)
- Turn off the heat and remove the cinnamon stick. And finally add in the chopped coriander and slowly stir until it starts to wilt (about 10 seconds)
How to serve
Either use it on rice or even with noodles.
Frequently asked questions
The recipe seem to have a lot of ingredients. But most are readily available and very often already present in most kitchens.
However there are 3 key questions that are often asked:
1. Can I use dried coriander instead of fresh?
Coriander (or called cilantro or Chinese parsley) is one of the most popular herbs in the world.
Coriander leaves have a very distinctive lemon & lime taste which (when added to recipes or salads) provide a real flavour.
Yes, you can use dried coriander but try to use fresh leaves at it will make a real difference to this recipe.
If you need to use dried coriander – then add earlier when cooking. At the ‘fry the ingredients’ stage when you have fried the onion and garlic. Fresh coriander you tend to add at the end of making the recipe.
Fresh coriander tastes much nicer. But in addition the ‘secret’ to Nepalese coriander chicken is to add the coriander right at the end.
2. Is this recipe spicy?
Different peppers add distinct flavour to recipes.
In this recipe we used Bell peppers, which is not that spice – simply because they are very easy to get.
However there are many different types of pepper you can use, depending on how spicy you want to make the curry.
There is more info in our best peppers for cooking article – but for example an Anaheim chili pepper would make it a lot more spice.
3. What makes Nepalese chicken curry unique?
It was after talking to a good friend (originally from Nepal) that I found out how wonderful Nepalese cuisine is.
Even if you have a look at Wikipedia this doesn’t do justice to just how unique the different recipes and meals are.
The Nepalese chicken curry recipe is based on advice from my friend (based on how his mum used to cook meals) and one of the few recipes she cooked using chicken. It’s the combination of the spices (like cumin, turmeric, cinnamon and cardamon) as well as the fresh coriander and peppers that give this recipe a distinct flavour.
After looking at the different meals Nepal is now one of the top countries I would love to go on holiday to !!!
Nepalese coriander chicken
Equipment
- 1 Wok
- 1 Large Bowl
- 1 Knife and chopping board
Ingredients
- 500 g Chicken breasts
- 5 cm Ginger grated
- 4 cloves Garlic
- 1 Onion
- 1 Red chilli pepper
- 2 Fresh tomatoes
- 1/2 tsp Ground turmeric
- 2 tsp Ground cumin
- 1/2 tsp Garam masala
- 1 Cinnamon stick
- 4 Cardamon pods
- 400 ml Coconut milk
- 200 ml Chicken stock
- 3 tbsp Olive oil
- Salt and Pepper
Instructions
Prepare the chicken
- Cut the chicken breasts into bite size pieces, put in a bowl and add 1 tbsp olive oil
- Add the grated ginger, turmeric, cumin and garam masala powder, salt and pepper in a bowl and mix well – make sure all the chicken pieces are covered. Leave to flavour in a fridge – you can even make it the night before.
Prepare the other ingredients
- Cut the pepper length-ways, remove the seeds and then cut diagonally into smaller pieces. Peel and dice the onion, crush the garlic, chop the tomatoes into bite-sized pieces and chop the coriander. Also crush the cardamom to release the flavour.
Fry the ingredients
- Heat oil in a wok and fry the chicken pieces – until they start to turn brown (about 3 to 5 mins)
- Then add the onion and garlic – and continue to fry until they turn golden. Add the pepper, tomatoes and cardamom pods and cook for 1 to 2 minutes
Finalise
- Pour in the chicken stock and coconut milk. Add add the cinnamon stick. And cook until it starts turning thick and gooey (about 15 minutes)
- Turn off the heat and remove the cinnamon stick. And finally add in the chopped coriander and slowly stir until it starts to wilt (about 10 seconds)
Video
Nutrition
.
The country recipe challenge.
This recipe is part of my country recipe challenge, where I am trying to find 1 recipe from each country in the world.
The easiest way to keep updated is to follow me on either my Instagram or Facebook page
Have you made the recipe?
Would love to hear what you thought of it
Leave a Reply