River Cottage

Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall recipes Coconut chicken masala recipe

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Date Published:
04/09/2007

Serves 4

Ingredients

  • 3 tbsp groundnut oil
  • 8 chicken pieces, on the bone, such as legs, thighs and wings
  • 2 onions, finely chopped
  • 3 cloves garlic, peeled and chopped
  • 2 tsp ground cumin
  • ½tsp cayenne peppe
  • 1 tsp ground ginger
  • ½tsp ground black pepper
  • 2 tsp ground coriander
  • salt
  • 500ml passata (sieved tomatoes)
  • 400ml coconut milk
  • 3 bay leaves

Method: How to make coconut chicken masala

1. Heat the oil in a large saucepan or casserole, over a medium heat. Add the chicken pieces and brown them lightly on all sides, then remove from the pan and set aside.

coconut chicken masala

2. Turn the heat down a little, add the onions and garlic to the pan and cook gently, stirring frequently, until soft and golden. Add the spices and a good pinch of salt, stir well and cook gently for a minute or two.

3. Pour the passata and coconut milk into the pan and mix well, then return the chicken to the pan, along with the bay leaves. Bring everything to a simmer, cover the pan and cook on a low heat for 50 minutes - 1 hour, stirring from time to time to ensure the sauce doesn’t stick. Check the seasoning, and serve with the naan bread and rice.

© River Cottage

Not quite the chicken curry you were looking for? Try these:

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Gordon Ramsay's chicken curry
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Chicken and spinach curry
Chicken jalfrezi

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Comments

  1. I cooked this curry last night and both myself and my partner were in raptures with the result. I have rarely cooked anything with so few ingredients where the end result packs such a powerful flavour punch; it was absolute curry heaven and was as good, if not better, in fact, than any curry I have ever eaten in a restaurant. It was absolutely delicious with the added bonus of being extremely easy to make so thank you, thank you Hugh.
    Posted by Sheila on 31/10/2009 11:04:22
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  2. I love Curry, my wife Petra used to make it for me all the time, i had better learn, now she's gone. When I say gone, I don't mean she's dead, I mean she's left me.
    Posted by Geoff Harris on 03/09/2009 11:49:26
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  3. I love Gorden Ramsey, When can his viewers expect a magazine? A Devoted Fan
    Posted by Jackie Cavalletto on 04/08/2009 17:32:02
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  4. does anyone have any idea if you use chicken breasts whether you would have to reduce the cooking time?, i cant eat meat on the bone
    Posted by Beth on 30/05/2009 17:54:23
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  5. try this one
    Posted by Eileen on 13/05/2009 22:57:06
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  6. This is a great recipe. I add in some veg (cauliflower is always great curried, but also green beans, peas, cabbage etc go well) to make it a bigger one-pot supper. Yum.
    Posted by Jill Hurworth on 24/03/2009 22:12:36
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  7. I think this is SUCH a good recipe! It is so much help (:
    Posted by Eloise Barteryop on 17/02/2009 18:44:26
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  8. am to bakers oven after ma chef lesson coz im well hungry lol am gunna pass out i neeed food lol xxxxxx
    Posted by elliot on 12/02/2009 16:38:18
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  9. can i make a suggestion about the coconut milk. instead of buying the canned stuff, which is not a bad product in itself, have a go at making your own. it's really simple, and well worth the effort. just buy a coconut from the supermarket, use a coconut scraper to scrape out all the beautiful white flesh. Put the flesh into a coarse muslin or linen/cotton cloth and twist and squeeze the bejaysus out of it. You will end up with a glorious result, which will add immeasurably to the taste and richness of your curry, or sweets, or whatever you are cooking. I am writing this from Australia, so you might want to gently heat the scraped flesh first to get the maximum out of it if you are going to try this in the middle of the european winter. you can buy a coconut scraper at any asian food store, and I'm sure you will also find plenty of advice on how to get the best results.
    Posted by Mark Davis on 06/02/2009 02:09:32
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  10. About printing so many pages for just the recipe... when you go to print, tell it to print from page 1 to 1 in your print dialog box.
    Posted by Jennifer on 02/02/2009 17:41:06
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  11. Sorry what do marshmallows have to do with this recipe...am I missing something? And indeed moaning about the volume of pages being printed off wouldn't really affect the food...would it? A wonderful recipe...I make it regularly and it never fails to please-keep 'em coming!
    Posted by Rob on 27/01/2009 10:01:26
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  12. Made the marshmallows and was convinced they would a disaster! They turned out lovely, really light and fuffy and just melted in the mouth. Off to a bonfire at friends tonight feeling very proud of my comtribution!!
    Posted by Karin from Cumbria on 08/11/2008 15:00:18
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  13. Really interesting programmes and appreciate your lovely recipes BUT could you look into 'Print Friendly ' versions in order that for a 1 or 2 page recipe one is not forced to print out 4 pages, mainly with other peoples comments. Would save a lot of wasted paper and inks. Many thanks - Pamela Randolph
    Posted by Mrs P.M, Randolph on 07/11/2008 11:00:38
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