Easy Chicken Curry (Kerala Style)|| Instant Pot Chicken Curry
 
Prep time
Cook time
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An easy and delicious chicken curry with flavors of coconut oil and curry leaves along with other spices like coriander and garam masala. You can make it in the Instant Pot too!
Author:
Recipe type: Main course
Cuisine: Indian
Serves: 4-5
RecipeIngredients
  • About 2.0 pounds (or about ¾ kg ) of chicken cut into bite size pieces (about 1 inch cube pieces, preferably with bone or if you are using boneless, use large thigh pieces)
  • 2 medium size red onions, thinly sliced
  • About 1 and ½ tbsp fresh ginger, finely chopped
  • About 1 and ½ tbsp fresh garlic, finely chopped
  • 2 small green chillies, slit length-wise
  • ½ cup thinly sliced coconut pieces or coconut chips
  • 1 sprig of fresh curry leaves
  • 1 Large potato chopped into 1 inch cubes or ½ of a green plantain, cut into ½ inch rounds(Omit for Keto)
  • 6-8 whole black pepper corns
  • 3-4 whole cloves
  • 1 small stick of cinnamon, about ¾ inch long
  • 1 tsp Kashmiri red chilli (cayenne pepper) powder
  • 1 tsp turmeric powder
  • 3 tbsp coriander powder
  • About 1¼ tsp sea salt (or per taste)
  • 1 tsp garam masala
  • 2 tsp freshly ground fennel powder
  • 2 tbsp melted coconut oil
RecipeInstructions
For cooking in regular pot:
  1. Wash the chicken pieces thoroughly and wipe dry with a paper towel. Take a medium size cooking pot that has a tight-fitting lid and add the chicken pieces in it and then add the salt, red chilli powder, turmeric powder, coriander powder and salt and mix with your hands to coat the chicken well.
  2. Next add the finely sliced onions, the garlic, ginger, green chillies, curry leaves and the coconut pieces. And also add all the other ingredients.
  3. Now using your hands, mix everything well and crunch the onion slices using your fingers to break them down (This is a very important step for the onions to cook well)
  4. Cover the pot with the lid and place pot on stove on low heat. Cook on low heat for 10 mins.
  5. Now open the pot and stir well to make sure the chicken pieces are not sticking to the pot. Again cover and cook on low for 20 mins stirring occasionally.
  6. Open and check if the chicken pieces and the potatoes are cooked and soft. Turn heat off.
For Cooking in Instant Pot :
  1. Following same instructions as above adding all ingredients to the instant pot insert pot and close the lid. Turn vent to sealing position and press 'pressure cook' button. Set time for 10 mins (you may have to press + or - to change time to 10 mins; If you are using only boneless chicken pieces, pressure cook only for 8 mins). After pressure cooking is done, do quick steam release and then open the pot. If you do not release pressure soon, the chicken pieces might get overcooked.
Notes
1. It is very important to scrunch the onions since we are not sautéing or cooking them before. Scrunching helps them breakdown faster and thus make them soft in the curry.
2. if you are using boneless chicken pieces, keep them as large pieces and set pressure cook time for 10 mins instead of 15 mins.
2. If you don't like to have whole spices in your curry, you can tie them in a soft muslin cloth and add to the pot. That way you can easily take them out while serving.
3.You could try substituting coconut chips for fresh coconut slices. I have not tried them but my guess is they should work ok.
4.You could also add some coconut milk if you like the curry to be less hot.
Tomatoes are optional in this curry. I skip them now since I am nightshade free and the curry comes out still great!
Recipe by Cook2Nourish at https://cook2nourish.com/2013/10/easy-chicken-curry-kerala-style.html