Malabar Chicken Curry
Author: Heather Scholten · Posted: Mar 07, 2012 · Updated: Jun 09, 2025
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An easy recipe for Malabar Chicken Curry and includes my recipe for homemade garam masala.
Yesterday I was craving Indian food. I haven’t eaten Indian food in years. Sad, right? I guess you could say that I have a major aversion to yellow curry. Red curry? Love it. Green curry? Can’t get enough of it. Yellow curry? I’m running for the hills from the smell.
I guess my main reason for not eating Indian food more often is that I associate it with that pungent yellow curry smell. Well after doing a lot of searching on line, I stand corrected. This Malabar Chicken “curry” has not one granule of yellow curry in it. Nope not-a-one. It does, however, have a hefty helping of homemade garam masala.Garam Masala is a spice blend that you can buy pre-made in the store, or take 5 minutes and make it at home and have a large bottle to use in the future. In Indian, garam means “hot” or “warm” and masala means “spice blend”. You can probably guess what it has in it just from the definition, right? Hot = dried chiles and spice blend, well you get the picture. You can even use the garam masala to make a chai tea. Add a 1/4 teaspoon to warm milk that’s been steeped with a tea bag and you have a delicious spiced drink.
I don’t know about you, but I’m ready to go eat some Malabar Chicken Curry!
More Chicken Recipes:
Malabar Chicken Curry
Equipment
- 1 Coffee Grinder optional
Ingredients
- 3 tbsp olive oil, or canola
- 2 large yellow onions, halved and sliced thin
- 2 tbsp garam masala, recipe follows
- 2 tsp kosher salt
- 2 tbsp fresh ginger, grated
- 2 tbsp garlic cloves, minced
- 3 large tomatoes, diced
- 2 tbsp chili powder
- 1 tsp crushed red pepper flakes
- 6 chicken breasts, boneless, skinless cut into bite sized pieces
- cilantro, fresh, for garnish
Garam Masala Spice Blend:
- 3 tbsp coriander seeds
- 2 tbsp cumin seeds
- 4 tsp black peppercorns, whole
- 3 star anise, whole
- 2 tsp cloves, whole
- 2 cinnamon sticks
- 1 small nutmeg, whole
- 1 puya chile, whole, dried, optional
- 2 tsp cardamom, ground, or 2 tablespoons whole green pods
Instructions
- Heat a dutch oven or large saucepan over medium-high heat. Add the olive oil, onions, garam masala, and salt. Stir to coat. Turn the heat down to medium and cover. Allow the onions to cook for 15-20 minutes, stirring occasionally, until they are soft and translucent and have reduced considerably.
- Add the ginger, garlic, tomatoes, chili powder and crushed red pepper flakes. Cook, stirring occasionally, for 10 minutes, or until the tomatoes are almost completely incorporated into the onion mixture.
- Add the chicken and stir to coat. Cover and cook, stirring occasionally, for 5-10 minutes, or until the chicken is cooked through and the sauce has thickened. If it's too dry, add boiling water 1/4 cup at a time to achieve a thinner consistency.
- Garnish with cilantro and serve with hot cooked jasmine rice and naan
For Garam Masala:
- Heat a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add all whole spices (except ground cardamom). Toast until fragrant, but not burned.
- Add all whole spices and ground cardamom to a spice or coffee grinder and pulse until all spices have been pulverized.
- Store in an airtight container.
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Notes
Recipe Nutrition
* Nutritional information is not guaranteed to be accurate.
Recipe By:
Co-Founder at Spiceology | More About Heather…
Heather is a recipe developer and content creator living in Vancouver, Washington. She started Farmgirl Gourmet in 2006, almost 20 years ago, as a way to share recipes with friends and family. Heather is also the co-founder of Spiceology , a unique spice company, which she started in 2013. She shares family friendly recipes for easy everyday meals with a gourmet twist.
I really love this recipe and hope you will too!
very useful