This post may contain affiliate links. Please read my privacy policy.
Easy and the best recipe for chicken curry with tender chicken, spices and coconut milk in rich and spicy curry sauce. This curry chicken recipe is delicious and best served with steamed rice.
Chicken Curry Kapitan
Malaysian chicken curry is my favorite food. Today I am going to share the recipe on how to make curry chicken from scratch.
This easy and best chicken curry kapitan recipe yields tender, fall-off-the-bones chicken in creamy and rich coconut curry chicken sauce. It’s so good!
Different Types Of Curry Chicken
Chicken curry originated from the Indian subcontinent but it’s popular in Southeast Asia, for example: Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam. It’s also well loved by many in England and the Caribbean.
Here are the different kinds of curries, mostly made with chicken:
They are all distinct recipes but the underlying flavors are pretty much the same; it made with coconut milk, spicy, rich and delicious.
The recipe I am sharing today is Chicken Curry Kapitan, a Malaysian “dry” curry. It’s a dry curry because the curry sauce is thicker and not so watery.
The recipe is adapted from Indian chicken curry. Kapitan is the name given to appointed Chinese chiefs during the Portuguese and Dutch colonization in Malaysia.
Frequently Asked Questions
This recipe is 610 calories per serving.
What To Serve With Chicken Curry
This meal is best served with steamed rice or with a side dish such as Mango Chutney. For a wholesome Malaysian meal and easy weeknight dinner, I recommend the following recipes.
I hope you enjoy this post as much as I do. If you try my recipe, please leave a comment and consider giving it a 5-star rating. For more easy and delicious recipes, explore my Recipe Index, and stay updated by subscribing to my newsletter and following me on Facebook, Pinterest, and Instagram for new updates.
Other Recipes You Might Like
Chicken Curry
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons cooking oil
- 1 1/2 lbs. (750g) boneless chicken thighs , and/or breasts, cut into pieces
- 2 lemongrass , white part only, cut into 4-inch (10cm) lengths, pounded
- 6-8 pieces kaffir lime leaves
- 1 cup coconut milk
- 1 tablespoon lime juice
- salt , to taste
Spice Paste:
- 1 1/2 inches (4cm) galangal
- 1/2 lb (250g) fresh red chilies, seeded and sliced
- 5 shallots, peeled and sliced
- 1 inch (2.5cm) ginger, peeled and sliced
- 6 candle nuts
- 1/2 inch (1cm) fresh turmeric, peeled and sliced
- 1/4 teaspoon belacan, shrimp paste
Instructions
- Blend all the Spice Paste ingredients until they form a very fine paste.
- Heat the cooking oil in a wok and stir-fry the paste until aromatic and a thin layer of oil rises to the top. Add the chicken, lemongrass, and kaffir lime leaves. Continue stirring and cooking until the chicken is nearly cooked through.
- Add the coconut milk and simmer over low heat for 15–20 minutes. Stir in the lime juice and salt. Serve hot with steamed rice.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
the flavour is very nice
not sure what I did wrong, the curry turned out more watery vs dry
It’s the water content of your chicken. Remove the chicken and reduce the curry sauce.
Bee,
Thank you so much for sharing, during these MCO periods, ur recipe has made me a better cook at home. My wife and neighbours love the recepies from ur website. Thanks again .
Hi Nicholas, awww, thanks so much for the sweet comment. It makes my day. I am so glad you all love my recipes! :)
Looks delicious and easy. I Will try to cook it! Thanks for the recipe.
The yummiest Chicken Curry I have ever tried. Thanks for the recipe
Can I cook in reverse? Ie. Stir-fry the chicken until almost done, then add the curry paste?
Yes.
I didn’t have candle nuts or good Australian macadamias so used Brazil’s as they are also an oily nut. Worked perfectly.
I love this chicken curry so much. My husband asked for more.
Thanks for trying this chicken curry recipe, please try more other recipes on my site: https://rasamalaysia.com/recipe-index-gallery/
Love this recipe! Actually in the Carribean chicken curry is a staple! We have so many dishes that are similar to Asian dishes and over the last decades we have started using a lot of Asian ingredients. For the spice paste, can we preserve it for long?
Hi Bee,
I have cooked a lot of your recipes but I am disappointed that despite so many people asking you still have not updated the recipe to tell us what we do with the lemon grass, lime leaves and lime juice.
Are you meant to make a separate paste or do you just add them in whole? From past experience I added the lemon grass after coating the chicken in the stir fried paste the added the lime leaves into the coconut milk and finally added the lime juice right at the end – please can you confirm this is correct? If not can you please update the recipe as you can clearly see many people are confused with this recipe….. these things are NOT obvious to everyone (which is why we’re following a recipe!)
Anyway, the end result was very good though I think half the turmeric and the lime juice would have made mine slightly better.
Lemongrass can be added w the spices to fry.. kafir leaves after the spices are cooked and fragrant .. lime at the end before fire is switched off.. some ppl serve it on the side at serving table
Wouldn’t it be better to measure the ginger and galangal by weight? They vary in thickness, so measuring by length isn’t very precise.
This is fine, they don’t have to be very precise and won’t affect the taste.
Im very excited to try this today got all the ingredients :-). When do i add the lemon grass and kafir kafir lime leaves?
Please confirm the recipe is correct 1/2 lb fresh red chillies
Yes.
May I ask what kind of red chiles to use? I’m assuming something like 1/2 lb birds eye chiles will be too spicy. Thank you.
Just use regular red chilies, NO, do not use bird’s eye chilies.