I made this chicken curry with Bob Arora from
Sachins at The World Curry Festival
This is one of Bob Arora’s chicken curry recipes that I enjoyed so much I had to make it again. We made it together at the World Curry Festival in Brandford and the samples were gobbled up. Now I’d like to show those of you who couldn’t get to the curry festival how to make it too.
I had a lot of fun at The World Curry Festival. We made this on stage in about a half hour. It really is easy and hope you get a chance to try it soon.
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Yield: 4 - 6
Chicken Curry With Curry Leaves, Coconut Milk and Spices

Ingredients
- 100ml vegetable oil
- 6 chicken breasts - cut into one inch pieces
- 1 tablespoon mustard seeds
- 20 fresh curry leaves
- 10 fenugreek seeds
- 2 large onions - finely chopped
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 tablespoon garlic paste
- 1 tablespoon ginger paste
- 2 fresh green chilies - finely chopped
- 1 tablespoon cumin
- 1 tablespoon garam masala
- 400ml chopped tomatoes
- 1 tablespoon tomato paste
- A pinch of turmeric
- 1 large bunch of fresh coriander
- 400ml coconut milk
- 150ml double cream
- spicy salt to taste or salt and pepper
Instructions
- Start by making the sauce.
- Pour all but about one tablespoon of the vegetable oil into a large pan or wok and heat it over high heat.
- When the oil is hot, throw in the mustard seeds, fenugreek seeds and the curry leaves.
- When the mustard seeds begin to pop, pour in the chopped onions. You want to fry the onions - stirring regularly until the onions are light brown, translucent and soft.
- Sprinkle with the salt. This will help release some of the moisture from the onions.
- When the onions are nicely browned, add the garlic and ginger pastes along with the chopped green chilies and stir to combine.
- After about a minute, add the garam masala, cumin and turmeric. Continue stirring until the vegetables are nicely coated with the spices.
- Now pour in the tomatoes and tomato paste.
- Bring to a rolling simmer.
- Cut the stems of the coriander and then finely cut the stems and add them to the sauce.
- Pour in the coconut milk and cream and then cover the sauce and cook over low heat while you cook the chicken.
- Using the remaining oil, fry the chicken until it is nicely browned and about 80% cooked through.
- Add the chicken to the sauce and stir.
- Sprinkle with chopped coriander leaves and the spicy salt to taste to serve.
Rachel
Tuesday 9th of March 2021
Yum. Been wanting to learn how to use spices forever. A gift of fresh curry leaves and this recipe = success! It’s delicious. I want to buy your book but I can’t decide which one! Is this level recipe something that would be in the original book or the Easy version?
Dan Toombs
Tuesday 9th of March 2021
All my recipes are fairly easy so you should be fine with either. It is an easy recipe but not in the Easy book, it is in the Curry Guy Bible but it is called Chicken Masala Curry. I am glad you enjoyed the recipe, it is one of my favourites. Thanks Dan
Tony
Sunday 5th of May 2019
My families favourite curry, they prefer me to make this rather than get a takeaway, love it !!!
Dan Toombs
Wednesday 29th of May 2019
Great to hear Tony. Thank you.
Dan
Aimee
Monday 21st of January 2019
Hi there, I want to make this dish in a couple of days. Can you please confirm if the cumin is cumin seeds or ground cumin.
Thanks
Dan Toombs
Monday 21st of January 2019
Hi Aimee
Thanks for getting in touch. For this one, I use ground cumin.
Thanks, Dan
Niyama
Friday 2nd of November 2018
I don't eat dairy, so am wondering if I can use the cream from a can of coconut milk to replace the cream in the recipe? And I'm planning to make my own ginger & garlic paste....will have to experiment with # of cloves and inches of ginger root. Best, Niyama
Dan Toombs
Monday 14th of January 2019
Hi Niyama
Yes! Coconut cream will work perfectly as a substitute.
Thank you, Dan
Heena Adak
Monday 19th of March 2018
I had tried this recipe as well and it was fabulous. I added 1/2 tbsp of kasoori methi as well on it and it ws far delicious. Thank you for the simple yet delicious recipe. My husband loved it and me too. Hehe. :)
Dan Toombs
Monday 30th of April 2018
Great to hear Heena. Thank you.
Dan