Chicken Kurma Recipe

Chicken Kurma is a delicious South Indian curried dish made with chicken, whole spices, ground spices, coconut and herbs. This chicken kurma is a classic dish made often in the traditional South Indian homes. Kurma with Ghee rice is a hugely popular combo you will find everywhere in South India. Right from small budget places to upscale restaurants & households this is always there on the menu. Apart from this chicken kurma, vegetarian versions like Vegetable kurma, paneer kurma and Aloo kurma are also very popular. These are also served with Pulao, Biryani, roti or Parathas.

Chicken Kurma

Kurma is a South Indian word for “Korma” and is very different from the Mughlai Korma in the preparation method and techniques. Both taste very different as the ingredients used are also different. So a kurma is not the same as Korma.

South Indian kurma has coconut as the key ingredient, sometimes poppy seeds are also used. Ingredients like roasted chana dal and cashews are used as a thickener in the new-day versions. But the base of the North Indian Mughlai korma is fried onions/ golden onions which are ground and added. Yogurt is used to a large extent and no coconut goes into this.

This South Indian chicken kurma is very simple, tastes delicious and easier than the Chicken korma. Fresh coconut is ground with poppy seeds to impart a rich and creamy texture.

Since I have access to fresh coconut, I use the grated one in the recipe. Feel free to substitute it with canned coconut milk. My mom always used poppy seeds along with fresh coconut to make our kurma. I replace the poppy seeds with cashews here. If you have cashews use them else simply skip completely and use a bit of coconut milk.

A small amount of yogurt is added to the dish to impart creaminess as no cream is used in the recipe. To make it dairy-free you may skip the yogurt.

More Similar Recipes
Simple chicken curry
Chettinad chicken
Kerala chicken curry
Andhra chicken curry

Photo Guide

How to Make Chicken Kurma (stepwise photos)

Preparation

1. You may skip this step if using store bought coconut milk. Add ¼ cup grated coconut and 8 cashews to a grinder jar. Optionally you may add ¾ teaspoon fennel seeds.

2. Pour water just as required to make a thick paste. (If using poppy seeds as a replacement to cashews, first make a fine powder of the seeds in your grinder. Add coconut and little water make a smooth paste.)

3. Pour 2 tablespoons oil to a hot pan. Add the whole spices. 1 star anise, 1 small bay leaf, 2 to 3 green cardamoms, 4 cloves, ½ teaspoon cumin seeds and 1 inch cinnamom piece.

3. When the spices begin to sizzle add 1 cup chopped onions and 1 slit green chilli. Sprinkle ¼ teaspoon salt and saute on a medium heat until golden.

4. Add 1 ½ teaspoon ginger garlic paste and fry until the raw smell goes away, for 1 minute or so.

5. Lower the flame. Add 1 pound (½ kg) chicken, ¼ teaspoon salt and ¼ teaspoon turmeric.

6. Fry the chicken on a medium high heat until it turns white in color.

8. Add 1/3 cup fine chopped tomatoes (1 medium). Stir fry until the tomatoes turn soft and mushy.

9. Add 1 teaspoon garam masala, ½ to 1 teaspoon red chili powder and mix well.

10. Fry for about two to three minutes.

Make Chicken Kurma

11. Add the ground paste (or coconut milk), 8 to 10 chopped mint or 1 sprig curry leaves.

12. Optional – Turn down the heat and add 1 tablespoon whisked yogurt. (To prevent the yogurt from splitting, you may simply whisk the yogurt in a bowl first and then whisk it with 1 tbsp of the kurma mixture in the pan. Add that back to the pan.)

13. Mix and stir fry until the yogurt blends well with the chicken and the masala begins to smell aromatic. This step takes about 3 minutes. You may adjust the color of the dish by adding little more chili powder at this stage.

14. Pour hot water. Start with ½ to ¾ cup hot water and add more if required as you cook. Avoid adding lot of water at one time as sometimes chicken oozes out plenty of moisture. So you need to add water cautiously here.

15. Cover and cook on a low to medium flame till the chicken turns soft & tender. Taste test and add more salt if required. Sprinkle ¼ teaspoon garam masala powder to finish off.

Serve chicken kurma with ghee rice, plain rice or any biryani varieties or chapathi.

You may sprinkle coriander leaves if you want.

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Chicken Kurma Recipe first published in February 2015. Updated & republished in May 2022.