Best Chicken Curry (Sri Lankan Chicken Curry)

Prepare the bone-in chicken by cutting it into smaller pieces. Each piece should be fairly small but not bite-sized. A regular chicken thigh should be cut in half and larger pieces should be cut into 3. A chicken breast should be cut into 3 pieces or more. The larger the chicken piece, the longer it will take to cook through, so it's important to keep the pieces fairly similar in size

Add the coconut oil into a large saucepan and heat the oil over medium heat. Add onions and cook until they start to soften

Add the garlic and ginger to the softened onions, and sauté until the garlic starts to soften. Make sure it doesn't burn

Add curry powder, chili powder / cayenne pepper, paprika, cinnamon, curry leaves, and mix to combine. Cook for a few minutes until you start to smell the spices

Add the chicken, serrano peppers / green chili peppers, salt, roma tomatoes, about 1 tsp sugar, and mix to coat. Cook for 10 minutes with the lid off, on medium high heat. Frequently stir to make sure the chicken or the spices don’t burn

Add coconut milk, water, lime juice / vinegar, and bring the curry to a boil. If you want less gravy, add less liquid

Lower the heat and let it simmer with the lid on for about 20 minutes, stirring occasionally. Leave the lid off if you want to reduce the liquid content in the curry

The chicken should be completely cooked by this point. This will depend on the size of the chicken pieces and the stove you use

Taste the curry and season with more salt to taste if needed. You can add the rest of the sugar or more salt, or vinegar to your taste. Remember that curries can easily be adjusted to your taste!

If the chicken curry gravy is too thin, or there's too much of it, uncover and simmer the curry for a further 10 minutes or longer. This step is optional, but it allows the water to evaporate and for the gravy to thicken. If you want more gravy, you can add more water or coconut milk, but you will need to adjust the flavor accordingly

Turn off the heat and let the chicken cool down slightly. Serve with rice or roti

For best results, store the chicken curry in the fridge overnight and eat it the next day. (Seriously, it tastes even better the next day!)