Curry Chicken

Curry Chicken © kvalifood.com

Curry chicken is a Danish everyday classic that has been on the dinner table for decades. Chicken pieces are browned and simmered in a spiced sauce with tomato, curry and stock. This version uses a whole chicken jointed into pieces, which gives more flavour to the sauce than chicken breast alone. Serve with fluffy rice and mango chutney.

Ingredients

Serves 4

  • 1 whole chicken, approx. 1½ kg, jointed into 8 pieces
  • 1 tbsp oil
  • 2 dl onion, finely chopped
  • 2–3 tsp curry powder
  • 3 tomatoes, peeled and diced (or 1 tin chopped tomatoes)
  • 1 bay leaf
  • ¼ tsp ground cloves
  • ¼ tsp nutmeg
  • 5 dl stock
  • 1 dl crème fraîche, 18%
  • salt

To serve

  • cooked rice
  • mango chutney

Directions

Brown the chicken

Pat the chicken pieces dry with kitchen paper. Heat the oil in a heavy-bottomed casserole. Brown the chicken pieces well on all sides, then remove and set aside.

Make the curry sauce

Sweat the chopped onion in the pot until soft. Add the curry powder and stir for half a minute until fragrant — this toasts the spices and develops more flavour. Add the diced tomatoes, bay leaf, ground cloves, nutmeg and stock. Stir in the crème fraîche and season with salt.

Simmer

Return the chicken pieces to the pot. Put the lid on and lower the heat. Let the dish simmer gently for 45–55 minutes, until the chicken is tender and almost falling off the bone. Add a little extra stock if the sauce reduces too much.

Serving

Remove the bay leaf. Serve the curry chicken with fluffy cooked rice and mango chutney on the side.

Notes

  • Always fry the curry powder in the fat before adding liquid — it activates the essential oils and gives a deeper, rounder flavour.
  • Tinned tomatoes work just as well as fresh. Tomato purée (1–2 tbsp) can be used as a substitute if you have no tomatoes.
  • The dish can be made milder for children with less curry (1 tsp), or spiced up with a pinch of cayenne.
  • Coconut milk instead of crème fraîche gives the dish a more South-East Asian character.
  • Curry chicken freezes well — up to 3 months.
  • Whole chicken pieces on the bone give more flavour than breast fillet, but breast can be used if preferred. Reduce the simmering time to 20–25 minutes in that case.