Chicken curry facts for kids
A chicken curry from Maharashtra with rice flour chapatis
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| Type | Curry |
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| Place of origin | Indian subcontinent |
| Region or state | Indian subcontinent, Southeast Asia, British Isles, and Caribbean |
| Main ingredients | Chicken, onions, ginger, garlic, chili peppers, spices (turmeric, cumin, coriander, garam masala) |
Chicken curry is a yummy dish that comes from the Indian subcontinent. It's super popular in places like India, Southeast Asia, Great Britain, and the Caribbean.
Usually, chicken curry from the Indian subcontinent is made with chicken cooked in a sauce. This sauce often has onions, tomatoes, ginger, garlic, and chilli peppers. Many different spices are added, like turmeric, cumin, coriander, cinnamon, and cardamom. In other parts of the world, chicken curry is often made using a special mix of spices called curry powder.
Contents
Different Kinds of Chicken Curry
Chicken curry is made in many different ways around the world. Each region has its own special touch!
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Chicken curry from Tamil Nadu, India
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Philippine chicken curry
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Chicken kasha, a dry chicken curry from Bengal
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A pot of Punjabi-style chicken curry
Chicken Curry in India
Indian food has lots of regional differences, and chicken curry is no exception! There are many ways to make it.
Indian chicken curry usually starts by heating whole spices in oil. Then, a sauce is made with onions, ginger, garlic, tomatoes, and powdered spices. Pieces of chicken with bones are added to this sauce and cooked until they are ready. In southern India, coconut and curry leaves are often used too. Chicken curry is usually topped with fresh coriander leaves and eaten with rice or roti (a type of flatbread).
In southern India, people sometimes add coconut milk to make the curry sauce thicker and creamier.
Caribbean Chicken Curry
Chicken curry came to the Caribbean thanks to Indian workers who moved there a long time ago. At first, it was very similar to Indian chicken curry, with lots of sauce and a few pieces of chicken. But in Trinidad and Tobago, chicken was easy to find, so the dish started to have more chicken, seasoned with curry spices.
Here's how it's often made:
- First, the chicken is washed and seasoned with a "green seasoning." This mix includes herbs like bandhania, dhania, pudina, thyme, scallions, onions, garlic, and peppers.
- Next, oil is heated in a pot, and a mix of spices called phoran is added. This often includes caripoulé (curry leaves), chopped onions, peppers, tomatoes, and garlic paste. Some people also add saunf, jeera, and meethi seeds.
- Then, Madras curry powder (sometimes with garam masala) is mixed with water and green seasoning. This is added to the pot and fried with the phoran in a step called bunjay.
- After that, the seasoned chicken is added, along with salt, black pepper, and sometimes roasted jeera powder.
- Sometimes, aloo (potatoes), pigeon peas, channa (chickpeas), or baigan (eggplant) are added too.
- The dish cooks for about 15-20 minutes on medium heat.
- Finally, water (and sometimes coconut milk) is added to make the soorwah (sauce or gravy). It boils for 5-10 minutes.
Caribbean chicken curry is usually served with paratha or dalpuri roti, or with dal bhat (lentils and rice). This dish is also popular in Suriname, Guyana, Jamaica, and other Caribbean places with Indian and South Asian influences.
Southeast Asian Chicken Curry
In Southeast Asia, where coconuts and many different spices come from, there are many local dishes made with coconut milk or curry pastes. These are often called "curries" in English.
Some examples include:
- Cambodian kari sach moan
- Thai gaeng gai
- Filipino ginataang manok
Chicken curries are also very important in Burmese cooking and in a Burmese noodle soup called ohn no khao swè, which has coconut milk and curried chicken.
However, some chicken curries in Southeast Asia are more like the Indian version. They are newer and use curry powder, curry tree leaves, or other Indian spices. Examples are the Filipino chicken curry and the Malaysian chicken curry, even though they also use ingredients native to Southeast Asia.
North American Chicken Curry
Country Captain Chicken
Country captain chicken is a chicken dish cooked in a stew, flavored with curry powder. It's popular in parts of the Southern United States.
The Hobson-Jobson Dictionary describes it as a "peculiar dry kind of curry, often served as a breakfast dish." It might have been a favorite meal for sea captains who sailed between India and other countries, who were called "country captains." In Chennai, India, it was a chicken dish cooked with onions and curry spices.
This dish has a long history, going back to the early 1800s. A British sea captain in Bengal, India, shared the recipe with friends in Savannah, Georgia.
In 1940, a woman named Mrs. W.L. Bullard from Warm Springs, Georgia, served Country Captain to Franklin D. Roosevelt, who was the 32nd president of the United States, and to General George S. Patton, a famous U.S. Army General. They both loved the dish very much! President Roosevelt was so fond of Warm Springs, Georgia, that he built his only home there, a small cottage he called "The Little White House." Their liking for the dish helped it become a classic in the Southern United States.
See also
In Spanish: Pollo al curri para niños
