kalupol-Sri Lankan chicken curry(spicy black chicken curry).

Another Sri Lankan chicken curry recipe for you.

What’s special about this chicken curry is the gravy.

It’s made with a combo of toasted coconut and raw rice with a few spices making the gravy.

Love lots of thick gravy in your chicken curry?

Then you’ll want to try this version of a Sri Lankan chicken curry.

It’s spicy, creamy, thick gravy adds a unique flavour to the meat curry.

If you want to change your usual chicken curry then“kalu pol”Sri Lankan chicken curry should be your next meaty dish to try.

Meal ideas for kalupol chicken curry.

Sri Lankan Meal Plan 1
Sri Lankan Meal Plan 2

Sri Lankan Meal Plan 3 

Sri Lankan Meal Plan 4

Sri Lankan Meal Plan 5

Sri Lankan Meal Plan 6

Sri Lankan Meal Plan 7

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Utensils and appliances needed

Medium-sized frying pan.
Some bowls to hold ingredients(2-3).
A coffee grinder.
Medium pan to cook the chicken curry.

Workflow to make spicy chicken curry

• Marinate the chicken. 
• Toast the coconut, spices and raw rice and grind it to a fine powder in a coffee grinder.
• Temper the spices. 
• Combine all ingredients to make the chicken curry.

More Sri Lankan chicken curry recipes.

Sri Lankan ambulthiyal chicken curry.

How to cook a chicken curry without coconut milk.

Sri Lankan deviled chicken curry.

Sri Lankan black pepper chicken curry.

Sri Lankan chicken and potato curry.

Jaffna curry powder chicken curry.

Storing

Once chicken curry is cooked, let it cool and store it in a glass jar, avoid using plastic containers as they will stain. can be refrigerated for 3-4 days.

Freezing

Let cool and freeze for 2 weeks. use aluminium foil containers to store and freeze curry.

Reheating

Let curry reach room temperature and then microwave for 3-4 minutes until curry is thoroughly hot, curry may splatter so please use a microwave cover.

If using a stovetop, add 1/4 water and heat the curry gradually over low-medium heat, constantly stir.

Stop food waste by

Cook only as much as you need.

You can freeze the curry until use. Share with your neighbours and introduce them to Sri Lankan food.

Substituting ingredients in a hurry.

Pandan leaf and curry leaves- if you are unable to find them substitute with 2 bay leaves.

Freshly scraped coconut- substitute with dessicated coconut. hydrate the coconut flakes by adding a tablespoon of water and then gently toasting it.

Roasted curry powder- though the roasted curry powder has a few other ingredients in it, some might not be familiar with this curry powder which is mostly used in meat dishes.

If you are unable to find roasted curry powder, gently toast your regular curry powder for 10-15 seconds over low fire.

Raw rice- what raw rice means here is the rice type you use to make kiribath(Sri Lankan milk rice) but you can use whatever type of rice you have although you might have to toast it a little bit longer. 

recipe difficulty-little care needed

Ingredients to make the kalupol chicken curry

Ingredients mentioned below use standard measuring cups and spoons.

500g chicken cleaned, washed and cut to the required size(boneless or with bones).
For the chicken+spice marinade
1 tablespoon of chilli powder
1/2 teaspoon turmeric powder
1 and 1/2 tablespoons of roasted Sri Lankan curry powder
1/2 teaspoon cumin powder
2 tablespoon of tamarind juice(if using paste 1/2 teaspoon should do)

For the raw spice powder

1 tablespoon of raw rice
2 tablespoons freshly grated coconut
2 red dried red chilli
1 teaspoon black mustard1 teaspoon cumin seed

For tempering and cooking the curry.

4 tablespoons of oil 
A sprig of curry leaves
2-inch pandan 
1-inch cinnamon piece
2 medium-sized onions sliced fine
2 tablespoons of ginger-garlic paste
2-3 green chilli split in the middle
1 teaspoon pepper powder
Salt to season
1/2 cup of water

Kalupol Sri Lankan chicken curry

Please make sure to read the recipe instructions carefully to avoid mistakes.

If you are using a whole chicken or a beginner’s cook then read my post on How to cut a whole chicken first.

Have all the ingredients needed to marinate the chicken to make the Sri Lankan chicken curry.

Marinating the chicken.

Place the chicken(500g) in a bowl, add turmeric(1/2 tsp), chilli powder(1 tbs), roasted curry powder(1 and 1/2 tbs), cumin powder(1/2 tsp), tamarind juice(2 tbs, if using tamarind paste 1/2 tsp) and salt to season.

Combine the spices with the chicken and set aside in the marinade for 10-15 minutes.

Making the coconut+raw rice+spice roasted powder.

Place a frying pan over low heat, let the pan dry and warm for a few seconds.

Once dry, add the raw rice(1 tbsp) and grated coconut(2 tbsp), and gently toast these two ingredients until they turn golden.

Toast them in low heat so you won’t burn them, if you are worried about burning the rice too soon, toast the individual ingredients(raw rice and grated coconut separately).

Do not leave the pan unattended and constantly shake or move the ingredients so they toast evenly. 

Set aside to cool in a bowl.

Use the same method to toast the dried red chillies(2), fennel seeds(1 tsp), cumin seeds(1 tsp) and mustard seeds(1 tsp).

Toast over low fire until they release their aroma(less than 5 minutes).

Set aside to cool.

Once all the ingredients are cool, by this I mean both the toasted spices and the raw rice+grated coconut mix.

Use a coffee grinder or spice blender to grind them to a somewhat fine powder.

The spice powder need not be powdery fine, make sure to use the coffee grinder in short pulses to avoid the grinder motor overheating.

Making the”kalupol” chicken curry.

Place a cooking pan over, medium heat, and pour in the oil(4 tbs).

gradually add curry leaves(a sprig or 5-6 leaves), pandan(2″ piece), onions(2 medium sliced), ginger-garlic paste(2 tbs), green chilli(2-3), pepper powder(1 tsp).

Temper all the ingredients over medium heat for 3 minutes or until the onions turn translucent.

Once this is done add the coconut+raw rice+ spice powder you made.

Combine and let it cook for exactly 3 minutes over low heat. 

The result should be a dark and dry spice paste.

Add the marinated chicken to the spice mix. 

Combine the chicken with the spice paste in the pan. cook for 3 minutes.

Pour in 1/2 cup of water, stir, season with salt if necessary, cover and slow simmer the chicken curry until gravy is reduced in half.

This curry doesn’t have a lot of gravy so how long you want to slow simmer in the final stage of making the chicken curry will result in how much gravy is left and I would leave it to you.

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