Chicken Drumstick Curry – (Indian Style, Coconut Curry)

This easy chicken drumstick curry (South Indian and Kerela style) is a delicious meal that you can put together for a perfect weeknight dinner! We are making our South Indian masala from scratch, but if you would prefer to skip and use ready made masala powders, it will come out just as delicious as well.

Why this recipe is a star?

• Easy chicken drumstick curry: This recipe is super easy to put together and if you have Indian staples at home then most likely, you already have the ingredients to put this together.
• South-Indian spice blend: We make a South-Indian spice blend from scratch, by toasting the spices, and for me, this takes the dish to the next level. However, if you would prefer to use the masala powders, then this will also work equally well! Whatever the case may be, we just want to ensure that our spices are properly toasted and delicious! A lot of people recommend frying the spices before the tomatoes, which is a great option, but I add them once I have fried the aromatics and tomatoes (garlic paste, ginger paste, onions and chillies!)
• Coconut curry chicken drumsticks: The gravy in this curry is super rich and decadent because of the lovely coconut milk that we add. It’s not too overpowering in nature, but just right to balance out all of the lovely spices.

If you want another chicken drumsticks curry, head over to my Bengali chicken curry recipe. If not that, then my butter chicken curry is also excellent!

What makes this a South Indian curry?

The spices that we use in our spice mix are a little bit milder in nature compared to the spice mixes used in the north Indian regions. Our spice mix contains cardamom, cinnamon, coriander seeds and dried chillies, but these are not super deep and spicy flavours.

The entire spice mix is also lightened with coconut milk for a thick and rich gravy!

Ingredients for chicken drumstick curry?

1. Five chicken drumsticks: You can use more or less. If you are using more then I would highly recommend that you ensure the pan you are using has enough space for the chicken.
2. One large potato: Cut these up into small-medium sized cubes, this makes it easier to cook when we add them in towards the last couple of steps of the curry.
3. One cup coconut milk: Initially I added half, but the gravy obviously reduces throughout the curry making process and so it became necessary to add a whole cup instead! You can of course add less if you would prefer, its all dependent on how thick you would like your curry to be. Note: you should also note that the coconut milk I used wasn’t that strong in terms of coconut flavour, so I may have had to use more than ordinarily required.
4. 1 tbsp tamarind: This is for the lovely tartness of the curry. This will be balanced out with the sugar.
5. 1 tsp brown sugar: This should balance out the tartness of the tamarind. You can also use regular sugar!
6. Half red onion: This should be finely chopped as we don’t really want huge chunks of onion in this curry!
7. Three green chillis: Slice down the body of the chilli to create long strips of green chillis. This will go in at the beginning of the curry.
8. Garlic and ginger paste: We are using one full teaspoon of both garlic and ginger paste. Warning: I add the ginger and garlic with the green chillis in the hot oil and this will cause a splatter so at this stage, it’s important to cover the pan with the lid
9. Diluted tomato paste: This is just two tablespoons of tomato paste diluted with some water!
10. Fresh or dried curry leaves: These are optional, but totally worth it!

Ingredients for the South-Indian spice mix?

• One whole star anise: You could alternatively pick off the hands of the star anise and use that. I like to toast and grind mine whole!
• One cinnamon bark: If you’re not too keen on cinnamon, don’t worry as this is still super subtle in flavour and absolutely necessary to this spice blend!
• Three cardamom cloves: This adds a subtle sweetness, and again, super necessary to this spice blend!
• Two or three dried chillies: You can use Kashmiri dried chillis or regular Indian dried chillis. Either one will do. This will be added towards the end, after the majority of spices are done toasting. Dried chillies toast very quickly, so you don’t want to burn them.
• One teaspoon of coriander seeds: If you don’t have coriander seeds, then you can use ground coriander powder (that you might have to hand already!)
• One teaspoon of mustard seeds, or poppy seeds: Confession, I was meant to add poppy seeds, but added mustard seeds instead. They are confusingly very similar in size and colour! Either way, both work very well in this recipe.
• One tablespoon of black pepper: This will be a very subtle heat, so you could actually add more if you wish!

We are going to toast these spices really well and they will become so wonderfully fragrant. They are especially nice when balanced out by the coconut milk.

Variations and Substitutions:

• Type of coconut milk: I use the regular full fat coconut milk, but do adjust according to your diet and preference. You could also experiment with coconut cream instead!
• Type of Chicken: Instead of chicken drumsticks you could also use chicken thighs or chicken breast! All types of chicken meat will work super well with this.

Can you bake this chicken curry?

Yes you can totally bake the chicken and add it to the pan. It might not taste the same, but it will certainly be tasty as the main component of the dish is the gravy!

How to store?

Cooked chicken drumsticks last three to four days in the fridge.