Simmered in a deliciously spiced creamy coconut sauce and then topped with almonds, this coconut chicken curry (Murgh Malai) is always a hit! Quick and easy to make as well. Such a nice dinner option for an Asian-themed night.
Having grown up surrounded by coconut trees on our little island, called Marinduque, in the Philippines I love anything with coconut flavors. And we do use coconuts (tree and fruit) for everything that you can imagine. I don’t know how our country will survive without this towering plant from the Palm family.
We use its logs to build houses, leaves for roofing, oil for cooking and making our hair shiny, coconut husks for charcoal, and of course, its meat for snacking or baking, and plain eating. In the midst of a heatwave in the Philippines, nothing can be more refreshing than fresh coconut juice from a freshly opened young coconut! The possibilities are truly endless and I haven’t even mentioned coconut milk!
I am actually so happy that in the food blogging world, coconut-themed recipes have arrived and made their presence felt. Coconut milk can now be found anywhere and not just in Asian stores but in major groceries.
Naturally, when you think of Coconut milk the first thing that comes to mind is curry. Perhaps any country in Asia that has its own version of a curry sauce uses coconut milk for the sauce. Add some coconut milk and you can almost never go wrong, well at least in my experience. And, we do use coconut milk in our mild Philippine curry, too (the freshly made milk from the coconut meat). Canned coconut milk is unheard of in my country. 🙂 That’s just the way it is.
But, I am glad I have access to coconut milk and I don’t mind if it’s canned. I haven’t ventured out making my own fresh coconut milk yet (though back in Manila, this is what we do all the time) and if ever that day comes, I will surely blog about it!
Anyway, here’s an amazing Coconut Chicken Curry from India also known as Murgi Malai in Bengali. The word murgi means chicken and malai means cream (which can either be dairy or coconut).
I used coconut milk for the entire recipe but feel free to use a dairy alternative if you prefer that. If you are a curry sauce lover, this is a must-try! My husband fell in love with it the first time I made it so I hope you do too. Enjoy!
This is adapted from the Best Ever Curry Cookbook – Chicken in Coconut Milk recipe by Mridula Baljekar.
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FOR FULL RECIPE & INSTRUCTIONS and to PRINT, SEE RECIPE CARD BELOW.
WHAT ARE THE INGREDIENTS TO MAKE INDIAN COCONUT CHICKEN CURRY (MURGH MALAI)?
2 tablespoons desiccated or shredded coconut, unsweetened
2 tablespoons ground almonds
1 (14 oz) can of coconut milk
1 1/2 teaspoon ground coriander
1 teaspoon chili powder, use the heat level you prefer
1 1/2 teaspoons grated fresh galangal or ginger (fresh makes a difference so use the fresh one if possible)
3 cloves garlic, minced
2 teaspoons brown sugar, optional but I like to temper the saltiness so I added a little sugar
1 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons cooking oil
1 lb boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cubed
3 green cardamom pods* (see notes below)
1 bay leaf
2 fresh Red Thai chili, chopped or slit in two or 1/2 tsp red chili flakes (depends on the spice level you want)
4 Tbsp fresh cilantro, chopped plus extra for garnish
1/4 cup sliced almonds, plus extra for garnish
*If you can’t get the pods, you may use the ground cardamom instead. Just begin with 1/4 teaspoon and adjust from there as it can be potent.
HOW DO YOU MAKE INDIAN COCONUT CHICKEN CURRY (MURGH MALAI)?
In a frying pan, dry-roast the desiccated coconut and ground almonds, just until they become a shade darker (be careful not to burn them).
In a large bowl, combine the coconut milk, coriander, chili powder, grated galangal or ginger, garlic, salt, and brown sugar, plus the toasted coconut and almonds.
Mix well.
Heat the vegetable oil in a deep pan to medium. Add the chicken cubes, bay leaf, and cardamom pods and stir-fry for 2-3 minutes until the chicken turns whitish.
Pour in the coconut mixture and stir well to combine.
When it begins to bubble (starts to boil), add in the red chili(s), cilantro, and sliced almonds.
Cover and lower the heat to simmer and cook for about 15 minutes. Stir occasionally to ensure that the meat does not stick to the bottom of the pan. Uncover and cook for another 2-3 minutes until the sauce thickens a little. Garnish with more chopped cilantro and sliced almonds, if desired. Enjoy with rice!
If you like what you see and would like to receive new recipe updates, we’d love you to subscribe to our posts or join our site. Needless to say, we’d love you to like us on Facebook and Instagram, too where you can get more recipes and updates. Thanks and happy browsing!
Coconut Chicken Curry (Murgh Malai)
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons desiccated or shredded coconut, unsweetened
- 2 tablespoons ground almonds
- 14 oz can of coconut milk
- 1 1/2 teaspoon ground coriander
- 1 teaspoon chili powder, use the heat level you prefer
- 1 1/2 teaspoons grated fresh galangal or ginger, fresh makes a difference so use the fresh one if possible
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 2 teaspoons brown sugar (optional but I like to temper the saltiness so I added a little sugar)
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 2 tablespoons cooking oil
- 1 lb boneless skinless chicken breasts, cubed
- 3 green cardamom pods,* see notes below
- 1 bay leaf
- 2 fresh Red Thai chili, chopped or slit in two or 1/2 tsp red chili flakes (depends on the spice level you want)
- 4 Tbsp fresh cilantro,
chopped plus extra for garnish
- 1/4 cup sliced almonds, plus extra for garnish
Instructions
- In a frying pan, dry-roast the desiccated coconut and ground almonds, just until they become a shade darker (be careful not to burn them).
- In a large bowl, combine the coconut milk, coriander, chili powder, grated galangal or ginger, garlic, salt, and brown sugar, plus the toasted coconut and almonds.
- Mix well.
- Heat the vegetable oil in a deep pan to medium. Add the chicken cubes, bay leaf, and cardamom pods and stir-fry for 2-3 minutes until the chicken turns whitish.
- Pour in the coconut mixture and stir well to combine.
- When it begins to bubble (starts to boil), add in the red chili(s), cilantro, and sliced almonds.
- Cover and lower the heat to simmer and cook for about 15-20 minutes. Stir occasionally to ensure that the meat does not stick to the bottom of the pan.
- Uncover and cook for another 2-3 minutes until the sauce thickens a little. Garnish with more chopped cilantro and sliced almonds, if desired. Enjoy with rice!
Notes
Nutrition
Last updated on August 25th, 2023 at 06:13 pm
WHat is galangal? I went to the Asian Grocer and could not find it…is it the same as ginger?
Similar in some ways but not the same – you can interchange the two. Here's what it looks like – the link has a photo of it in the post. http://www.manilaspoon.com/2013/01/vietnamese-pho.html. I used galangal for my Vietnamese Pho post and still had left-overs so I used it again for this recipe. It's bigger than ginger.
Good one!!!! You are absolutely right, curries with coconut milk cannot go wrong.
So true, Shibi! Love Coconut curries!
Oh this must be so incredibly fragrant! Lovely dinner idea!
Thanks, Jen! My husband loves this dish!
curry is my absolute favorite! i will save your version and try it out one time.
Thanks, Charm! Hope you like it! Glad you stopped by.
Hi Abby, following you here too.. 🙂
Back in India, our home is surrounded by lot of coconut trees and we use a lot of coconut in cooking. We don't use(haven't heard of)canned coconut milk too.
Chicken curry looks so delicious and flavorful..
Hello Divya! Thanks for joining our site! We love coconut in the Philippines and we are so happy that we are surrounded by it. Hope you find the site helpful.
Ohhhhhhhhhh. You make my belly sing…..
It will after you've had this! 🙂 Thanks for stopping by!
Made this dish last night. It was SO GOOD! The whole family loved it. The first thing my son said was, "Man, do you know what else would be good in this?" and I asked, "What?" and he said, "SHRIMP" with a big ol' grin on his face. So guess we will be trying this with shrimp next time. Thanks again for sharing!
Thanks, Leah! I am so thrilled that your family enjoyed this. Thanks for letting us know.
I just made this and it was amazing. I changed the chili powder for sriracha since i didn't have it. Will be making it again soon! thanks for the recipe.
Oh I can imagine how yummy it must be with sriracha! Thanks, Yania for stopping by and letting us know.
Hi there, Manila Spoon!
I tried this out the other day and it turned out wonderfully 🙂 Thank you for posting the recipe and I've given you credit as the source in my blog.
– Bee
Glad you enjoyed it Bee and thanks for the credit!
I am going to cook this for my family! Looks so yummy:)
Thanks GG and hope you enjoyed it.
Hello. I have a question: when do you add to the recipe the dessicated coconut and ground almonds that you dry-roasted in Step One under "Procedure"?
Hi Jeanne! You add the toasted almonds and coconut to the coconut milk mixture. Thanks for asking. 🙂
This looks delicious! Love all the flavors, bet this is perfect for a summer dinner, pinned!
What a gorgeous color the sauce is! It's only 9 am and I'm already drooling. 🙂
My husband will love this!! We are big coconut lovers, and chicken recipes are always nice to have on hand.
I love a good curry and I'm a coconut-everything addict! I've been really happy to see coconut products showing up in our supermarkets here in the US. This looks fantastic and easy enough to pull off on a busy weekday for dinner! Thanks!
I love all things curry, Abby, and this looks amazing! So fresh and SO from scratch.
I'm a coconut lover too. 🙂 This dish sounds remarkable. Looking forward to having it soon.
I can't find any indication how many people this recipe feeds– I'd like to make it but don't want to make too much or too little.
It would serve about 4-6 people. 🙂
Should one marinate the chicken??
Nope, no need for that. Enjoy!