Chicken Kuzhambu Recipe

Chicken kulambu or kuzhambu is a popular South Indian gravy dish made with onion, tomato, ginger and garlic. In this blog post, two version of chicken kulambu is shared, cooked in stove top and pressure cooker. This Spicy and flavourful Chicken Kuzhambu or Chicken Kulambu recipe is perfect to enjoy with some hot rice or some chapati. It can be had with Appam, Idiyappam and Kerala Parotta.

Chicken kulambu

Spicy and flavourful chicken curry or kuzhambu recipe which is perfect to enjoy with some hot rice or some rotis. This kuzhambu is a basic recipe  which can be enjoyed with many of your main dishes. I make this often for lunch and it taste so delicious with plain rice.

About Chicken Kulambu

A popular gravy from the South of India is called as "kulambu or kuzhambu". Mostly it is made using vegetable like ladies finger, brinjal, tomato, for lunch. It is a staple dish in every South Indian household. We make at least one variation of kulambu for lunch to serve with rice. You can check out my 85+ kulambu recipes available on this blog.

Not only it is made with vegetables, but also made using fish, mutton, prawn and other non-veg items too.

This is how you make Chicken kulambu. Temper whole spices like fennel, cumin, cinnamon, cardamom and cloves in oil. Add onion, tomatoes, ginger and garlic. Cook this till golden brown. Add in Spice powders, Cleaned chicken to the masala and cook till completely cooked. The kulambu is thickened with coconut paste which is flavoured with pepper and fennel. Finally add curry leaves and coriander leaves for garnishing.

Kuzhambu is usually served with rice, nool parotta, Tandoori roti, idli, dosa, idiyappam or ghee rice.

Similar Recipes,
Andhra Chicken Curry
Chicken Salna
Easy Chicken Curry
Traditional Chicken Curry

Watch Chicken Kulambu Video

Chicken Kulambu Ingredients

Chicken - use chicken that is cut into small pieces. It is called as curry-cut chicken. In this recipe post, I have shared two version of kulambu made with regular broiler chicken and country chicken(nattu kozhi).

Whole Spices - aromatic spices like cinnamon, cumin, fennel, cardamom, cloves, bay leaf add the depth of aroma to the dish.

Onion & Tomato - onions, shallots and tomatoes form the base of any kulambu recipe.

Ginger & Garlic - freshly crushed ginger and garlic is sauted with onion to add the aroma which every curry or kulambu need.

Spice Powders- combination of chilli, turmeric, coriander and garam masala powder adds flavour as well as thickness to the kulambu.

Coconut - fresh coconut is ground into smooth paste with roasted gram dal and fennel seeds. This adds thickness to the kuzhambu.

Garnishing - fresh curry leaves, coriander leaves is added in the gravy in the end.

How to Make Chicken Kulambu (Stepwise Pictures)

Grinding Coconut Paste

1)Start by grinding coconut, roasted gram dal, black pepper and fennel seeds to a smooth paste. if you are using frozen coconut, use hot water for grinding.

Making Chicken Kulambu Base

2)Heat oil in a pot. You can use regular cooking pot or cooker. Add in whole spices and curry leaves. let the spices sizzle for a minute or so.

3) Add in chopped onions and peeled shallots in the oil. Saute this for 2 to 3minutes.

4) Add in ginger and garlic paste. Cook this for 1 to 2 minute till aromatic.

5)Add in chopped tomatoes. Saute the tomatoes with the onion masala for 4 to 5 minutes.

6)Add in spice powders like turmeric, chilli, coriander and garam masala powder. Saute them well with onion masala.

7)Saute the spices with the onion tomato masala for few minutes to remove the raw smell.

Adding Chicken

8)Add in chicken and coat with the masala. I like to saute the chicken with the masala for 3 to 4 minutes.

9)Add salt to taste and mix well.

10)Add enough water to form a gravy. If you are using pressure cooker, cook this for 2 whistle. if you are cooking in a pot, bring the curry to a boil, reduce the flame and cook for 30 to 35 minutes until the chicken is cooked.

11)Once chicken is cooked, add in the coconut paste and mix well. Don't boil the chicken on high heat once coconut paste is added else the coconut may curdle.. Reduce the flame and simmer for 2 to 3 minutes.

12)Once the kulambu is cooked, a layer of oil will float on top which indicates that kulambu is ready.

13)Serve.

Chicken Kulambu in Pressure Cooker

Over the years i have shared so many chicken curry recipes on this blog. This one is a very basic chicken curry which i make often in my home. It is very easy to make and taste just yum. I used Nattu kozhi (country chicken) to make this curry and it turns out to be delicious. This curry can be served with rice, roti, idli or dosa as well. 

Ingredients used

Oil - 3 tblspn
Whole spices (as needed)
Shallots / Sambar Onion - 20 chopped
Tomatoes -3 large chopped
Green Chilli - 3 slit
Curry leaves a handful
Ginger Garlic Paste - 1 tblspn
Chilli Powder - 1 tblspn
Coriander Powder - 3 tblspn
Garam Masala Powder - 1 tblspn
Coconut - 1 cup grated
Coriander leaves a handful chopped finely
Curry leaves a handful

How to Make Chicken Kulambu

Grinding Coconut

1)Grind coconut to a fine paste by adding some water. Set aside till use.

Pressure Cooking Nattu Kozhi (country chicken)

2)Take cleaned chicken, salt, turmeric in a pressure cooker. Pressure cook for 2 to 3 whistle for normal chicken and for nattu kozhi cook for 6 whistle and turn off the heat and let the pressure release all by itself. Open the cooker and set aside.

Making masala

3)Heat oil in a kadai. I prefer to use coconut oil. Add in all the tempering spices. I used cinnamon, cumin seeds, fennel seeds, cardamom, cloves and kal paasi. Let the spices sizzle in hot oil for few seconds.

4)Add in chopped shallots, curry leaves and green chillies.

5)As you can see I added some pandan leaves too. Saute this whole thing for 3 to 4 minutes.

6)Add in chopped tomatoes. Use ripe tomatoes for taste.

7)Add in ginger garlic paste. Actually I prefer to add it with the onions. So I am adding it now. I use equal part of ginger and garlic and grind it in a blender till smooth.

8)Saute onion, tomatoes till it gets soften.

9)Add in spice powder at this point. I used chilli powder, coriander powder and garam masala powder.

10)Once the masala powder is added, saute it with the onion tomato masala for at least 4 to 5 minutes till the raw powdery smell leaves.

Finishing the chicken kulambu

11)Now add in the cooked chicken along with all the cooking liquid. Those liquid is flavour.

12)Mix the chicken with the masala. Boil the chicken with the masala for 5 minutes.

13)Add in coconut paste which we ground earlier.

14)Mix the coconut into the chicken gravy. Once the coconut is added, simmer it for 2 to 3 minutes only. Don't boil longer.

15)Finally add in curry leaves, coriander leaves and mix.

16)Serve chicken kulambu with rice, roti or parota.

17)Enjoy.

Expert Tips

• You can cook this dish in pressure cooker or regular pot. If using pressure cooker, the cooking time is less. If cooking in cooking pot, it takes more time.
• Country chicken (nattu kozhi) takes more time to cook. So I cook in pressure cooker.
• Small onions (shallots) add sweetness to the dish. You can use shallots of regular onions.
• Roasted gram dal in coconut paste adds thickness to the gravy.
• Once coconut paste is added, don't boil too vigorously else the coconut will curdle.

Serving & Storage

Leftover chicken kulambu can be stored in fridge and reheated on stove top when needed.

Chicken Kulambu recipe is perfect to enjoy with some hot rice or some chapati. It can be had with Appam, Idiyappam and Kerala Parotta. Kuzhambu is usually served with rice, nool parotta, Tandoori roti, idli, dosa, idiyappam or ghee rice.

More Kulambu Recipes to try

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