Mangalorean Chicken Curry | Roce Curry

They say the way to a man's heart is through his stomach. That's how Felcie has kept Wilfy smiling for nearly half a century; with Chicken Roce Curry and appams on Sundays and special occasions. This Mangalore Chicken Curry with Coconut Milk, aka Kunkdamas Roce Kadhi or Konkani Chicken Curry is one of Felcie's best dishes. 

Felcie is from the Indian coastal city of Mangalore where the curries are hot and the weather is hotter; where women take great pride in preparing delicious home cooked fare and where cooking is a daily, elaborate ritual that takes up a good portion of the Konkan lady's day.

Felcie lives in a large bungalow with a beautiful, flower filled garden and a lush lawn frequented by playful and very entertaining mongooses. But, her backyard is where the magic happens. The backyard is her own personal supermarket, filled with almost everything she requires for her cooking; bimli and lime trees, tall coconut trees and short curry leaf plants, bushy coffee plants, twining pepper vines, shiny broad-leafed banana trees, spiky pineapple plants, unfussy guava trees, fragrant cinnamon, ginger, bay leaf, allspice ... a truly bounteous, botanical backyard. And this is where she sources the coconuts needed for her chicken curry.

Felcie usually starts preparing her Mangalorean chicken roce curry early in the morning before the heat of the day makes it too uncomfortable to work. At this time, nobody else has started stirring other than the neighbor's rooster, who takes it upon himself to compete with the morning church bells. One day, if he's not too careful, he just might end up being the guest of honor in her chicken curry. Felcie breaks open a coconut, harvested from her own coconut trees. She scrapes the coconut, then grinds it fine to extract, first the thick coconut milk and then the thin coconut milk. She carefully picks out the required whole spices (red chilies, coriander and cumin seeds, cinnamon and cloves), roasts them on a hot tawa, before dry grinding them into a fine powder. These freshly ground spices will then be ground once again with tamarind, turmeric and roasted grated coconut, onions and garlic.  In the olden days, she would have done all this scraping and grinding by hand using an aadhalo and a vaan. But, now, she has an impressive electric grinding stone that takes care of business. However, it's all still an elaborate, intricate process, but one that yields a very tasty, creamy coconut curry.

How to Make a Quick and Easy Mangalorean Chicken Curry with Coconut Milk (Roce Curry)

Substitutions and Time Saving Tips

A good cook is a resourceful cook and necessity is the mother of all inventions. So, when Felcie visited me in the U.S, she showed me how to make this Chicken Roce Curry quickly and easily, given my limited time, resources and cooking skills. With a few small substitutions and time-saving tips, here are her ingredients for success that anyone hard-pressed for time can employ with equally good results.

1. Use canned coconut milk

To make coconut milk the traditional way, one needs a good grinder/ mixi to be able to grind it into a very fine, smooth, creamy paste. Since, I only own a basic blender, good enough for smoothies, making coconut milk the traditional way was out of the question.

So, instead of starting out grating a fresh coconut and then grinding it to extract the the thick and thin coconut milk, a can of coconut milk will do just as well. It will save a lot of time and if used correctly will ensure just as tasty a coconut curry.

Without shaking the can, turn the can upside down and open the can. The thin coconut milk/ liquid will be on top. Pour it out. What will be left is the thick coconut cream.

2. Use frozen, grated coconut

This is another great time-saver. Always have a packet on hand in the freezer.

3. Use spice powders

Traditional, old-school cooks will turn their noses up at anyone using pre-ground spice powders. The best way to make a flavorful curry is to use dry whole spices, roast the quantity required for the curry and grind them when it's time to make the curry. But, for the busy cook who needs to take short cuts, pre-ground spices (chili, coriander, jeera, turmeric, cinnamon and clove) are good alternatives.

4. Use a regular blender

For this recipe, you need to have a blender. A basic blender/mixi/ Osterizer is good enough for blending chopped onion, garlic and grated coconut. No other special equipment required.

Recipe for an Easy Mangalore Chicken Curry or Roce Curry

Serves- 6

Spice level- 2 on 5

Ingredients

For soup stock

☐ Chicken with bones, approx. 3lbs or 1 1/2 kg
☐ 3/4 cup thin coconut milk (taken from one 13.5fl oz. can of coconut milk. Without shaking can, turn can upside down and pour out the thin coconut milk)
☐ 1 teaspoon thick coconut milk/cream (taken from 13.5fl.oz. can of coconut milk after pouring out the thin coconut milk)
☐ 1/4 cup water
☐ 1 medium onion, sliced (approx. 1 cup)
☐ 3 bay leaves
☐ Salt

For masala

☐ 2 tablespoons grated coconut
☐ 1 medium onion, diced
☐ 4 flakes garlic, diced
☐ 3 heaped teaspoons chili powder
☐ 2 heaped teaspoons coriander (dhania) powder
☐ 1 heaped teaspoon cumin (jeera) powder
☐ 1/2 teaspoon turmeric (haldi) powder
☐ 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon powder
☐ 1/4 teaspoon clove powder
☐ 1/2 teaspoon Tamicon tamarind paste
☐ Oil

For curry

☐ 5 tablespoons oil
☐ 1/2 onion, sliced (approx. 1/2 cup)
☐ 1 1/2 cup water
☐ 3 potatoes, cut into pieces and boiled separately
☐ 2/3 cup thick coconut milk/cream (the remaining portion of the 13.5fl. oz. can of coconut milk)

Step- by-Step Instructions

1. Boil Chicken and make soup stock

• In a large vessel, add the chicken, thin coconut milk*, bay leaves, 1 sliced onion and salt. Cover and cook on medium heat for 20-25 minutes.

*To get the thin coconut milk, without shaking the can of coconut milk, turn the can upside down and open the can. The thin liquid/ coconut milk will be on top and the thick coconut milk/cream will be at the bottom. Pour out the thin liquid/ milk. Add a teaspoon of coconut cream to the thin milk. Add 1/4 cup of water and mix it well. This will make 1 cup of thin coconut milk to boil the chicken in.

• After the chicken is boiled, remove chicken and reserve stock for later. Discard bay leaves.

2. Fry ingredients for masala

• Pour a little oil in a pan. Add the grated coconut, diced onion and diced garlic and fry lightly on a lowish flame. Stir constantly to prevent the mixture from burning. 
• Fry until the mixture turns a light brown. Then, remove from heat.

3. Grind masala

• In a blender or mixi, add the fried mixture (onion, coconut and garlic), tamarind paste, chili, coriander, jeera, turmeric, cinnamon and clove powders. 
• Pour in the chicken stock and blend well until the masala mixture is smooth and creamy. You will have approximately 2 1/4 cups of masala.

4. Fry masala for curry

• In a large vessel, add 5 tablespoons of oil. 
• When the oil is hot, add 1/2 a sliced onion and fry until the onions turn golden brown.

• Then, pour in the masala and fry lightly for about 5 minutes stirring constantly.

• Add the boiled chicken, 1 1/2 cup of water and more salt if required. 
• Cover and simmer on medium heat for 10 minutes. Then lower flame.

5. Add thick coconut milk to curry

• Blend the remaining thick coconut cream in the blender along with 1/4 cup of water. 
• Pour the thick coconut milk into the boiling curry and stir for 10 seconds to mix the coconut milk into the curry.
• Now, stop stirring and watch the curry carefully for the first signs of movement. As the first bubble makes its way to the surface, switch off the stove and take the vessel off the burner. If it is allowed to cook any longer, the coconut curry will curdle. Do not cover the curry, but leave open to cool.

Before serving, add boiled potatoes to the curry.

Kitchen Notes:

• For a tasty chicken curry, use chicken with bones.
• Add boiled potatoes afterwards to the cooked curry rather than cooking the potatoes in the curry. This will prevent the potatoes from absorbing the gravy.
• This curry goes well with rice, appams, rotis, chapatis or mutlis (dumplings).

If you liked this chicken recipe, you may also enjoy my Chicken Vindaloo recipe , which is a chicken curry without coconut milk.

To see my other Indian recipes, click on 'Anglo Indian' below.