Guyanese style chicken curry is one of many dishes that sits right at the heart of our family. If any meal could be representative of my identity, culture and roots growing up, Guyanese style chicken curry with roti would be the one.
It was the one dish that really bound us together as a family. Growing up, I have vivid memories of mum cooking a big pot of Caribbean style curry on the stove, whilst we all danced to reggae and soca on a beautiful warm summers day.
There is just something about Guyanese style chicken curry that just makes me feel at home. I can’t explain it in words, but it’s our soul food.
Sometimes people think that they can’t eat Caribbean style chicken curry and roti if they are trying to lose weight. But it is important to remember that it is the overall balance, quantity and frequency of meals, food and drink consumed over a period of time – say over three to six months – that will determine whether or not somebody will lose weight.
Simple 10 Step Recipe
Below is a simple 10 step recipe for making a wonderfully delicious, simple, quick and fragrant chicken curry – the first couple of steps takes just 10 to 15 minutes and after you have added your chicken to the pot it just needs to cook through whilst soaking up all the wonderful fragrant spices.
Simple & Fragrant Chicken Curry
Main Ingredients:
- 1 large onion / or 2 medium sized onions – about 200g
- 5 cloves of garlic
- 1 inch piece of ginger – about a 20g piece
- 1 – 2 large chilli – depends on your preference for chilli
- 2 large juicy vine tomatoes
- 1kg of chicken thighs and legs
Spices & Seasoning:
- ½ teaspoon turmeric
- 1 teaspoon garam masala
- 1 teaspoon ground cumin
- 1 teaspoon ground coriander
- 1 teaspoon mustard seeds
- 3 teaspoons Madras curry powder – adjust to taste
Simple Preparation
- Chop the onions, garlic, chilli peppers and grate ginger
- Dice the juicy vine tomatoes
- Arrange your seasoning so it’s ready to use
Simple 10 Step Method:
Cooking Time – 60 minutes / 1 hour
Steps 1 – 5 below should take about 10 to 15 minutes
- Heat a tablespoon of oil. Once the oil is hot, add the mustard seeds to the pot and cover temporarily with a lid – as the mustard seeds will start popping. Once the seeds have stopped popping add the onions to the pot so as not to burn the mustard seeds.
- Add the onions and chilli’s and fry for a couple of minutes
- Next add the chopped garlic and ginger
- After about three or four minutes add all the wonderful fragrant seasoning and spices!
- Followed by the diced fresh juicy vine tomatoes
- Next add the chicken leg / thigh pieces
- Stir and cover the pot with a lid. Bring back to the boil and gently simmer
- Add a teaspoon of salt
- Cover the pot with the lid and leave to simmer for around 30 to 40 minutes or until the chicken has cooked through
- Cut and squeeze some fresh lemon and garnish with fresh coriander
Nutritional Information
The curry sauce contributes relatively little calories to this meal overall. The sauce is mainly seasoning with a small quantity of onion, garlic and tomato etc per portion with water – see below
- 1 tablespoon oil = 125kcal
- 200g raw onion = 70kcal
- 200g tomatoes = 35kcal
- Seasoning = negligible
- Total contribution from curry sauce in the whole pot = 230kcal – so negligible when this is divided per portion in comparison to the main ingredient which is the chicken
For this reason I don’t worry about calories in curry sauce – as oil is used sparingly when cooking and most vegetables are extremely low in calories.
Per 100g Skinless Cooked Chicken Legs / Thighs
These are average values which relate to boneless, skinless cooked chicken leg / thigh
Average values:
- 100g of skinless cooked chicken leg / thigh = between 180kcal to 200kcal and 25g protein
- 150g portion of cooked chicken leg / thigh = 270kcal to 300kcal
- 200g portion of cooked chicken leg / thigh = 360kcal to 400kcal
- 250g portion of cooked chicken leg / thigh = 450kcal to 500kcal