Jamaican Curry Chicken Recipe (2024)

FAQs

What is Jamaican curry chicken made of? ›

With a fragrant blend of spices and tender chicken simmered in a sauce of hot peppers, chicken stock, garlic, and creamy coconut milk, this dish is sure to transport your taste buds to the sunny shores of Jamaica. A real nostalgic comfort food dish for many Jamaicans.

Curries can be bland if you haven't used enough of the base aromatics of garlic, ginger, and onion. The onion should be caramelized in oil until well browned and flavorful. Spices should not be old enough to lose potency and preferably should be toasted and ground yourself.

A major difference between Jamaican and Indian curries is that Indian dishes use more chilli powder than fresh peppers. This gives Indian dishes a distinctive red colour and kick. Like Jamaican cuisine, Indian dishes are also usually marinated with a mix of Indian spices before cooking.

The seasoning: Jerk chicken is seasoned with a blend of spices that includes allspice, nutmeg, cinnamon, and cloves. This combination of spices gives the dish its distinctive flavor and aroma. The heat: Jerk chicken is known for its spicy kick, which comes from the use of scotch bonnet peppers in the marinade.

The greatest difference between the two spice mixes comes into play when examining heat levels. Indian curry powders tend to have more chile powder in them while Jamaican curry powder. Some commercial versions may have a bit of cayenne pepper in them, but most recipes usually omit that spice.

Whether you may be familiar with the differences between curries from various countries, such as Indian versus Japanese curry, and perhaps even know how to make them at home, there's a special flavor enhancer that you may not have thought to add: honey.

Fixing cooked curries and gravies is no less than a challenge, but a simple way to do so is by adding freshly chopped herbs like coriander, basil, fenugreek leaves, spinach, mint leaves. The fresh flavour of these herbs can instantly elevate the taste and texture and give them a health twist.

A curry mix has a warm, robust spicy taste as a result of combining roasted and grounded coriander seeds, turmeric, cumin and chili peppers. Other spices commonly found within the blend are fenugreek, clove, mustard, black pepper, nutmeg or ginger.

Coconut milk as a curry sauce base makes the dish creamy, sweet and give it a thicker consistency. The sweetness of the milk reduces the sharpness of spices and heat making the dish a little mild. Water on the other hand dilutes the dish and makes it a bit runny.

How do restaurants make curry so creamy? ›

The actual sweetness and creaminess of such curries meanwhile, usually comes from fried onions and either cashews and/or dairy products. Instead of (or in addition to) onion, ground coconut may be used. White poppy seeds and/or watermelon seeds are also used in some creamy sauces.

The curry base is made with onions, tomatoes, ginger, garlic, red chilli powder and garam masala. I prefer to go with potatoes, carrots, peas, green beans, cauliflower, corn and bell peppers. Though you can use other veggies like baby corn, sweet potato and broccoli, the curry will have different flavors.

If you want to delve into the blend of spices that make up curry blends, you'll need turmeric, ginger, mustard, cumin, and black pepper. Depending on the use or flavor you're looking for, the seasoning might include garlic, cinnamon, coriander, fenugreek, and more.

To substitute Jamaican curry powder, I started with regular curry powder (which contains most of the same spices), then added extra turmeric and allspice. This allowed me to use ingredients that were easy for me to find, AND I didn't have to toast and grind the spices myself.

While it may roll off of the tongue easier to say Chicken Curry because of how you you are used to ordering it in your favorite restaurant, traditionally in Jamaica you would refer to this tasty dish as Curry Chicken.

While curried goat is often the more celebrated Jamaican dish, curried chicken is a simpler yet equally delicious staple. Curries appear in the Jamaican diet courtesy of East Indian indentured laborers who were brought from India by the British to work on plantations after the end of slavery.

Whether you call it "chicken curry" or "curry chicken" often depends on regional and cultural differences. Both terms refer to the same dish, which typically consists of chicken cooked in a sauce made with various spices and seasonings.

According to Sen's book, 1.5 million Indians migrated to other parts of the British Empire between 1834 and 1917, including 114,000 to Trinidad and Tobago and 36,000 to Jamaica. The mass migration resulted in an influx of new cooking techniques, ingredients and dishes, including curry.

India is the home of curry, and many Indian dishes are curry-based, prepared by adding different types of vegetables, lentils, or meats. The content of the curry and style of preparation vary by region. Most curries are water-based, with occasional use of dairy and coconut milk.