Trinidad-Style Curry Chicken
This traditional curry chicken has its roots in the West Indies and it is perfect served alongside some rice.
This Trinidad curry chicken recipe is easily one of my favourite dishes from my childhood. Making curry chicken is very easy and in this recipe, I give detailed instructions for how to cut and prepare the chicken drumsticks.
Growing up, I had a close friend whose family was from Trinidad. Rich is a great guy and we hung out all the time. I always loved going to his house to hang out. His mom, who just so happened to work with my mom, made the most amazing food. Grace would make roti stuffed with curried meat and potatoes. It was out of this world and something completely unique to the food I usually ate.
One day I asked Grace to teach me how to make her curry chicken. She shared her recipe with me and, since then, I have made it countless times. I know that my recipe has likely evolved over the years but it is still incredibly delicious and makes me think of those days in the 80s and early 90s when I used to go over to visit.
Ingredients That You Will Need
The drumsticks are marinated and then cooked in a curry paste. It is delicious and here are all the ingredients you will need for this recipe.
- Chicken drumsticks
- Curry powder
- Onion
- Fresh cilantro
- Lime
- Garlic cloves
- Fresh ginger
- Scotch Bonnet or habanero pepper
- Salt
- Oil
- Water
How to Cut Chicken Drumsticks
Preparing the drumsticks is an important part of this Trinidad curry chicken recipe as it allows the meat to get so tender that it will fall right off the bone!
- Wash the chicken drumsticks and peel the skin up to the knob.
- Using a cleaver, or any good solid knife, chop the top part off the drumstick.
- Check to see if there are any little chipped pieces of bone hanging around. Remove them, if there are, and wash them one more time.
- Finish with the remaining drumsticks and place in a large bowl.
How to Make the Curry Paste
This curry paste for this Trinidad curry chicken recipe is packed with fresh ingredients and has some serious heat with the pepper.
Expert Tip: scotch bonnet and habanero peppers are VERY hot. It is a good idea to use disposable food safe gloves when handling the peppers.
Pulse the onion, garlic, ginger, 1/2 cup cilantro and hot pepper in the food processor until finely chopped. Remove the seeds of the pepper if you do not like it really hot.
Add the curry powder and pulse it again until a curry paste is formed. The texture should be somewhat smooth. You should not see any large chunks of anything in the paste.
Marinate the Chicken in the Curry Paste
Rub the curry paste all over the chicken drumsticks and place in the fridge for at least an hour to marinate. The longer that you can let the chicken marinate in the paste, the more the curry flavours will penetrate into the meat.
How to Cook the Curry Chicken
Heat the oil in a skillet and add the marinated chicken. Brown on all sides and then add the water to create a sauce. Let the chicken simmer about 45 minutes longer. Add a little more water if the sauce gets too dry.
Remove from the heat and stir in the chopped cilantro. Serve the Trinidad curry chicken with rice or roti (if you can get them).
Other Recipes to go with Curry Chicken
Trinidad-Style Curry Chicken
Ingredients
- 12 chicken drumsticks
- 1 onion
- 1 inch ginger peeled
- 4 garlic cloves
- 1/2 cup fresh cilantro
- 2 tbsp curry powder
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 hot pepper (scotch bonnet or habanero)
- 4 tbsp oil
- 1/2 cup water
- 1/2 cup chopped cilantro
Instructions
- Wash the chicken drumsticks and peel the skin up to the knob.
- Using a cleaver, or any good solid knife, chop the top part off the drumstick. Check to see if there are any little chipped pieces of bone hanging around. Remove them, if there are, and wash them one more time.
- Pulse the onion, garlic, ginger, 1/2 cup cilantro and hot pepper in the food processor until finely chopped. Remove the seeds of the pepper if you do not like it really hot.
- Add the curry powder and pulse it again until a curry paste is formed.
- Rub the curry paste all over the chicken drumsticks and place in the fridge for at least an hour to marinate. Heat the oil in a skillet and add the marinated chicken. Brown on all sides and then add the water to create a sauce. Let the chicken simmer about 45 minutes longer. Add a little more water if the sauce gets too dry.
- Remove from the heat and stir in the chopped cilantro. Serve with rice or roti (if you can get them).
Nutrition
Per serving:
