isithalal.food · Recipes

Cape Malay chicken curry with yellow rice

Sara Buenfeld's Cape Malay chicken curry, a South African curry: Halal chicken thighs and potatoes simmered with warm spices, tomatoes, mango chutney and Halal or vegetable stock, served with buttery yellow rice and raisins.

South African · Main · Easy · 6 portions · 110 min

Each method follows published technique for the dish, and every Halal substitution is checked against the ingredient pages we cite. Photographs come from our ingredient library rather than the finished dish.

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Why Halal checks matter here

The curry is 12 bone-in chicken thighs, which are Halal only from Halal-slaughtered birds, cooked with a chicken stock cube.

Halal-critical ingredients

• Chicken thighs: Chicken is a Halal bird, but slaughter decides, and chicken without a Halal mark doesn't say how the bird was slaughtered. Buy the chicken from a Halal butcher or in a certified pack. See Chicken.
• Chicken stock cube: The UK's mainstream chicken stock cubes contain uncertified chicken or chicken fat. Use a Halal-certified chicken stock cube or a vegan vegetable one. See Stock cubes.

Ingredients

Curry

• 2 tbsp sunflower or rapeseed oil
• 1 large onion, finely chopped
• 4 large garlic cloves, finely grated
• 2 tbsp ginger, finely grated
• 5 cloves
• 2 tsp turmeric
• 1 tsp ground white pepper
• 1 tsp ground coriander
• 1 tsp ground cumin
• 8 cardamom pods, seeds lightly crushed
• 1 cinnamon stick, snapped in half
• 1 large red chilli, deseeded and sliced
• 400 g can chopped tomatoes
• 2 tbsp mango chutney
• 1 Halal-certified chicken stock cube, or a vegetable one
• 12 Halal bone-in chicken thighs, skin removed
• 500 g potatoes, in chunks
• small pack coriander, chopped

Yellow rice

• 50 g butter
• 350 g basmati rice
• 50 g raisins
• 1 tsp golden caster sugar
• 1 tsp ground turmeric
• ¼ tsp ground white pepper
• 1 cinnamon stick, snapped in half
• 8 cardamom pods, lightly crushed
• 550 ml water

Method

1. Build the sauce. Heat the oil in a large, wide pan and fry the onion for 5 minutes until softened. Stir in the garlic, ginger and cloves and cook for 5 minutes more, stirring so it doesn't stick. Add the rest of the spices and the chilli, stir briefly, then tip in the tomatoes with 2 cans of water, the chutney and the crumbled stock cube.
2. Simmer the chicken. Add the chicken, pushing it under the liquid, cover and cook for 35 minutes.
3. Add the potatoes. Stir well, add the potatoes and cook uncovered for 15 to 20 minutes until tender. Stir in the coriander.
4. Make the yellow rice and serve. About 10 minutes before serving, put the butter, rice, raisins, sugar and spices in a large pan with 550 ml water and ½ tsp salt. Bring to the boil and, when the butter has melted, stir, cover and cook for 10 minutes. Turn off the heat and leave undisturbed for 5 minutes, then fluff up and serve with the curry.

Allergens

milk (butter)

How this recipe was researched

Method adapted from BBC Good Food's 'Cape Malay chicken curry with yellow rice' by Sara Buenfeld, which calls it a South African curry (serves 6: a large finely chopped onion fried 5 minutes in 2 tbsp sunflower or rapeseed oil; 4 large grated garlic cloves, 2 tbsp grated ginger and 5 cloves 5 minutes more; 2 tsp turmeric, 1 tsp each ground white pepper, coriander and cumin, the crushed seeds of 8 cardamom pods, a halved cinnamon stick and a deseeded sliced red chilli, then a 400 g can of chopped tomatoes with 2 cans of water, 2 tbsp mango chutney and a crumbled chicken stock cube; 12 skinned bone-in chicken thighs pushed under the liquid, covered 35 minutes; 500 g potato in chunks, uncovered 15 to 20 minutes until tender; a small pack of chopped coriander; yellow rice of 50 g butter, 350 g basmati, 50 g raisins, 1 tsp golden caster sugar, 1 tsp turmeric, ¼ tsp white pepper, a halved cinnamon stick and 8 crushed cardamom pods with 550 ml water and ½ tsp salt, boiled, covered 10 minutes and left 5 minutes off the heat). We specified Halal chicken thighs and a Halal-certified or vegetable stock cube; nothing else needed changing. Timings follow the published technique rather than a kitchen test.

Photograph of chicken korma by Bev Sykes (CC BY 2.0), not the finished dish from this recipe.