This mildly spiced Kerala chicken stew is a hearty soup made with chicken, carrots, potatoes and curry leaf spiced coconut milk, making this the ultimate Indian comfort food dish.
If you’ve never had Kerala chicken stew before, think “a south Indian version of chicken soup.” Everyone loves chicken soup. It’s absolute comfort food on a cold day or when you’re under the weather. Eating a bowl of chicken soup instantly makes you feel better. Well, this coconut chicken stew does all of those same things and in my opinion, it’s even more delicious than regular chicken soup.
This lightly spiced coconut chicken stew is a dish that’s often served for breakfast/brunch in Keralite homes. I love making it for Sunday brunch because it makes the day feel a little extra special. You can make this any time though – thanks to the instant pot, this dish would even make for a simple weeknight recipe.
As someone who grew up in a North Indian family, I find the flavor of this curry to be very different from the dishes that I grew up eating. It’s unique and certainly not a dish that you’d find in an Indian restaurant, though I have no idea why.
I honestly prefer this chicken stew to butter chicken. I just love the flavor of curry leaf spiced coconut milk with chicken and potatoes. To be honest, I love curry leaf spiced anything.
I tell my husband all the time that I must have been Keralite in another life because the cuisine is my favorite – it’s absolutely for me. I learned how to make this stew after watching my mother-in-law make it many times and though my dish will never be as good as hers (because I swear she and all Indian moms switch up their recipes every time they make a dish!) – it’s pretty darn close. It’s also much easier to make and faster too – all thanks to the instant pot. My husband loves this dish and he’s super picky when it comes to Keralite food (and all food really) lol, so I am sure you will love it too.
You can serve this stew with appam (lacy rice flour and coconut milk pancakes). I don’t have a recipe for appam on my blog yet because I have yet to perfect them. When I do perfect them (one day?), I’ll be sure to share 🙂 In the meantime, you can serve this with rice or another type of Indian bread. I really like this with my paleo naan. Most of the time though, I just eat a bowl of this stew by itself. It’s so, so good.
I hope you all love this stew as much as I do!
Instant Pot Kerala Chicken Stew
Yield: Serves 4-5
Method: Instant Pot
Cuisine: Indian
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This lightly spiced coconut chicken stew is a dish that’s often served for breakfast in Keralite homes. I love making it for Sunday brunch! As someone who grew up in a North Indian family, I find the flavor of this curry to be very different from the dishes that I grew up eating.
I learned how to make this stew after watching my mother-in-law make it many times. I love the flavor of curry leaf spiced coconut milk with chicken and potatoes. I hope you love this as much as I do.
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons coconut oil
- 1 red onion, thinly sliced
- 20-30 curry leaves
- 1 ½ pounds skinless and boneless chicken thighs, cut into quarters
- 1 teaspoon minced ginger
Spices
- 1 teaspoon coriander powder
- 1 teaspoon meat masala
- 1 teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon black pepper
- ½ teaspoon turmeric
- ¼ teaspoon cayenne
- 2 medium potatoes (approx. 1 pound), peeled and cubed
- 2 carrots, sliced
- 1 (13.5 ounce) can full-fat coconut milk
Instructions
- Press sauté, add the coconut oil and when it melts, add the onion. Stir-fry for 10-12 minutes or until they turn brown. Remove some of the onions and set them aside to use as a garnish.
- Add the curry leaves and the chicken. Stir-fry for 8-9 minutes, or until the chicken is no longer no longer pink and is mostly cooked through.
- Add the ginger and ground spices and give everything a good mix so that the chicken is coated with all of the spices.
- Add the potatoes and carrots, stir, then add the coconut milk.
- Secure the lid, close the pressure valve and cook for 4 minutes at high pressure.
- Naturally release pressure for 10 minutes. Open the valve to release any remaining pressure.
- Garnish with the browned onions and serve.
Maneesha says
October 19, 2018 at 12:50 pmWow!! I only know how to make Gujarati and Punjabi style chicken dishes, and I’m so excited to try this Kerala chicken stew! First time making a non-veg South Indian dish!
My Heart Beets says
October 20, 2018 at 12:46 pmManeesha, I can’t wait to hear what you think of it!!
Pat says
October 23, 2018 at 7:11 pmI love your recipes, and this one looks wonderful. Do you think I could substitute the potatoes with sweet potatoes – are would that change the dish completely?
My Heart Beets says
October 25, 2018 at 10:40 amPat, you can definitely use sweet potatoes! It’ll make it a bit sweeter of course but it’ll still be delicious 🙂
Pat says
October 28, 2018 at 8:58 pmIt’s me again. 🙂 I just wanted to say I made this today and it is just amazing! I decided to substitute the potatoes with turnips. Anyhow – wonderful recipe. Thank you!
★★★★★
My Heart Beets says
November 1, 2018 at 10:03 amPat, that makes me so happy to hear! Thank you so much for letting me know how it turned out 🙂
Laura says
October 28, 2018 at 10:11 pmQuick question: how many servings is this?
My Heart Beets says
November 1, 2018 at 10:04 amHi Laura, it’s about 4-5 servings 🙂 I’ll update the recipe card as well with that info, thanks for asking!
Evelyn Adams says
October 30, 2018 at 7:16 amThank you, Ashley, as always your recipes are simply incomparable!
This is not the first time when I show my recipe to my students, because they are always very creative and delicious.
I have long wanted to ask, are You the author of recipes that you post in your blog?
★★★★★
My Heart Beets says
October 31, 2018 at 1:42 pmEvelyn, thank you so much! I’m so happy to hear that you like my recipes so much! And yup, I’m the author behind this blog 🙂
Esther says
November 1, 2018 at 4:00 pmGoing to try this today. Will let you know how it turns out. Drove around looking for curry leaves.
My Heart Beets says
November 2, 2018 at 10:00 pmEsther, the curry leaves will be worth it! Can’t wait to hear what you think 🙂
Esther Arden says
December 4, 2018 at 12:33 pmIt turned out so good and it was easy. You were right, the fresh curry leaves gave it an amazing flavor. I’m making it again today, it’s perfect for this cold weather. Question: Can this be frozen and used later? I would like to make bigger batches. But potatoes tend to taste different after freezing a curry dish with potatoes in it.
My Heart Beets says
December 18, 2018 at 11:52 pmEsther, I’m so happy to hear that! I wouldn’t suggest freezing this for that reason…
Julie says
November 7, 2018 at 12:28 pmThanks Ashley for the recipe. I am new to IP, and still learning to cook in the items. When you say Natturally release pressure for 10 mins, it means after the 4 min high pressure- you need to wait for 10 mins and then release the remaining pressure? Please let me know. Thanks
★★★★★
My Heart Beets says
November 9, 2018 at 8:33 pmHi Julie, yes that’s exactly what it means 🙂 I hope you love it!
Jen says
November 17, 2018 at 6:50 amMade this curry for a dinner party with friends on the weekend. I threw in leftover roasted red onions that I had on hand into this, which gave the curry subtle smokey, caramised flavour I think. Absolutely blown away by how quick and delicious this curry turned out to be. Everyone loved it! Thank you Ashley for the recipe xx
My Heart Beets says
November 26, 2018 at 1:52 pmJen, that’s awesome! I’m so happy to hear that!!
Benjamin Smith says
November 20, 2018 at 5:24 amWooow! Looks very appetizing! I love to experiment with chicken and it will be the next dish that I try to cook:)))
Have a good week!
My Heart Beets says
November 20, 2018 at 11:39 pmBenjamin, thank you!! I can’t wait to hear what you think of it 🙂
amy says
December 18, 2018 at 6:10 pmHello…what’s a good substitute for curry leaves?
My Heart Beets says
December 18, 2018 at 11:40 pmThere’s really no good sub – it has a really unique flavor. You can find fresh curry leaves at any Indian store and even on amazon! Though they are much cheaper in store.
Vishal says
January 25, 2019 at 8:25 pmAmazing
★★★★★
My Heart Beets says
January 25, 2019 at 10:10 pmso glad you liked it!
Vishal Shah says
January 25, 2019 at 8:27 pmIf the quantity cooked is double … is the pressure cook time still 4 minutes? Or do we double it?
My Heart Beets says
January 25, 2019 at 10:10 pmdouble the ingredients but keep the cook time the same 🙂
Sarika says
February 21, 2019 at 4:51 pmThe coconut milk – won’t it split when cooked on high pressure? Can I make this with chicken with bone? Will the cooking time be same?
My Heart Beets says
February 21, 2019 at 11:15 pmHi Sarika, I haven’t had that happen but you can definitely add it at the end! As for the bone-in, I think as long as you follow step 2 and cook until mostly done it’ll be fine – the recipe calls for that since there’s only a 4 min cook time so as not to overcook the veggies.