Creamy Chicken Kofta Curry

A healthy recipe with chicken meatballs cooked to juicy perfection in a delicious curry. This easy chicken kofta curry is one of the best Indian recipes with ground chicken.

About the recipe

This chicken meatball curry may become your favorite go-to lunch or dinner recipe on weekends. The perfect amount of spices, coconut and creamy texture from the almonds make this chicken keema balls curry one of the healthiest and yummiest recipes you would ever come across.

Why you’ll love this chicken meatball curry

Do you believe that red meat tastes better and is juicier than white meat? This kofta curry recipe will change your mind forever.

The chicken meatballs not only absorb the flavors of the spices but also moisture from the curry sauce making them juicy. The dairy-free chicken curry gets its creamy texture from the ground almonds, the only source of (good) fat in this recipe.

Another unique feature of this recipe is that I’ve used coconut-almond paste by toasting the coconut. It serves 3 purposes:

1. This paste replaces cream/ coconut milk.
2. Blending the grated coconut rather than extracting milk adds to the bulk of the curry, as in South Indian style egg curry. It also adds more fibre (somewhat like eating fruits instead of juicing them).
3. Toasting the coconut also improves the flavor. I learnt this trick from my mom who roasts coconut for authentic curry recipes. (As in Kerala-style curries like varutha kozhi curry.)

A general misconception is that Indian curries are unhealthy and full of fat. That’s definitely not the case with homemade curries (unless you intentionally add a lot of saturated fat). Specifically not this chicken kofta curry, unlike the ones served in restaurants that are laden with butter and cream.

Curries can be very healthy and there is a lot of variety too:

• Kerala chicken curry and Kerala egg roast: rustic curries with unique flavors of coconut, fennel and spices.
• Chicken pepper masala: marinated chicken thighs in a spicy peppery gravy.
• Dal with spinach curry: cook up a tasty nutritious curry with just some dal, onions, tomatoes and chilies.
• The easiest Kerala-style parippu curry cooked with a few basic spices.
• Sprouted mung beans curry: enjoy double the taste and health benefits of mung beans by sprouting them.
• Chana masala: you can also make an elaborate curry with roasted aromatic spices and herbs.
• Mangalore-style fish masala curry with a lot of flavors from coconut, tamarind and a unique curry paste.
• Mutton gravy: goat meat gravy made easily in a pressure cooker.
• Use this make-ahead Indian curry paste to make your curry experience even easier and faster.

Love Thai curries? Try this keto green curry with homemade Thai green curry paste.

Grab a printable copy of the curry paste that helps home cooks like you cook different curries in 30 minutes or less:

Want to learn how to make “curry in a hurry“?

Check out this 5-ingredient easy chicken curry with basic ingredients. A quick, healthy dinner that can be cooked in 20 minutes!

This is how you make chicken kofta curry:

Video

Ingredient Notes

• Boneless chicken breasts: Mince the chicken breasts or you can also buy minced chicken. Check out the keema chicken recipe or the post on how to mince chicken for detailed instructions.
• Green herb paste: blend ginger, garlic, green chillies and coriander leaves+stems. We will be using this paste divided between the koftas and curry. Herbs and spices on chicken is always delicious as we’ve seen with recipes like green chicken kababs and baked pudina chicken.
• Ground instant oats: for the koftas.
• For the gravy: bay leaf, onions, tomatoes and ground spices (chilli powder, coriander powder, and turmeric powder).
• Coconut almond paste: grated coconut, almonds and whole spices (cardamom, cloves, and cinnamon).

How to make chicken kofta curry: step by step instructions with photos

(You can find the exact measurements and instructions in the printable recipe card at the end of this page.)

Make Chicken Koftas (Meatballs)

1. Blend chillies, ginger, garlic and coriander leaves into a smooth paste.
2. Mince the chicken.
3. Add half of the blended paste, finely chopped onions, salt and ground oats to the chicken mince.
4. Mix well.
5. Make lime-size balls. This recipe makes about 16 to 20 koftas.

Make Coconut Almond Paste

1. Heat oil in a pan and add cinnamon, cloves, cardamom and almonds. Saute for 5 minutes on medium flame.
2. Add sliced onions and fry for 3 minutes.
3. Add grated coconut and roast until browned.
4. Let the mixture cool.
5. Blend with water into a smooth paste. This is our “healthy cream” for the curry.
6. This is similar to cashew cream in the palak kofta curry and the tomato-cashew paste in butter chicken pasta.

Make the Gravy

1. Heat oil in the same pan, and saute bay leaf and onions.
2. Add the other half of the green paste and saute.
3. Add tomato puree.
4. Add chilli powder, coriander powder, salt and turmeric powder.
5. Saute on medium flame until oil separates. Add water.
6. Bring it to a boil.

4. Add koftas and coconut paste to gravy

1. Reduce flame and add koftas to the boiling curry.
2. Cook covered for 15 minutes on low flame.
3. Add coconut-almond paste.
4. Mix well and simmer for 5 more minutes.
5. Garnish with chopped coriander leaves. Your creamy chicken kofta curry is ready to be served!

What to pair with this chicken keema balls curry

The chicken meatball curry tastes amazing with:

• plain rice, pulao, naan or roti.
• Lemon turmeric rice with brown rice
• low-carb coconut cauliflower rice

With easy vegetable side dishes like:

• roasted tandoori cauliflower
• microwave ladies finger fry
• kabuli chana salad
• chana dal salad with honey ginger dressing.

Plan this curry ahead of time

This chicken kofta curry can be made ahead and refrigerated for 4 days or frozen for a month, so this recipe works perfectly well for entertaining or a midweek dinner too.

You may also like

More Chicken Recipes

If this chicken keema balls curry is a winner, you might want to try my other easy chicken recipes:

• Easy baked thin-sliced chicken breasts
• chicken mince kebabs
• easy chicken keema with eggs
• keto cauliflower rice biryani with chicken
• stir-fried chicken with red rice
• lemon balsamic chicken with rosemary
• Greek yogurt chicken

Have you tried cooking a healthier version of a traditional dish?

I would love to hear about it in the comments below.

Copyright secured by Digiprove © 2019-2023