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Coconut & Tamarind Chicken Curry

This creamy tropical Indian one-pot is perfect for an informal, help-yourself dinner party with friends

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Why it works: Tamarind and coconut match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 4% of all ingredient pairs, and 151 recipes mention both. Both carry gamma-nonanolactone, which smells coconut, creamy. The science ↓

The recipe

Serves 10
Prep30 min
Cook50 min

Ingredients

Directions

Method written by CompKitchen from the ingredient list. Not the original author's method, not kitchen-tested.

  1. Put the chicken thighs in a bowl with the lime juice, black pepper and turmeric, toss to coat, cover and refrigerate for 20 minutes.

  2. Soak the tamarind pulp in a splash of hot water for 10 minutes, mash it well, then strain it into a small bowl and set aside.

  3. Heat 6 tbsp vegetable oil in a large heavy pan over medium-high heat. Fry the chicken in batches until browned, about 8 minutes in total, then remove.

  4. Reduce the heat to medium. Add 4-6 tbsp vegetable oil and the mustard seeds, cover until they pop, then add the curry leaves and onions and cook 10 minutes until golden.

  5. Stir in the garlic, ginger and paprika and cook for 2 minutes, stirring constantly.

  6. Add the chopped tomatoes, chicken stock, muscovado sugar and tamarind liquid. Simmer gently for 10 minutes.

  7. Return the chicken and any juices to the pan, cover and simmer for 15 minutes until the chicken reaches 165°F (74°C) in the thickest part.

  8. Stir in the coconut milk and coconut cream and simmer gently for 5 minutes. Stir in the chopped coriander and serve hot.

By bbcgoodfood. Recipe from Open Recipes.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much aroma chemistry they share, and how many recipes mention both.

  1. Tamarind + coconuttop 4% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together151 recipes

    Shared aroma: gamma-nonanolactone (coconut, creamy).

  2. Lime + peppertop 2% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together3,491 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

  3. Lime + tamarindtop 3% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together133 recipes

    Shared aroma: myrcene (balsamic, herbaceous).

  4. Lime + turmerictop 3% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together584 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

  5. Pepper + turmerictop 3% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together4,476 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

Flavor stand-ins for the lime

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (chicken, pepper, turmeric, tamarind, coconut, milk, cream):

  1. Mangobetter flavor fit
  2. Limethe original
  3. Lemonabout as good a flavor fit

Fit is the average pairing score against chicken, pepper, turmeric, tamarind, coconut, milk, cream. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes. This compares flavor only: it does not check the job the ingredient does in the dish (bulk, moisture, acidity, structure).