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Nyonya Chicken Curry Thermomix Recipe by Skinnymixers

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Nyonya Chicken Curry Thermomix Recipe by Skinnymixers

Before there was the Butter Chicken, there was the Nyonya Chicken Curry.

This is one of the best curries I have made in my Thermomix, and one for the traditional Malaysian style curry lovers out there.

Be generous with the curry leaves – they really make the curry recipe!

If you make this recipe, snap a pic and hashtag it #skinnymixers — We love to see your creations on Instagram & Facebook!

Nik’s Breakfast Tip: Save some of the Nyonya curry sauce to poach eggs in or pour over hard boiled eggs!

skinnymixer's Nyonya Egg Curry
skinnymixer’s Nyonya Egg Curry

This was inspired by Poh’s Malaysian Nyonya Chicken Curry.

Love this Thermomix Curry Recipe? You might like to cook these…

Nyonya Chicken Curry Thermomix Recipe by Skinnymixers

Nyonya Chicken Curry

A classic Nyonya Chicken Curry from Skinnymixers that you can easily cook in your Thermomix. This recipe is gluten free, dairy free, perfect for keto or low carb diets.
4.37 from 11 votes
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Course: Dinner
Cuisine: Nyonya
Keyword: Chicken, Curry, LCHF, Thermomix, Thermomix Recipe
Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 40 minutes
Total Time: 50 minutes
Servings: 5
Calories: 363kcal

Ingredients

Wet Paste

  • 3 Tbsp ground coriander
  • 1 tsp ground cumin
  • 3-7 small red dried chillis - adjust based on spice preference
  • 1 heaped tsp dried tumeric
  • 3 cloves garlic - peeled
  • 240 g brown onion - peeled, halved

Curry

  • 50 g olive oil
  • 10 sprigs of curry leaves - yes 10 whole sprigs!!! this is a small handful of leaves if using dried
  • 1 star anise
  • 2 whole cloves
  • 1 cinnamon stick
  • 700 g chicken breast - diced
  • 400 ml coconut cream - Ayum brand
  • 100 g water
  • 1 Tbsp salt - or to preference
  • 1 tsp coconut sugar - optional for LCHF/ keto

Instructions

  • Add the wet paste ingredients to mixer bowl, blend for 1 min/speed 9/MC on. Scrape bowl down.
  • Add the olive oil, curry leaves, star anise, cloves and cinnamon stick, as well as 50 g or 1.8 oz of the coconut cream. Cook for 20 min/100°C or 212°F/reverse/speed soft/MC on.
  • Insert butterfly attachment, add chicken, remainder of coconut cream, water, salt and sugar. Cook for 17 min/100°C or 212°F/reverse/speed soft/MC off.
  • Remove whole spices and majority of the curry leaves and serve.

Video

Notes

You can substitute the coconut sugar for your preferred type of sugar.
For a vegetarian version, add 500 g or 17.6 oz small diced vegetables to the simmering basket during step 2.
OR - omit the chicken and serve over boiled eggs! This is great with left overs as well.
You can buy Curry Leaves in the fresh herb section of Woolworths, Specialty Green Grocers and Asian Supermarkets. You can also buy a Curry Leaf Tree from Bunnings or other plant nurseries.
Bellini Users
Use your blunt blade for this recipe.
At step 2 use speed 1.
At step 3 DO NOT use your butterfly and use speed 1.
Tried this recipe?Mention @skinnymixer or tag #skinnymixers!

Nutrition

Serving: 235g | Calories: 363kcal | Carbohydrates: 6.4g | Protein: 28.3g | Fat: 24g | Saturated Fat: 13.2g | Sodium: 1760mg | Sugar: 5.6g

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Chicken curry thermomix

  1. 2 stars
    This dish lacked flavour and was very runny, we added sweet chilli sauce on our plates which alleviated the dish. I did not enjoy picking all of the leaves out. I won’t make this again.

  2. 5 stars
    Love the flavours in this recipe! I consider it to be a mild curry. I place extra chilli on top for hubby as I don’t like it too hot.

  3. 3 stars
    It’s tasty enough but it’s not remotely Nyonya, more like Mamak if anything. Also the advice about 10 sprigs of curry leaves is a bit random. Our curry leaf tree has enormous sprigs so I only used five. I also don’t use canned coconut milk, so I used some santan, and some low-fat milk with coconut essence. All that being said I don’t really expect an authentic curry out of a Thermo cooker, and this was perfectly edible.

  4. Excited to make this – but can anyone please tell me how big a “sprig” of curry leaves is please?! Wondering how much to buy ☺️

  5. Hi, I have just printed the recipe for the Nyonya chicken curry. I love that I can change the amount of serves that I want to make before printing. That is pure genius! Thank you

  6. 5 stars
    Snagged a few packets of curry leaves for 15c each, so of course, it’s Nynoya Night! This is one of our favourite curries

  7. How many leaves = a sprig? In the fresh mini packets of leaves they are already off the sprig so not sure how many packets to use?

  8. 5 stars
    Wow! Just made this tonight for my husband and he loved it. I loved how easy it was. Thanks Nik and team.

    1. Hi Penny, it should be ok, it will taste a bit different, but I think it will still be delicious 🙂

  9. Oh my goodness! Such deliciousness on a plate! Our boy who has ASD loves and requests this all the time. He went from bland eating to the Mac n cheese to this Nyonya chicken. Success!

  10. Can you substitute cinnamon powder for the cinnamon stick? Stick seems like an expensive way to get the flavor.

  11. Kid approved! This curry is so simple, comforting and delicious. Thank you Nik. I only used 3 chillies which was perfect for our 3 toddlers. Personally I would prefer maybe 5 chillies but it was still full of flavour and was devoured. Love the fact that I had sauce left over to freeze, I see a cheat meal on the cards with that!

  12. I made this today but didn’t have curry leaves, so I used a tablespoon of babas curry powder.
    The taste is still sensational! Thank you Nik!

  13. Made this for dinner tonight…. OMG!! It’s so delicious Nik!! And so easy! I’ll definitely be making this again and again 🙂

  14. Made this curry for the first time tonight as I am working my way through them all – YUM! It is full of flavour. I used 450g chicken and then added some green beans and sweet potato (which I chopped too small so it mainly pureed into the sauce – oops but the small pieces left were good so I’d just chop bigger next time). The only annoying thing so many curry leaves to try fish out!

  15. Just made this again after finding some random curry leaves in a ziplock in my freezer! Just so good! Made the first part of the sauce and poured it over veg and chicken in the slow cooker and went to work. Came home to the most glorious smelling house, and boy was it yummy! I don’t put the chilli in at all and didn’t have the right amount of curry leaves and it was still a success. Thankyou Nikalene for your amazing ability to create foolproof recipes and instructions for us mere mortals 😉

  16. Lovely flavoured curry. I didn’t add enough chilli, and replaced curry leaves with Kaffir Lime (because I was slightly confused and clueless) definitely one to make again.

  17. I managed to make this with FAR less curry leaves than called for and it was still beautiful. I can’t wait to get hold of some more (lots, lots more!) leaves to try again and see how much more amazing it can be!

  18. I’m pretty fussy & not usually a fan of curries or spicy foods etc but after reading the comments i was tempted to try it. I left out the chillies & made it with chicken, sweet potato, cauli & carrot. It was really great, lots of flavour but without the heat which was perfect for my family’s tastes. Will definitely be making this again!

  19. I found this a tad too watery and I feel like it lacked flavour a little. It was quite pleasant to eat, perhaps it’s my Middle Eastern taste buds that demand excess flavour :p Or it could’ve been the curry leaves – they were frozen. I’m going to blame it on the curry leaves :p

  20. This was lovely and very easy to make. And I was in heaven smelling the fragrance whilst it was cooking!

    Lovely easy dinner. Thanks!

  21. I made this last night and my husband loved it. (I was out for the evening but I just had some of the leftovers cold in a salad and it was beautiful!) He came home from work just as it was finishing cooking and thought it smelt amazing – but decided that it needed some hot bread to go with it and promptly cooked up a batch of puris!
    Having been to India a number of times, my husband’s a bit more familiar with the cooking styles of different areas than I am, and although this isn’t an Indian curry, he said it strongly reminded him of Keralan style curries.

    1. I am making it for the second time as I just love the mix of these spices. Your husband is right- it is like a Keralan curry.I’m from there & we use coconut in everything! Today I’m having it over eggs as per Niks suggestion 😊

  22. Made this tonight with two chicken breasts and the rest sweet potato. Used 1/4 red capsicum instead of the chillis and chucked in 1/4 cup of frozen peas/carrot/corn. Miss 9, Miss 7 and Miss 3 inhaled it. Thanks Nikalene, great recipe.

  23. This was the first Skinnymixers recipe I tried and I have now made it so many times I cannot count! It is my absolute favourite chicken curry. I do have trouble sourcing curry leaves so I now buy up when I see them, package them up for this recipe and freeze them! Thanks Nikalene!

  24. The amount of curry leaves left my poor little tree bare, and I was freaking out because it seemed like a lot of leaves, especially with their distinct smell and flavour. I didn’t have enough ground coriander so threw in coriander seeds, which actually were cumin seeds! Yet, once again, it all worked out beautifully and is a lovely curry. I seriously don’t even crave Indian or Thai takeaway anymore. I just can’t bring myself to buy it! My fussy bunch ate it – the boy ate it but said he didn’t like the sauce. The girl didn’t even mention not liking anything. She wanted alllll the things on her fork for each mouthful and I was afraid she might choke on how much she was shovelling in. It didn’t solve the dinner time tantrums, but we had one less battle tonight. No tears because they didn’t like what I was serving. Even better, I got to eat something I LIKE!!!! I didn’t add the garlic or chilli and it was still fabulous. Thanks Nik!

  25. I used a large thumb of fresh turmeric in addition to the dried. Also added a thumb of fresh ginger bc I had it. Used a lot of chilli. No regrets. Absolutely delish. Did half chicken half cubed potato to bulk it out. Mmmm served with brown rice. Easy peasy and very warming curry. Will have with eggs in the morning!

  26. This is incredible! So much flavor. Have made it several times and gets rave reviews from everyone who I’ve made it for

  27. Made the Nyonya again tonight. Think it’s my 17mo’s favourite meal. Never seen him eat that much before! (Left most of the chilli out). Thank you once again!

  28. The Nyonya Curry is delicious and makes a huge quantity. We served four hungry adults and had enough leftovers to turn into a delicious soup serving four. The curry leaves give a beautiful fragrance.

  29. As my hens have been giving us lots of eggs, I made this as a pour over for boiled eggs. I added peas and it was devine! So creamy and smooth!

  30. Well… Hubby likes it, I love the smell… But kid 1 says it’s too spicy and kid 2 refuses to even try it. I’m seriously thinking of giving up trying to make them anything. Oh well!

  31. Wow, Wow, Wow, why did I wait so long to make this! It was so quick and easy and will be a regular dinner dish in our house. Served it over zoodles but will try cauliflower rice next. Thank you!!

  32. enjoyed this dish. Never tried it before until I made it, then two days after I tried at a restaurant and liked this version more.

  33. I made this last night and it was delicious! My husband loved it!! It was easy to make too. I will definitely be making this again. Thanks for a great recipe.

  34. I make the vegetarian version at least once each week, usually with carrots, cauliflower, potatoes and green beans. I increase the temp to varoma and the water to 150g and put veggies in varoma instead of using the basket. Love it!

  35. This curry has beautiful malaysian flavours that you can put on anything really. I use it as a sauce much to my husband’s delight! Thanks nikalene

  36. This is by far the best curry! My boyfriend loves it so much that he requests it every week. Love that it is so easy to make. 10/10

  37. Absolutely delicious, now I see what all the fuss is about! 10 out of 10 from the whole family. Thank you

  38. Another unbelievable curry! This is so easy and the flavours were amazing! Nikalene, the Curry Queen!

    1. Forgot to mention that I left out the chilli as was sharing with my bubby….. Who absolutely loved it!!! Snatched the spoon from me so he could eat it himself!

  39. I finally got the curry leaves now I have no dried chillies what should I use instead ps I have fresh ones

  40. Finally made this tonight. It was as delicious as everyone above has said. Thank you so much for a wonderful recipe!!!

  41. Made this today and I am in love, have been procrastinating about doing a new curry for ages now and decided on the Nyonya curry, it was super easy and absolutely delicious

  42. This is such a lovely, fragrant curry! Although, next time I’m going to use chicken thigh fillets as I usually freeze at least one portion for later and the breast meat dries out. Thanks!

  43. Hi Nik,
    I love your TM recipe conversions & adaptations. But I need to comment that as a far removed Nyonya descendant myself, the recipe cannot be called “Nonya/Nyonya” because it doesn’t have belacan (shrimp paste) in the core paste ingredients.

    Without the ingredient belacan, it is more of an indian-style curry, I think

  44. Oh this is sooo good! Definitely worth using Coles for the curry leaves (so many more in their packets!), and I used up some old dried curry leaves in the cupboard the first two times, but fresh ones were so much nicer, the next few times… Umm yes I’ve made it about 6 times so far… its a go to recipe. And its always better next day. Especially if it still has heaps of leaves left in it 🙂 Sooo soo good!

  45. Thanks a million Nik.

    I’m so pleased to be making tasty meals from scratch instead of packets.

    Everyone here enjoyed it 🙂

  46. Beautiful curry. Just reduce the salt if you are making the vegetarian version!! I am a salt lover and it was still too much. Perhaps the lesser weight of vegetables meant the salt is strong in the vegetarian version.

  47. This curry is magical! I am a good cook but have always been scared of curries. No more! I have also tried the butter chicken but this is better. Thank you Nik for sharing your considerable talent with us 🙂 When you create a cook book i will be first in line.

  48. Absolutely full of flavour, super easy and scrumptious!!! Thanks very much for a lovely recipe. This will be a winner to serve for guests as it tastes so authentic.

  49. This was amazing!!! Everyone loved it!! Served with brown rice spinach and califower so good!!! Reserved some sauce and will be putting them on my boiled eggs tomorrow for lunch x

  50. So delicious and easy to make. Needed some veggies, though, so I steamed some and added to the curry once cooked. 🙂

  51. Very easy to make and even yummier the next day after the flavours have developed further. Also freezes well for a quick meal to reheat.

  52. First curry I’ve ever made completely from scratch – delicious! I use Himalayan salt so halved it as it’s very strong, it was perfect. Have also done it without chicken and just used it as a sauce over veges…OMG!

  53. This would have to be the tastiest and easiest curry to make from scratch (but butter chicken is still the fave!)

  54. Beautiful flavours…. easy to make & absolutely delicious. Before your recipes I’d never made/eaten curry? Now myself & farmer hubby can’t get enough! Thanks Nikalene!

  55. I have made this a few times and we love it (myself, partner and his brother). I did feel the need to add some veges. Its nice with peas or beans. Thanks nikalane

  56. So much nicer the following day. A week later and Master 15 is still raving over how good it was, so that says it all.

  57. OMGoodness !! Ridiculously easy, absolutely beautiful. I brought in the leftovers to work so everyone could taste it! Another winner!

  58. Just finished having this for dinner. Although I swear the curry leaves multiplied in the sauce because I pulled out a pile of them before serving, the flavour was absolutely Devine! I had never cooked with curry leaves before but the sauce I think would be very versatile in terms of what you added to it. I think it would be amazing with eggs, fish or veges aswell .

  59. First time making Nyonya tonight, and have tried Butter Chicken twice. Love, love, love them both. Thank you!! But both times so much leftover sauce (a rectangular “Chinese” container FULL). Should I just freeze and next time poach some chicken to add to it? Can’t wait to try Mussaman now 🙂

    1. And PS, I live in regional NSW so couldn’t find curry leaves in our local supermarkets ( the usual big 2) . I used dried kaffir lime leaves because I had them in the cupboard, but I also have a tree, so will try them fresh next time 🙂

  60. Brilliant recipe. I’d never used curry leaves before but the aroma and flavour were amazing. Nikalene’s curries are becoming a regular event in our house.

  61. This is both my husbands and I absolute favorite meal! This is on our weekly meal plan and has been for months and months!
    It’s amazing!

  62. Just amazing. I have never made a curry before and this was so delicious I made it again a week later with just the sauce and some vegies served for lunch with some rice. Not spicy and a winner with the hubby who doesn’t even like chicken!

  63. Nice and Easy which I love! I don’t love it as much as Butter Chicken or Tikka Masala but that’s obviously just my taste buds 🙂 Keep em coming, we are having one of your curries atleast weekly now (hubby was never a curry fan before your recipes!)

  64. Made this for my parents and sister and everyone LOVED it, even my toddler had seconds! Served 6 of us with left overs. Will definitely make it again

  65. WOW, when you said this was better than the butter chicken, all i thought was how? But you were absolutely right. It’s divine, full of flavor and the recipe was so easy. I doubt I’ll order Indian take away. You are awesome.

  66. Awesome curry we tried for the first time tonight. I find I am now cooking Skinnymixers recipes on a very regular basis. Tomorrow night Mexican Pulled Pork. Great food.

  67. Yum, yet another curry favourite with the family. The only critisism I have was it should have said serve with rice but that’s My fault I should have read comments about serving it with rice or something else. I’m not sure why I didn’t think to serve it with rice 🙁 I have no left overs it barely served 4 of us. Lesson learnt for next time.

  68. So so so so delicious! Thanks for all your hard work, it is much appreciated. I will certainly be making this again and again.

  69. This curry was sensational, the flavours were amazing. The one thing I found a little disappointing was how overlooked and dry the chicken tasted. Any suggestions about what I did wrong or advice for next time I make this dish????

  70. Awesome dish! I am only starting to like curry’s now. Love the flavour of this. It is nearly as good as your butter chicken 😉

  71. Absolutely Delicious 😉 so easy and tastes so authentic – will be a regular in our home 😉 added more chicken and used 4 chillies – just perfect . Thanks again Nik 😉

  72. such fantastic flavors while being really quick and easy. I will add a little more chicken next time as I seemed to have quite a bit of sauce but I used milk instead of cream. Thanks for another incredible curry

  73. So good – My children enjoyed it 🙂 I added 1/4 t dried chilli flakes and it was great for the kids to enjoy – just a little kick 🙂 Thanks for another great and easy recipe 🙂

  74. OMG! I love coconut curries and this one is AMAZING! And I made this in a non TMX thermal cooker so the recipe adapts easily with other machines. Thank you! Xx

  75. If u thought the butter chicken was good, u have to try this one. Amazing. Hubby was reluctant as he is a huge Bc fan. But even he said that the nyonya was better

  76. Made this for a dinner party and it was fantastic! Everybody loved it. It was so easy to make too. I used thigh cut into thirds so I cooked it for a bit longer. I would highly recommend this recipe!

  77. So yummy even kids loved it ( had to leave chilli out) Next time I will make it with chilli for my chilli loving husband.

  78. This is a beautiful dish. The distinct flavour of fresh curry leaves is lovely. I used 20 single leaves from my freezer. If you have left over curry leaves be sure to freeze them for next time!

    I used 1 large dried chilli and found it provided sufficient residual heat to taste it, yet not be too hot for my children.

    I fed a family of 4 with one serve of leftovers as Master 9yo had thirds. It think it would yield 6 large adult serves in other households.

  79. Yummo! Threw a bit of veg in towards the end! Just love it! Have to agree with another comment I’m turning into a curry maker instead of buyer. Thanks Nikalene!

  80. Yum! So good! Was great to throw some veg in at the last step. It was a really fresh tasting curry. Skinnymixers is turning me into a curry maker instead of a curry buyer.

  81. Well I thought the Butter Chicken was to die for, but I think I have died twice now & gone to Skinnymixers heaven! The flavours in this curry are amazing, we didn’t even have rice, just vegetables! This is so incredibly simple to make, YOU have to!!!

  82. Next time I’ll have to make double the sauce in thermie then put in a pot on the stove to cook the chicken in as our house would have all taken turns licking the bowl clean if they could. They all loved it – big and little – and one batch is not enough!!!!! Thanks Nikalene xx

  83. this curry was so delicious and flavourful, not to mention easy! Was a huge hit with my fussy hubby! Thank you 🙂

  84. Yum! Was really easy to pull together and was much appreciated by everyone. I erred on the less side for amount of chilli so was mild but still with lots of flavour. Thanks

  85. This is an amazing recipe, even my ASD kid loved it and he normally doesn’t cope with curries. I used about 1/4 teaspoon of chilli powder instead of the dried chillis but it still had so much flavour. Thank you Nikalene Riddle!!

  86. This is to die for and in high rotation here. It’s super quick and also happens to be the kids favourite curry.

  87. This is by far, my favourite curry…. although I love so many. But I love this one more than… dare I say it…. Butter Chicken 😉

  88. Couldn’t believe how easy this was to make and the taste was out of this world. You are the best Nikalene!! Keep doing what you do best 🙂

  89. Hands down, the best curry you will ever make. It’s become a fortnight regular in our house and that’s only because I want to give others a try to see if I can find better, not yet. Love your work Nik

  90. Love this curry, really tasty and versatile I have made with chicken and a vege version with chickpeas and califlower. Great receipe!

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