Curry Chicken Stir-Fry 乾炒咖哩雞 is a quick and easy way to make a curry dish that you can put on rice, toss with Chinese noodles or baked on pasta. It requires no braising and hence it’s a tasty and nutritious dish to make at home when time is a luxury.
We know that the concept of curry came from India although the term “curry” seems to have come from the Tamil word, “kari” which means a sauce containing spice. The British, during their occupation of India, Anglicized the word and “curry” was born.
European merchants brought curry spices to China in the 17th century. It was also introduced by Fujian (or Hokkien) merchants who frequented Indonesia and Malaysia in the early 1900’s. Curry is usually very saucy and the Chinese taste for curry is more influenced by Southeast Asian countries than India. Which means that the curry is thicker, sweeter and will usually have coconut in it. I don’t really know if there are any traditional dry curry recipes. I feel that the Indonesian rendang style comes close. However, the meat is usually braised and that takes time to make.
My feeling is that stir-frying with curry powder probably started in Hong Kong with the Singapore Fried Rice Vermicelli (check out this post for a brief history). And so, I’m going to make an uneducated guess and suggest that curry stir-fries came from Hong Kong. It falls in-line with the curry crab stir-fry and curry fried rice which are also from Hong Kong.
My family loves Curry Chicken Stir-Fry 乾炒咖哩雞. I’ve also made a Curried Cauliflower and Pork Stir-Fry that I’ve put on top of rice and baked it. I’ve also put it on top of macaroni and baked it with some cheese. You could also blend it with cheese and macaroni to make a very interesting mac and cheese. For these applications, you just need to add some milk or coconut milk for a bit of sauce. Cashews are also a good ingredient to add for a bit of crunch and sweetness. Oh, and pineapples too. Pineapple and coconut milk can give it a bit of a Polynesian flavour.
Try my Curry Chicken Stir-Fry 乾炒咖哩雞 recipe and add your own favorite proteins, veggies and/or fruit. You really can’t go wrong with this one!
Curry Chicken Stir-Fry 乾炒咖哩雞
Ingredients
- 500 g Boneless chicken , diced
- 1 Medium onion
- 250 g Potatoes , diced
- 4 cloves Garlic , minced
- 1 stalk Green onions , cut into 3 cm pieces
- 1 tbsp Shaoxing wine
- 1 ½ tbsp Curry powder
- 2 tsp Light soy sauce
- ½ tsp Sugar
- 4 tbsp Oil
Ingredients for marinade:
- 1 tsp Light soy sauce
- 1 tsp Sugar
- ½ tsp Salt
- 1 ½ tsp Cornstarch
Instructions
- Dice chicken into your desired size
- Marinate chicken with 1 tsp light soy sauce, 1 tsp sugar, ½ tsp salt and 1 ½ tsp cornstarch. Mix well and set aside
- Dice potatoes into the same size as chicken. Cut onions in wedges
- In a wok or pan, on medium-high heat, add 4 tbsp oil
- Add diced potatoes. Fry until golden colour. Remove potatoes from wok/pan, leave the oil
- Add onions and garlic to the wok/pan. Fry until golden and remove. Place with the potatoes
- Add chicken to the wok using tongs or chopsticks. Add some more oil if not enough in the wok/pan. Do not pour the chicken in to avoid adding any liquids. Place in single layer and let it cook until one side of the chicken is golden colour. Do not overcrowd.
As you can see in my photo, I overcrowded my wok (I was too lazy to do 2 batches)! - Flip the chicken over and cook until golden
- Add the potatoes and onions into the wok/pan
Again, my photo shows that there’s too much fluids at the bottom of my wok due to overcrowding and so my chicken was not able to sear properly. I tried to fix it by turning the heat up to high, moved everything to the sides and let some of the fluid evaporate. It ended up fine, with a bit of gravy but could’ve been much better - Add 1 ½ tbsp curry powder, 2 tsp light soy sauce, 1 tbsp shaoxing wine and ½ tsp sugar. Stir-fry until chicken is cooked through
Add some chilis or chili powder to add more heat if desired. You may also add turmeric powder to make it more yellow and use less curry powder to make it more mild 
- Add green onions. Stir-fry for another 10 seconds
- Serve
When do I add in the Shaoxing Wine?
Hi Alyssa, sorry for the late reply! The Shaoxing wine goes in when you are almost finished frying along with the 2 tsp light soy. It's best to not add everything all together so that you are layering the flavours. Try to add the wine directly onto the wok/pan and not on the food. The wine hitting the wok first means that it can be toasted before reaching the food which will result in a more aromatic result. I apologize for forgetting to write this on the recipe. Thank you for letting me know! Happy cooking!