Slow cooker whole chicken curry recipe

Chicken curry is a family favourite, but you can really impress everyone with this recipe that uses a whole chicken! This whole chicken curry recipe can be made in a slow cooker or in a casserole dish. It definitely packs a punch, so have naan breads and yogurt to hand to cool it down and if you prefer milder flavours. This is a really good recipe for when you've got friends coming round as it looks really impressive and yet it's really easy to make. The creamed coconut gives the curry a really smooth, silky texture and mixes really well with all the herbs and spices the chicken cooks in.

Read our tried and tested reviews of the best slow cookers.

Ingredients

• 1.5kg whole chicken

For the paste:

• 1 onion
• 4 garlic cloves, peeled
• 5cm piece fresh ginger
• 1tbsp garam masala
• 1tsp each ground cumin, coriander, turmeric
• 1tbsp rapeseed oil
• 1 chicken stock pot, we used Knorr
• 50g creamed coconut block
• 1tbsp black mustard seeds
• 1tsp each cumin and coriander seeds
• 3-4 kaffir lime leaves
• 1-2 green and red chillies, sliced
• Handful fresh coriander
• 6tbsp mango chutney

Method

1. To make the paste, roughly chop the onion, garlic and ginger, and put into a small blender. Add the garam masala, spices, rapeseed oil, stock pot and 250ml cold water. Whizz for a few minutes until it forms a smooth sauce.
2. Freshly grate the creamed coconut block into the sauce mixture and stir well, making sure there are no lumps.
3. Put the whole chicken into a slow cooker and pour over the sauce, rub all over to make sure the chicken is well covered. Sprinkle over the seeds, lime leaves and chillies, cover and cook on low for 4 hrs until cooked through and tender. If you don’t have a slow cooker, heat the oven to 140C, gas 1, put the ingredients in a deep casserole dish, then cover with wet greaseproof paper and pop the lid on.
4. Top with coriander and serve the curry with steamed vegetables, naan bread, poppadoms and mango chutney.