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Bowl of Filipino chicken curry with potato, carrot, and bell pepper in yellow coconut sauce, garnished with cilantro
Tagalog Luzon 20 min prep · 40 min cook 1h total Easy

Filipino Chicken Curry

Chicken Curry sa Gata

Easy Filipino chicken curry in coconut milk with potato, carrot, and bell pepper—home-style curry powder, not Thai or Indian restaurant curry.

Serves 5 · 1h total

The Story

Filipino chicken curry is not Thai green curry and not a long Indian masala. It is the supermarket-curry-powder version that showed up in Filipino home kitchens in the late twentieth century: chicken, coconut milk, potato, carrot, and a yellow sauce that kids will actually eat.

The flavor is coconut first, curry second. Fish sauce and a little brown sugar keep it from tasting like cafeteria powder. Bell pepper goes in last so the stew still looks like the photo—red and green strips on a gold sauce, not boiled-out vegetables.

This is weeknight ulam: one pot, rice on the side, leftovers better the next day.

Best paired with

Steamed white rice and atchara if you want a sour bite against the coconut.

Use it in these KusinaPH recipes

Chicken AfritadaAdobo sa GataKare-Kare

Lola's Tips

  • ✦Bloom curry powder in oil for 30 seconds so it smells nutty, not dusty.
  • ✦Use full-fat coconut milk; light gata makes a watery stew.
  • ✦Potato should be large chunks so it does not dissolve into the sauce.
  • ✦If the curry is too thick, splash in broth—not more powder.

Substitutions

  • coconut milk → half coconut cream and half water for a richer sauce
  • curry powder → 2 tsp turmeric plus 1 tsp paprika in a pinch
  • chicken thigh → bone-in mixed chicken

Ingredients

Servings
5
(recipe for 5)

Instructions

  1. 1

    Pat chicken dry. Heat oil in a wide pot over medium-high heat. Brown chicken 3 minutes per side. Remove to a plate.

  2. 2

    Lower heat to medium. Saute onion, garlic, and ginger 2 minutes. Add curry powder and stir 30 seconds until fragrant.

  3. 3

    Return chicken. Pour in coconut milk, fish sauce, brown sugar, and pepper. Stir, scraping the browned bits. Bring to a gentle simmer.

  4. 4

    Add potato and carrot. Cover and cook 20 to 25 minutes until chicken is cooked through and potatoes are tender.

  5. 5

    Add bell peppers and simmer uncovered 4 to 5 minutes until they are bright but not mushy. Taste and add patis if needed.

  6. 6

    Rest 3 minutes. Serve hot over rice with plenty of yellow coconut sauce.

Kitchen Timer · 20 min prep first

40:00

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