Sri Lankan chicken masala traybake

Name: Sri Lankan chicken masala traybake
Ingredients: 10 bone-in, skin-on chicken thighs; 3 tbsp rapeseed (canola) oil; 3 shallots, sliced; 30 fresh curry leaves; 2 tbsp rapeseed (canola) oil; 5 garlic cloves, crushed; 1 tsp ground turmeric; 1 tbsp Kashmiri chilli powder; Juice of ½ lemon; 3 ripe vine tomatoes (or 20 cherry tomatoes); 1 tbsp tomato purée (paste); 1 small onion, cut into chunks; 20g (¾oz) fresh ginger, peeled and cut into chunks; 2 tbsp medium curry powder; 1 tsp palm sugar (or honey); 1 x 400g (14oz) can of coconut milk; 1 tsp sea salt

This recipe by Nisha Parmar is a crowdpleaser to make for a party

By Nisha Parmar

7 March 2024

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Using just one tray for a dinner party makes so much sense; a stress-free way to deliver a crowd pleaser, with minimum washing up. This is another recipe born out of a fridge raid to use up curry leaves and tomatoes on their last legs! Sri Lankan curries use coconut, curry leaves and a special roasted curry powder. Here I use a shortcut, but buy the best medium curry powder you can find. For ultimate perfection, I like to serve this with cardamom and cumin rice, naan, some kachumber and coconut sambal to make this totally restaurant-worthy! This is the perfect make-ahead dinner-party dish. You can marinate and keep the chicken and curry sauce for up to 2 days in the fridge, just bring it back up to room temperature before roasting. The rice, salad and sambal can also be made in advance.

This recipe is an extract from ‘Share’ by Nisha Parmar (Quadrille).

Recipe notes