“Curry” is one of the loosest words in the culinary lexicon. Popular in almost every country between Pakistan and Japan (and anywhere with a significant Indian diaspora, such as South Africa, the West Indies and Fiji) curries can be saucy or dry, sweet or savoury, spicy or mild, meaty or vegetarian. Most do not contain curry leaves, as you might think.

Regardless of this enormous range of possibilities, when you hear the word you pretty much know what you’re in for: a meal that’s satisfying, big on flavour and easy to eat (the knives can stay in the drawer). Here are 16 of our go-tos when curry cravings strike.

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Kari kapitan, or Nyonya-style chicken curry

Kari kapitan epitomises the layered history of Malaysia’s Peranakan community, who blended Chinese, Malay and Indian cuisines to create what authors Aim Aris and Ahmad Salim call “a whole new genre of curries”. This dish, featured in their cookbook A Day in Penang, was originally made for British colonial-era captains. It’s since been reclaimed as a point of local pride, and is a staple in Penang – Malaysia’s most famous food hub. Thicker and richer than many Southeast Asian curries, it pairs turmeric-marinated chicken and aromatic spices with tangy tamarind paste, and it might just become your next go-to chicken curry.

Sarina Kamini’s dal makhani

Most cookbooks deserve space on your kitchen shelf. But another breed also warrants room on your nightstand. Sarina Kamini’s What We Call Masala is one of them. The long-time cooking teacher writes with warmth and detail about her upbringing and memories of masala – how she chooses spices, how they behave on the palate and how to use them to deepen your cooking. This creamy dal makhani is a highlight from the book. Kamini calls it a “sometimes dish” – mostly ordered at restaurants rather than cooked at home. But make it from scratch and you’ll get why it deserves a spot at the table. Kamini amps her version up with fleur de sel in the spice mix.

Elizabeth Hewson’s simple pantry curry

Scraping the bottom of the fridge? No worries. Elizabeth Hewson designed this fast and flexible curry to be completely adaptable. “Cherry tomatoes and baby spinach are my favourite combination – the sweetness and pop of the roasted tomatoes against the creamy, mellow curry sauce lifts it all”, the queen of comfort cooking writes in her third book, Home Food. It’s the ultimate low-stress, high-reward weeknight meal.

Amandeep Sharma’s butter chicken

Amandeep Sharma spent six years working at Melbourne’s Attica, the best restaurant in the country, including almost four as a chef de partie. During his tenure, his version of this beloved curry was one of the most popular staff meals. We can see why. The yoghurt’s gentle lactic tang and the lemon juice’s sharper acidity are the perfect foils to the richness of the cream and tomatoes. This lovely balance makes this luscious curry lighter than you might expect.

Patty Antico’s khao soi

Anyone who’s been to Chiang Mai will know the joy of khao soi. The soupy, coconut milk-based red curry is one of northern Thailand’s most iconic dishes. This particular version came to Australia 35 years ago with Thai expat Patty Antico, whose daughter Tania Fergusson co-owned Sydney’s Automata and A1 Canteen before they closed. Like Sharma’s butter chicken, it was one of the most popular staff meals at the two restaurants. Regardless of whether you’re a hospo worker pulling long shifts, khao soi’s hearty mix of chicken, sharp red onion, pickled mustard greens and filling egg noodles is easy to appreciate.

O Tama Carey’s Sri Lankan chicken curry

This warming chicken dish was one of the first curries the Lankan Filling Station chef-owner tried as a kid. Carey’s mother’s family hails from Sri Lanka, with a mix of Tamil and Burgher heritage going back generations – and her mother’s version of this curry is still the one Carey aspires to. Plus, if you make the red curry powder from scratch, you’ll have extra leftover for other dishes.

Chin Chin’s massaman curry

More than 500 plates of this coconutty beef curry hit tables at the Melbourne and Sydney restaurants each week. “It’s rich, it’s coconutty and it’s got its own diehard fan base,” executive chef Benjamin Cooper says. Make it at home and see what all the fuss is about.

Two Good Co’s snapper curry with brown rice and pumpkin

Sydney’s Two Good Co is a social enterprise that provides meals and work to domestic violence survivors. As much as possible, it focuses on comforting, nourishing food – such as this fish curry, which contains turmeric, ginger and a rainbow of vegetables. It’s a simpler version of a recipe head chef Jane Strode learned at Neil Perry’s Rockpool when she was just starting her hospitality career. “It was cooked to order with coral trout,” she says. “They’d serve it with fresh semolina noodles and lightly blanched vegetables. The lid would come off the pot, and the customer would get a hit of fragrance.”

Adam Liaw’s Sri Lankan prawn curry

The prolific chef and TV host is all about speedy dinners, and this crustacean-centric one is a keeper. Eat it with fluffy rice or with warm naan for a satisfying weeknight meal. Bonus: everything is cooked in one pot, so the clean-up is simple.

Tenkomori’s katsu curry

“We have lots of different types of curry in Japan, but katsu curry is the sort of dish that a Japanese family would make at home,” says Tomoyuki Kita, of Sydney ramen house Tenkomori. It’s essentially two dishes combined: pork katsu and Japanese curry. And you can easily find all the ingredients you need to make this versatile curry at home.

Adam D’Sylva’s yellow duck curry

For more than 15 years, this rich, complex curry has been an absolute must-order at D’Sylva’s Melbourne restaurant Coda. Similar to Peking duck, the skin is marinated in sugar to help it caramelise nicely in the oven, and the roasting tin is filled with coconut milk and any aromatic bits and pieces you might have. That milk’s then reused in the curry itself, adding an extra layer of depth and flavour.

Citrus’s red lentil curry

You’ll need to set aside just 35 minutes to pull together this wonderfully filling recipe. It takes much of its flavour from coconut milk, a nod to Citrus chef Shiyamalee Somaweera’s childhood in Kandy, Sri Lanka, where the food is “not too spicy”. Somaweera says the dish is the perfect foil for curries, mallung (sauteed greens) and rice – we reckon it more than stands up as a weeknight main by itself.

Shane Delia’s lamb-shoulder curry with green pea basmati rice

You’ve met roast lamb, and lamb curry. Now meet their well-endowed offspring: Shane Delia’s roast lamb curry. This is the kind of frankenfood we can get behind. The lamb is marinated in garlic and cumin for five hours, then plonked in a coconut milk curry and cooked for more than four hours until it’s a burnished golden brown. The final touch? Finely grated macadamias, to make the lamb look like it’s “been sprinkled with snow”. Very nice stuff from the host of SBS’s Spice Journey and the owner of Melbourne’s Maha.

Sara Oteri’s Sri Lankan-style lamb curry with basmati rice

This fragrant curry takes two hours to cook, but demands just 15 minutes of prep time. Like many curries, it also uses just a single pot. And the third and final big tick? A similar balance to Sharma’s butter chicken, courtesy of natural yoghurt, lime juice and coconut flakes. Your house is going to smell so, so good.

Griff Pamment’s Thai red-curry soup

The former executive chef at shuttered Sydney institution Longrain makes this quick, warming cross between curry and laksa when he goes camping. At home, in an actual kitchen, it’s a cinch and sacrifices nothing on flavour. The dish is vegetarian and gets its bulk from pumpkin, but you can easily throw in some seared chicken or another meat of your choosing.

Hugh Allen’s marron curry

This rich, bisque-like curry, from the executive chef at Melbourne fine diner Vue de Monde, marries Southeast Asian flavours with Aussie ingredients: marron heads, barramundi bones and Tasmanian mountain pepper. Clocking in at two and a half hours, this is a definite weekend project, but there’s commensurate satisfaction to be gained in nailing the four sub-recipes: coconut and cauliflower puree, blanched marron heads, marron and saffron paste, and finally the curry itself.

This article was originally published on August 7, 2020. It was updated on June 12, 2026 to reflect new information.