The Big Book of Curry Recipes (62 page)

Curried Cod

Curried Cod is a traditional British recipe, based on Mrs Beeton’s recipe of 1861, for a classic dish of fried cod flakes with onions that’s finished in white stock flavoured with cream and curry powder.

This is a traditional British recipe redacted from the redoubtable Mrs Beeton’s 1861 volume
Mrs Beeton’s Book of Household Management
, the classic Victorian cookbook.

Original Recipe

237. INGREDIENTS.—2 slices of large cod, or the remains of any cold fish; 3 oz. of butter, 1 onion sliced, a teacupful of white stock, thickening of butter and flour, 1 small teaspoonful of curry-powder, 1/4 pint of cream, salt and cayenne to taste.

Mode
.—Flake the fish, and fry it of a nice brown colour with the butter and onions; put this in a stewpan, add the stock and thickening, and simmer for 10 minutes. Stir the curry-powder into the cream; put it, with the seasoning, to the other ingredients; give one boil, and serve.

Time
.—3/4 hour.
Average cost
, with fresh fish, 3s.

Seasonable
from November to March.

Sufficient
for 4 persons.

Modern Redaction

Ingredients:

2 large cod fillets, cooked

90g (3 oz) butter

1 onion, sliced

250ml (1 cup) white stock

1 tbsp butter blended with 1 tbsp flour until smooth, to thicken

1 tsp curry powder

150ml (3/5 cup) cream

salt and cayenne pepper, to taste

Method:

Flake the fish then melt the butter, add the fish and onions and fry for about 10 minutes, or until nicely browned. Turn into a stockpot then add the white stock and bring to a simmer. Cut the thickening into small pieces and whisk into the stock. Return to a simmer and cook for a further 10 minutes.

Now stir in the curry powder and the cream, season to taste then bring to a boil, take off the heat and serve with rice.

Curried Mutton

Curried Mutton is a traditional British recipe, based on Mrs Beeton’s recipe of 1861, for a classic dish of cold mutton fried with butter that’s mixed with flour and curry powder, moistened with stock and served with rice.

This is a traditional British recipe redacted from the redoubtable Mrs Beeton’s 1861 volume
Mrs Beeton’s Book of Household Management
, the classic Victorian cookbook.

Original Recipe

CURRIED MUTTON (Cold Meat Cookery).

713. INGREDIENTS.—The remains of any joint of cold mutton, 2 onions, 1/4 lb. of butter, 1 dessertspoonful of curry powder, 1 dessertspoonful of flour, salt to taste, 1/4 pint of stock or water.

Mode
.—Slice the onions in thin rings, and put them into a stewpan with the butter, and fry of a light brown; stir in the curry powder, flour, and salt, and mix all well together. Cut the meat into nice thin slices (if there is not sufficient to do this, it may be minced), and add it to the other ingredients; when well browned, add the stock or gravy, and stew gently for about 1/2 hour. Serve in a dish with a border of boiled rice, the same as for other curries.

Time
.—1/2 hour.

Average cost
, exclusive of the meat, 6d.

Seasonable
in winter.

Modern Redaction

Ingredients:

the remains of a joint of cold mutton (boiled or roasted)

2 onions, sliced into rings

115g (1/4 lb) butter

1 dessert spoon curry powder

1 dessert spoon plain flour

salt to taste

150ml (3/5 cup) stock or water

400g (3 cups) cooked rice

Method:

Combine the onions and butter in a pan and fry for about 10 minutes, or until nicely browned. Stir in the curry powder, flour and salt and stir to mix thoroughly. In the meantime slice the meat thinly (if you cannot do this then either dice or mince it).

Add the meat to the pan and fry everything gently for about 3 minutes, stirring constantly. Mix in the stock or water until smooth then bring to a simmer, cover and cook gently for 30 minutes.

Turn into a serving dish, garnish with a border of boiled rice and serve.

Goan Curry Paste

Goan Curry Paste is a traditional Indian recipe, based on the 1890s book,
THE INDIAN COOKERY BOOK
for a classic vindaloo-style intended to be a curry paste that could be sent abroad.

This is a traditional Indian recipe redacted from the 1890s volume
THE INDIAN COOKERY BOOK
, published by THACKER, SPINK & CO., CALCUTTA.

Original Recipe

65.–Curry Paste

Is likewise adapted for sending as a present to friends at home. It is made in the following manner:—Eight ounces of dhunnia, or coriander-seed, roasted; one ounce of jeerah, or cumin-seed, roasted; two ounces of huldee, or dry turmeric; two ounces of lal mirritch, dry chilies; two ounces of kala mirritch, black pepper, roasted; two ounces of rai, or mustard-seed; one ounce of soat, or dry ginger; one ounce of lussan, or garlic; four ounces of nimmuck, salt; four ounces of cheenee, or sugar; four ounces of chunna or gram dal without husk, and roasted. The above ingredients, in the proportions given, to be carefully pounded and ground down with the best English white wine vinegar to the consistency of a thick jelly; then warm some good sweet oil, and while bubbling fry in it the mixture until it is reduced to a paste; let it cool, and then bottle it.

N.B.—Great care must be taken not to use any water in the preparation, and mustard oil is better adapted than sweet oil for frying the mixture in.

Modern Redaction

Ingredients:

125g (4 1/2 oz) coriander seeds

30g (1 oz) cumin seeds

30g (1 oz) turmeric powder

30g (1 oz) dried red chillies

30g (1 oz) black peppercorns

30g (1 oz) black mustard seeds

30g (1 oz) ground ginger

30g (1 oz) garlic

60g (2 oz) sea salt

60g (2 oz) brown sugar

60g (2 oz) channa dhal or gram dhal

100ml (2/5 cup) white wine vinegar

4 tbsp mustard oil (or groundnut oil)

Method:

Place a non-stick frying pan over medium-high heat and use to separately dry fry the coriander seeds, cumin seeds, dried red chillies, black peppercorns, mustard seeds and the dhal for about 1 to 2 minutes, each, or until aromatic.

As soon as each spice is fried, turn into a bowl and dry fry the next spice. Turn into a spice or coffee grinder (or a mortar) and render to a fine powder then mix in the turmeric powder, ground ginger, salt and sugar. Blitz to blend then turn into a mortar and add the garlic. Pound to combine then add the white wine vinegar, a little at a time and pound and mix until you have a thick paste.

Heat the mustard oil in a frying pan, add the spice paste and when hot add the spice paste and fry the spice mixture until it is reduced down to a thick paste.

Take off the heat, turn into a bowl and allow to cool before storing in a jar or bottle.

Kid Goat Korma

Kid Goat Korma is a traditional Indian recipe, based on the 1890s book,
THE INDIAN COOKERY BOOK
for a classic curry of kid goat meat cooked in a spiced yoghurt base.

This is a traditional Indian recipe redacted from the 1890s volume
THE INDIAN COOKERY BOOK
, published by THACKER, SPINK & CO., CALCUTTA.

Original Recipe

52.–Kid Quorema

Cut up a fore-quarter or a hind-quarter of a kid into eight or ten pieces, and cook it exactly as directed in the foregoing recipe. This is rather preferred to mutton quorema.

Take two pounds of mutton, one pound of tyre or dhye, two chittacks of garlic, one dam of cardamoms, four chittacks of bruised almonds, four mashas of saffron, the juice of five lemons, one pound of ghee, four chittacks of sliced onions, one dam of cloves, one chittack of pepper, four chittacks of cream, and a quarter of a teaspoonful of ground garlic.

The following is the recipe of the quorema curry usually put on a gentleman’s table:—Two chittacks and a half or five ounces of ghee, one cup or eight ounces of good thick tyre, one teaspoonful of ground chilies, four teaspoonfuls of ground onions, one teaspoonful of coriander-seed, six small sticks of ground cinnamon, two or three blades of lemon-grass, one teaspoonful and a half of salt, a half teaspoonful of ground ginger, a quarter of a teaspoonful of ground garlic, eight or ten peppercorns, four or five ground cloves, five or six ground cardamoms, two or three bay-leaves, a quarter of a cup of water, the juice of one lemon, and twelve large onions cut lengthways into fine slices.

Take two pounds of good fat mutton, and cut it up into pieces nearly one inch and a half square. Warm the ghee, fry in it the sliced onions, and set aside; then fry all the ground condiments, including the ground hot spices. When quite brown, throw in the mutton and salt, and allow the whole to brown, after which add the tyre, the hot spices with peppercorns and bay-leaves, the lemon-grass, the water, and the fried onions finely chopped; close the pot, and allow it to simmer over a gentle coal fire for about an hour and a half or two hours, by which time the kurma will be quite ready. The blades of lemon-grass are never dished up.

Modern Redaction

The recipe for kid goat korma is broken into two pieces. I have given them both here and they are joined together in my modern redaction, given below. You can substitute lamb for the kid goat.

Ingredients:

1kg (2 lb 3 oz) kid goat meat, taken from the fore-quarter and cut into 3cm cubes

150g (3/4 cup) ghee or butter

250ml (1 cup) Greek-style yoghurt

1 tsp ground red chillies

4 tbsp onions, minced an pounded to a paste

1 garlic clove, minced and pounded to a paste

1 tsp coriander seeds

1 tbsp ground cinnamon

1/2 tsp ground ginger

2 lemongrass stalks, bruised

1 1/2 tsp salt

10 black peppercorns, ground

5 cloves, ground

seeds from 6 cardamom pods, ground

3 bayleaves

60ml (1/4 cup) water

juice of 1 lemon

10 large onions, cut lengthways into fine slivers

Method

Heat the ghee in a large pan. Add the sliced onions and fry for about 6 minutes, or until golden brown. Remove with a slotted spoon and set aside. Add the ground spices to oil remaining in the pan and stir fry until brown and aromatic. Now add the meat, salt, onion paste and garlic paste. Stir fry until the meat is well browned all over then add the yoghurt bayleaves, lemongrass and water. Stir to combine, bring to a simmer and cover the pan.

Cook gently for 80 minutes, or until the meat is tender and the sauce is thick. Remove the lemongrass, stir in the lemon juice and serve with rice.

Prawn Kofta Curry

Prawn Kofta Curry is a traditional Indian recipe, based on the 1890s book,
THE INDIAN COOKERY BOOK
for a classic curry of prawn meatballs cooked in a spiced stock base.

This is a traditional Indian recipe redacted from the 1890s volume
THE INDIAN COOKERY BOOK
, published by THACKER, SPINK & CO., CALCUTTA.

Original Recipe

37.—Prawn Cofta Curry

Beef, mutton, chicken, fish, crabs, and prawns are usually taken for making these curries. The ingredients for two pounds of meat or fish are as follow:—Lard, ghee, or mustard oil, three to four ounces; water or stock, five to six ounces; ground onions, one tablespoonful or one ounce; ground chilies, a quarter of a tablespoonful, ground turmeric, a quarter of a tablespoonful; ground green ginger, half a teaspoonful; ground peppercorns, half a teaspoonful; ground garlic, a quarter of a teaspoonful; garden herbs, finely chopped, one dessertspoonful; salt, one dessertspoonful; finely-grated bread-crumbs, three tablespoonfuls; one egg.

Get thirty to forty of the best prawns, and remove the heads and shells; wash the prawns well with salt and water, then pound them to a pulp; mix with it all the ingredients as directed for the beef cofta; make into balls, roll them in bread-crumbs, and set aside. After washing the heads, remove the shells, and bruise the contents with a dessertspoonful of unroasted coriander-seed; take all the juice, and fry it with the ground condiments; then put in the balls, brown them, add salt to taste, a cup of water, and simmer until they are cooked.

N.B.—Good mustard oil is preferable to using lard or ghee, and the ginger must be omitted; but the addition of a few bay-leaves and blades of lemon-grass would be an improvement. It is not usual to dish up the lemon-grass.

Modern Redaction

Ingredients:

500g (1 lb) king prawns (with shells)

1 tbsp fresh herbs, finely chopped

salt, to taste

1 1/2 tbsp fine breadcrumbs

1/4 tsp freshly-ground black pepper

1 egg yolk

breadcrumbs for coating

50g (2 oz) ghee or mustard oil

90ml (6 tbsp) fish stock or water

1 tbsp onions, pounded to a paste

1/4 tsp ground chillies

1/4 tsp ground turmeric

1/4 tsp finely-grated ginger

1/4 tsp minced garlic

1 dessertspoon coriander seeds

Method:

Remove the heads and shells from the prawns (set these aside). Chop the meat of the prawns finely then place in a mortar and pound to a smooth paste. Mix in the herbs, breadcrumbs and black pepper. Season to taste with salt and add a little stock to moisten. Work in the eggs then shape the mixture into balls. Roll in breadcrumbs to coat and set aside.

Take the prawn heads and place in a mortar with the coriander seeds. Pound these together to bruise them and add any of the remaining fish stock. Pass the mixture through a fine-meshed sieve and press down with the back of a spoon to extract all the juice.

Heat the ghee or mustard oil in a pan, add the spices, onion paste and garlic and fry for about 5 minutes, until browned. Stir in the prawn juice and the prawn meatballs. Fry until the meatballs are browned all over then add 250ml (1 cup) water and bring to a simmer. Cover and cook gently for about 20 minutes, or until the meatballs cooked through. Serve hot.