This is a traditional Anglo-Indian recipe redacted from the volume
THE INDIAN COOKERY BOOK: A Practical Handbook to The Kitchen in India (author unknown), published by: WYMAN & CO., HARE STREET CALCUTTA circa 1869.
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Original Recipe
16.—Chicken Curry
Take one chittack or two ounces of ghee, two breakfast-cupfuls of water, one tspful and a half of salt, four tspfuls of ground onions, one tspful each of ground turmeric and chilies, half a tspful of ground ginger, and a quarter of a tspful of ground garlic.
To suit the taste of those who like it, half a tspful of ground coriander-seed may be added, which should be roasted before being ground. Observe the following directions for cooking:—
Take the usual full-sized curry chicken, the price of which has latterly ranged from three to four annas, and divide it into sixteen or eighteen pieces. Warm the pot, melt in it the ghee, and immediately it begins to bubble throw in all the ground condiments, stirring until quite brown; then put in the cut-up chicken and the salt, and stir up to a good light-brown colour; then add the water, and allow the whole to simmer over a slow fire until the chicken is quite tender, and the liquid reduced to about half its original quantity. The operation of cooking or simmering will take from a half to three-quarters of an hour.
Modern Redaction
This is a classic gravy-curry (ie a wet curry that has a thick gravy base). It can be adapted for just about any kind of meat by simple substitution.
Ingredients
1 large, oven-ready chicken, cut into 16 serving pieces
60g ghee
500ml water
1 tsp salt
4 tsp onions, ground or pounded to a paste
1 tsp ground turmeric
1 tsp ground chillies
1/2 tsp ground ginger
1/4 tsp garlic, ground or pounded to a paste
