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Victorian Chicken Country Captain

Victorian Chicken Country Captain is a traditional Anglo-Indian recipe from the 1860s for a for a classic dish of chicken cooked with chillies and turmeric that's finished with fried onions. The full recipe is presented here and I hope you enjoy this classic Anglo-Indian version of: Victorian Chicken Country Captain.

prep time

20 minutes

cook time

50 minutes

Total Time:

70 minutes

Serves:

4

Rating:

Tags : CurryChilli RecipesChicken RecipesFusion RecipesBritish Recipes

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.

Original Recipe

General:
The country captain is usually made of chicken, and occasionally of kid and veal. Cold meats and
curries are also sometimes converted into this dish, the condiments for which are as follow:—Two
chittacks or four ounces of ghee, half a tspful of ground chilies, one tspful of salt, a
quarter of a tspful of ground turmeric, and twenty onions, cut up lengthways into fine slices.

41.—Chicken Country Captain

Cut up in the usual way an ordinary curry chicken. Warm the ghee and fry the sliced onions, which
when brown set aside; fry the ground turmeric and chilies, then throw in the chicken and salt, and
continue to fry, stirring the whole, until the chicken is tender. Serve it up, strewing over it the fried
onions.

Modern Redaction

Ingredients:

1 small, firm, chicken, cut into serving pieces (a Cornish hen is good)
115g ghee
1/2 tsp chilli paste
1 tsp salt
1/4 tsp ground turmeric
5 onions, sliced into thin strips

Method:

Heat the ghee in a skillet or frying pan. Add the onions and cook over medium-high heat for about 8 minutes, or until nicely browned. Remove with a slotted spoon and set aside.

Stir the chilli paste, salt and turmeric into the remaining ghee. Fry for 2 minutes then add the chicken. Fry fairly briskly until the chicken is nicely coloured then reduce the heat.

Cover the pan with a lid and let the chicken simmer in its own juices for about 40 minutes, or until the chicken is tender and cooked through.

Turn out onto a serving dish, garnish with the fried onions and serve.

Find more Victorian Recipes Here and more Curry Recipes Here. For the original version of The Indian Cookery book see my The Indian Cookery Book main page.