Victorian Chicken Korma

Victorian Chicken Korma is a traditional Anglo-Indian recipe from the 1860s for a for a classic mild curry of chicken in a spiced curd or yoghurt base with lemon juice. The full recipe is presented here and I hope you enjoy this classic Anglo-Indian version of: Victorian Chicken Korma.

prep time

20 minutes

cook time

75 minutes

Total Time:

95 minutes

Serves:

4–6

Rating:

Tags : Curry Spice Recipes Chicken Recipes Fusion Recipes British 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

51.—Quorema Curry, Plain

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 tspful 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 tspful of
ground chilies, four tspfuls of ground onions, one tspful of coriander-seed, six small
sticks of ground cinnamon, two or three blades of lemon-grass, one tspful and a half of salt, a
half tspful of ground ginger, a quarter of a tspful 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.

53.—Fowl Quorema

Take a young full-ground tender fowl; cut it up as for an ordinary curry, cook it with all the
condiments in the proportions given, and observe all the directions laid down in recipe No. 51.

t>N.B.—Most Europeans give the preference to the fowl quorema.

Modern Redaction

Ingredients:

1 chicken, cut into serving-size peieces (or 1kg boneless chicken thighs, cut into cubes)
125g ghee
225g thick curds (or yoghurt)
1 tsp ground chillies
4 tbsp onions, pounded to a paste
1 tsp coriander seeds
2 cinnamon sticks
2 lemon grass stalks
1 1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp ground ginger
1/4 tsp garlic paste
10 black peppercorns
1/8 tsp ground cloves
1/2 tsp ground cardamom
3 Indian bay leaves
60ml (1/4 cup) water
juice of 1 lemon
2 tbsp almonds, pounded to a paste
4 lemons, cut into fine strips

Method:

Place a pan over high heat. Once hot, reduce the heat to medium-high. Add the ghee and when hot add the onions and fry for about 8 minutes until soft and nicely coloured. Remove with a slotted spoon and set aside.

Add the chicken and fry until nicely browned all over then add in all the spices and fry for 2-3 minutes more until the spices well browned (but do not allow to burn). At this point add the curds or yoghurt, black peppercorns and Indian bay leaves, the lemongrass and water. Finely chop the fried onions and add these to then stir in the pounded almonds.

Bring to a simmer, cover and continue simmering gently for 60 minutes, until the chicken is thoroughly cooked and the gravy has thickened.

Remove the lemmongrass, turn into a serving dish and bring to the table.

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.