ANGLO-INDIAN CRAB VINDALOO

                                     Crab Vindaloo

Serves 6   Preparation Time 45 minutes

Ingredients

6 to 8 medium sized crabs or 5 big ones cleaned and shelled

2 medium sized onions chopped

2 teaspoons chillie powder

2 teaspoons cumin powder

2 teaspoons garlic paste

2 tablespoons vinegar

Salt to taste

2 tomatoes pureed or chopped finely

2 tablespoons oil

Heat oil in a pan and add the onions and fry till light brown.  Add the garlic paste and sauté for a while. Add the chillie powder, cumin powder, tomato puree and salt and fry for some time.  Add the crabs and the vinegar and mix well.  Add a just a little more water and cook till the gravy is slightly thick.  

OLD HAND WRITTEN RECIPES FOR PALAU - MY GRANDMOTHER'S RECIPES

MY GRANDMA’S OLD HAND WRITTEN RECIPES FOR PALAU

 I have a small collection of cookery books published in India in the late 1800s and early 1900s. There were scores of this type of book written for British housewives who were new residents in India. The books are mainly concerned with cooking British food under Indian conditions but some of the books include chapters on cooking curries, kebabs, koftas and  ‘PULOW” (which we now spell as “PALAU’)

I also have a good collection of hand written recipes on bits and pieces of paper that are now falling apart, that have been passed down through generations. There are many recipes where the quantities of ingredients for a particular recipe are mentioned as ‘3 pice ginger, 6 pice cuscus (Kus Kus), 3 pi e cuddalay, ½ anna coriander leaves,41/2 tin pots of water, etc etc. This was exactly how recipes were written in those early days only because, the ingredients for each meal / dish was procured or bought FRESH each day. The corner shops would sell the ingredients in small quantities and the house wife in those days would send the domestic help with a small chit stating the item to be purchased with the price (how many pies or annas) and the cooking would then start for the day. None of the fresh ingredients were bought in bulk and stored as refrigerators etc were yet to be invented. Only the Meat Safe and Doolies were used to keep cooked food safe from Cats and mice over night

 In those days the quantities for each ingredient of a particular dish was specified by its price or in the vernacular weight. The “Tin Pot” for measuring water is the old Cigarette Tin that was used as a measure. I’m appending a photograph of a meat Palau from my grandmother’s collection where her quantities for the ingredients are a mix of all the old measurements of weight as well as in annas. I’m sure many of us have similar recipe books which our grand mom’s wrote in those early times bearing testimony to the long period of evolution that out Anglo-Indian Cuisine has passed through many hundreds of years to what it is today. Hats off to our ancestors! Just what would we have done without them if they hadn’t recorded for posterity, the pioneering dishes of our Community. 

NANA'S BO BO FRY / GRANDMA'S CHICKEN FRY

Ok its now time for an simple and tasty Chicken Fry which I fondly call as NANA'S BO BO FRY. This recipe was my Mum's recipe (which was  a hand me down from her mum)  for a simple Fowl (Chicken) Fry. As little children growing up in Kolar Gold Fields, we loved this Chicken fry  and it was always known as Nana’s Bobo Fry. (We reared our own hens and poultry in those days so the Country Fowls or hens took longer to cook but tasted heavenly). I've adapted the recipe to suit the Farm variety of Broiler chickens  we get now a days. The butter or ghee that was added at the end together with fried curry leaves and raw Onion Rings enhanced the taste of the dish. This versatile dish could be served as a starter or appetizer or as a side dish with Rice. 

Serves 6   Preparation Time and cooking 45 minutes

Ingredients

1 medium sized chicken washed and cut into fairly big pieces

2 teaspoons ginger garlic paste

2 onions ground into a paste

 1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon chillie powder

1 teaspoon cumin powder

2 tablespoons vinegar

2 tablespoons oil

1 tablespoon butter or ghee

8 or 10 curry leaves and 2 dry red chillies to garnish (Fry in a teaspoon of butter or ghee) 

Rinse the chicken and make deep cuts in the flesh with a sharp knife. In a bowl mix all the ingredients mentioned above and marinate the chicken with this mixture for 2 hours. Transfer to a suitable pan and cook on low heat till the chicken is tender and semi-dry. Mix in a teaspoon of butter or ghee and let the dish rest for about 15 minutes before serving. Garnish with fried curry leaves and broken red chillies . Serve with raw Onion Rings as a side dish or a snack