GRANDMA’S COUNTRY CAPTAIN CHICKEN

GRANDMA’S COUNTRY CAPTAIN CHICKEN

Grandma’s Country Captain Chicken was a very popular dish during Colonial times. In those days, authentic well-fed, homegrown country fowls and chickens were used in its preparation,. The dish would take at least 2 hours to cook over a firewood oven till the meat was sufficiently tender, but the curry when done, would be rich and delicious. Legend has it, that this wonderful curry dish was first prepared by the grandmother of a British Army Captain especially for her favourite Grandson using her own home grown Country Fowls. Hence the name Grandma’s Country Captain Chicken
However, there's another version which says that this particular dish was cooked on Country River Steamers and Boats, making use of the water fowls and ducks. .It was purported to be served as a special dish at the Captain's table for his special guests which could have been the British Officers at the time. Here is my Nana’s recipe for Grandma’s Country Captain Chicken

Grandma’s Country Captain Chicken
Serves 6 Preparation Time 30 minutes
1 kg chicken cut into medium size pieces
3 large onions sliced finely
2 teaspoons chillie powder
1 teaspoon turmeric powder
2 tablespoons oil
Salt to taste
1 tablespoon ginger garlic paste
2 sticks cinnamon
4 cloves
2 cardamoms
6 or 8 whole pepper corns
1 Dry Red Chillie broken into bits
2 teaspoons chopped garlic
2 tablespoons tomato puree or tomato sauce

Heat oil in a pan and fry the onions and chopped garlic lightly. Add the chicken and mix in the ginger garlic paste. Saute for about 5 minutes on medium heat. Add the chillie powder, turmeric powder, cinnamon, cloves, cardamom, red chillie, pepper corns, tomato puree / sauce and salt. Mix well and cook for a few minutes till the chicken becomes firm, Add 2 cups of water and cook till the chicken is tender and the gravy is quite thick.
Garnish with chopped coriander leaves. Serve with rice or bread.

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

ANGLO-INDIAN PRAWN VINDALOO

ANGLO-INDIAN PRAWN VINDALOO
A simple dish of Prawns or Shrimps cooked Anglo-Indian Style. A tasty and delicious  lunch or Dinner Dish. The tangy taste of tomatoes and vinegar will surely make you take second helpings.

Serves 6   Preparation Time  45 minutes

Ingredients

½ kg fresh prawns shelled and de-veined

2 medium sized onions chopped

2 teaspoons chillie powder

2 teaspoons cumin powder

2 teaspoons ginger garlic paste

2 tablespoons vinegar

Salt to taste

2 tomatoes pureed or chopped finely

2 tablespoons oil

Wash the prawns well and keep aside.  Heat oil in a pan and add the onions and fry till light brown.  Add the giner garlic paste and sauté for a while. Add the chillie powder, cumin powder, tomato and salt and fry for some time.  Add the prawns and the vinegar and mix well.  Add a little more water and cook till the gravy is slightly thick and the prawns are cooked. Serve with rice or bread.

This Recipe is featured in my Cookery Book ANGLO-INDIAN CUISINE - A LEGACY OF FLAVOURS FROM THE PAST. 

ANGLO-INDIAN PLAIN PEPPER WATER

ANGLO-INDIAN PLAIN PEPPER WATER

Pepper water ( Rasam in local parlance)  invariably forms part of the afternoon meal in Anglo-Indian Homes. It’s usually had with plain white rice and accompanied by either a meat, poultry, or a seafood dish that is generally a dry fry. Pepper water should always be of a watery consistency. Since its good digestive as well, some people like to drink a cup of pepper water after a meal. Here is a simple step by step Recipe for preparing tasty Anglo-Indian Pepper Water. This recipe is featured in my Recipe Book ANGLO-INDIAN CUISINE - A LEGACY OF FLAVOURS FROM THE PAST. 

Serves 6 Preparation Time 20 minutes

Ingredients

2 large tomatoes chopped

1 teaspoon pepper powder  

1 teaspoon chillie powder

1 teaspoon cumin powder

½ teaspoon turmeric powder

½ teaspoon coriander powder

Salt to taste

½ cup tamarind juice extracted from a small ball of tamarind or 2 teaspoons tamarind paste   

Cook all the above with 3 or 4 cups of water in a vessel on high heat till it boils. Reduce the heat and cook on low heat for about 5 or 6 minutes. Season as follows with the under mentioned ingredients which should be used whenever a dish is to be seasoned/ tempered.

FOR THE TEMPERING / SEASONING:

I small onion sliced

2 red chilies broken into bits

1 teaspoon chopped garlic crushed roughly

½ teaspoon mustard seeds

A few curry leaves

2 teaspoons oil

Heat the oil in a suitable vessel and add the mustard seeds. When they begin to splutter, add the curry leaves, onion, crushed garlic and red chilies and sauté for a few minutes.  Pour the cooked pepper water into this and simmer for 2 minutes.  Turn off the heat.  Serve hot with rice and any dry side dish such as Meat Pepper Fry, Meat Jalfrazie, Chicken Fry, Fried Fish or Prawns or a piece of fried Salt fish 

LIVER AND ONION FRY

A simple Anglo-Indian Dish. The sliced onions enhance the flavour and taste of the diced sauteed liver. It can be served as a side dish with Steamed Rice and Pepper water or Dhal or a starter / snack as liver on toast which was the rage during the British Colonial Raj. It tastes best when served 'Sizzling Hot'. By the way, even Doctors  recommend eating liver, as its rich in Iron, Copper, Minerals, Vitamins especially Vitamins A and B 12 for those suffering from anemia and low BP

LIVER AND ONION FRY 

Serves 6   Preparation Time 40 minutes

Ingredients

½ kg lamb / mutton /beef  / Chicken liver sliced thinly

4 large onions sliced

1 teaspoon chillie powder

1 teaspoon pepper powder 

½ teaspoon turmeric powder

2 tablespoons oil

1 teaspoon ginger garlic paste

Salt to taste

1 teaspoon cumin powder

½ teaspoon coriander powder

Wash the liver well. Heat the oil in a pan and sauté the onions lightly. 

Add the sliced liver, ginger garlic paste, salt turmeric powder, chillie powder, cumin powder, coriander powder and pepper powder and mix well. 

Cover and simmer on low heat till the liver is cooked.  

Add a little water while cooking if gravy is required.  

Serve hot with Rice and Pepper Water, or as a side dish with Toast or bread.  

BRIDGET WHITE - ANGLO-INDIAN CUISINE - THE NEW INDIAN EXPRESS

Back with the British Bite 

By Priya Bala     Published: 24th January 2015  

Food is not unlike fashion and the old often comes back into vogue. Right now, you could say Anglo-Indian cuisine is the culinary equivalent of shift dresses, winged eyes and platform heels. The food born at the confluence of the British and Indian cooking traditions was once confined to the Anglo-Indian community, now dwindling in numbers in this country, as many leave for foreign shores. Lately, though, fare from Kolkata’s Bow Barracks, British Raj clubs and railway colonies elsewhere is enjoying the sort of popularity that causes gastro pubs, standalone restaurants and even five-star outlets to put it on their menus.

They borrowed the title of the unique food festival from the well-known glossary of colloquial Anglo-Indian words and phrases which came into use during the British rule. “We kept some of the dishes authentic, while tweaking others to turn them into bar foods,” says Chef Varun. So the popular panthras—mince-stuffed crepe rolls that are crumb-fried—stay true to the original, while the Chingree Samosa is an innovation of prawn Balchao enclosed in flaky pastry and served with mango chutney. To drink, what could be more appropriate than a gimlet or a pink gin of the kind the memsaabs may have sipped a century or more ago.

With more restaurants coming forward to showcase Anglo-Indian cuisine, Bridget White, author of seven cookbooks, including Anglo-Indian Cuisine: A Legacy of Flavours from the Past and Anglo-Indian Delicacies, is much in demand for her expertise. “While it may, on the surface, seem to be merely about adding an Indian touch to a British dish, or the other way around, Anglo-Indian food is subtle and nuanced,” says Bridget. “The combination of spices for each dish is different and must always be freshly prepared if you want to stay true to the original. Masalas are used to enhance the key ingredients, not to distract from them,” she says. Authenticity is also destroyed when too many regional flavours influence the dishes, she says, adding that these are challenges for the chefs attempting to recreate Anglo-Indian fare.

One of the recent Anglo-Indian food festivals she helped with was at the Taj West End in Bangalore, which celebrated 125 years with a series of events celebrating its British Raj origins. The hotel’s executive chef, Sandip Narang, put together a menu that included such favourites as Mulligatawny, Liver and Onions, Potato Captain and Railway Mutton Cutlet. “We also created special menus to be paired with top-of-the-drawer single malts,” says Chef Narang, who revived little-known dishes and gave others a signature twist.

Chef and restaurateur Subhankar Dhar of the award-winning Esplanade in Bangalore, while working with Bengali classics, is also a specialist in the unique cuisine of Kolkata, which has strong Anglo-Indian influences.  “Anyone growing up in Kolkata as I did, knows and loves the dishes of the Anglo-Indian community there. I remember, in particular, the amusingly titled Bubble and Squeak, Steamroller Chicken – which was flattened and crumb-fried – Bengal Lancers’ Prawn Curry and Potluck Casserole, all of which we ate in the homes of our Anglo-Indian friends,” he says. As the cuisine is still considered niche, a full-scale restaurant may not be commercially viable. “However, food festivals and special menus are a great way to celebrate these dishes,” adds Subhankar.

PORK PEPPER SAUSAGES

RECIPE FOR PORK PEPPER SAUSAGES
Ingredients
1 kg Ground pork (add a sufficient amount of small finely cut pieces of Fat to the mince)
2 pieces cinnamon about 1 inch each 
4 cloves 
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg powder
Salt to taste
2 teaspoons pepper corns 
1 teaspoon garlic paste
2 tablespoon chopped coriander leaves (optional)
Sufficient quantity of casing for stuffing the sausages

Roughly powder the cinnamon, cloves and pepper. Mix all the ingredients together well and stuff into the casing. Grill or Fry when required. These sausages should be kept in the refrigerator and used up within 2 weeks as no preservatives have been used.

BROWN WINDSOR SOUP

BROWN WINDSOR SOUP

Brown Windsor soup is a hearty meat soup which is a legacy of the British to us. Its generally prepared with either Beef or Lamb Steaks, and vegetables such as carrots, parsnips, turnips etc. Traditionally a cup of Red Wine or Madeira is to be stirred into the soup before serving it at the table. This soup is a whole meal in itself with a couple of slices of toast.

 Serves 6     Preparation and Cooking Time : 1 hour

Ingredients  

2 tablespoons butter

½ kg tender beef or lamb cut into steaks

2 medium onions, peeled and sliced

2 carrots, peeled and sliced

2 or 3 parsnips or turnips peeled and sliced (optional)

1 cup cauliflower florets

2 tablespoons plain flour / maida

2 pieces of cinnamon

3 tablespoons butter

Salt to taste

1 teaspoon ground pepper / pepper powder

1 teaspoon chili powder

1 cup Red wine (optional)

Cut the beef and mutton into small very pieces and then roll in the flour. Heat the butter in a suitable pan and add the sliced onions and cinamon and fry till the onions turn light brown. Add the cut vegetables and  the beef or mutton steaks and stir fry for about 5 minutes till the meat turns brown.  Add all the other ingredients and about 8 to 10 cups of water and simmer on low heat for about one hour or till the meat is well cooked. Remove the meat and keep aside. Puree the soup through a sieve or strainer. Mix in the cooked meat and a glass of red wine or maderia. Serve the soup piping hot with assorted breads and rolls. 

CHRISTMAS MEMORIES - DECCAN HERALD METRO LIFE 23RD DEC 2014