A Salute to Recipe No 26

In the post independence era in India there were just a few recipe books. Women used notebooks to copy recipes of dishes that they liked or recipes that were real classics among family and friends. One recipe that was copied into many notebooks was Recipe No.26 - a recipe for Madras Chicken Curry. This recipe originated in the book, The Up To Date Cookery Book by Mrs. M. Hardaker published by C. Murphy for Thacker & Co. Ltd, Rampart Row. It was printed at Western Printers & Publishers, 15-23 Hamam Street, Fort, Bombay. Those were the days when there was no spot-UV or five colour printing! The year of publication is not mentioned but the book has been reprinted and for a limited period was available on Amazon UK.

Recipe No 26 had an abiding quality about it. Over six decades, nothing has changed about the ingredients or the method of putting this dish together. With foresight and for the convenience of many generations that would use her recipe, the author had thoughtfully placed some clarifications in brackets like that the measure chattak was the equivalent of two ounces and that a seer is equal to 16 chattaks. The country moved to the metric system of weights and measures but the conversion tables from pounds and ounces to kilograms were easily available. The author never imagined the advent of Google translation and so thoughtfully provided the Hindustani translation of each of the ingredients.

Mrs. Hardaker had the foresight to envisage that the foundation of Recipe No 26 would last for many years and would also be the base for several other preparations – And so Recipe No 27 is for a Mutton Curry, Recipe No 28 is for a Beef Curry, Recipe No 29 is for Mutton Curry with Vegetables and Recipe No 30 is for Chicken Curry with Tomatoes.  The Mutton Curry recipe in a footnote mentions: “Is made like the foregoing recipe, cut up in two inch squares; quarter seer of mutton instead (½ lb).” The Beef Curry recipe advises that it is made in every respect according to instructions in Recipe No. 26 only allowing the meat to simmer a long time. In the case of the Mutton Curry with Vegetables the novitiate is advised to put in the vegetables when the meat is partially cooked. “A little tamarind pulp or juice adds to the flavour and should be put in after the vegetables are cooked.” Recipe No 26 goes on to be the blueprint for Madras Sheep’s-Head Curry and for the Cofta or Ball Curry and for many others that follow in the Chapter Curries in Different Ways.

The book runs into several chapters and provides succour for the helpless for everything from equipment for the kitchen to selecting fish and meat.

Through every page of the book, Mrs. Hardaker talks directly to the reader in a language that is easy to understand and steps that are easy to follow. There is clarity and rationale and at the end of each recipe an unwritten pact with the reader that promises that they will be able to make the dish and put it on the table without tears in the kitchen. There are no visuals and no cameras to show her chopping or peeling and no deadlines dictated by time or advertising.  The only sad part of the Hardaker magnum opus is that it is near impossible today to find a copy of the book – and that becomes the reason to salute the author, her work and Recipe No 26!

The recipe is reproduced below verbatim:

Recipe No. 26 Madras Chicken Curry

Ingredients – Currystuffs: One dessertspoonful of coriander (dhunnia); quarter teaspoon mustard seed (rye); half teaspoon cummin seed ( jeerah); half teaspoon poppy seed (khus-khus); a couple of large pieces turmeric (huldee); a few dry red chillies (sooka mirrtchi); more if desired; half a dozen cloves of garlic (lusson); one piece of green ginger (uddruck); one large piece of dry coconut ( sooka Nariel) one medium sized onion (piaj).

Grind the above ingredients fine to a paste in some water (after browning the coriander seeds and taking out the husks), set aside.

Get a good sized chicken, one chattak (2 ozs) ghee, a small onion and salt to taste.

Method- Cut up the chicken in the usual way and clean and wash. Set a degchie one the fire or stove, put in the ghee and when boiling hot throw in the sliced onion and fry to a light brown, then put in the ground condiments and fry well until the smell disappears. Put the cut up chicken in now and keep frying, covering and opening the degchie alternatively until all the water is absorbed, when it is frying in the ghee, add salt to taste. Pour in sufficient water to cover the meat. Cook on a slow fire until tender and the ghee appears on the surface when it will be ready. Serve with boiled rice or bread etc. as desired. A little lime juice gives it a nice flavor; some coconut milk is also tasty.