It's been a long time that something was posted here. Well, it's the Christmas season that's around the bend, and so, here's some food thoughts and a recipe.
By Frank Krishner
Dak Bungalow (or Bangla) cuisine, sadly, is
a near-forgotten culinary treasure that survives among a few remaining khansama
families and Anglo Indian households. Rajika Bhandari's The Raj on the Move
retraces some of these flavours from sooty kitchens served for the 'Sahib' and
the 'Mem'
One was a dish called 'Country Captain'. It
is also a dish that has travelled the globe and has thus taken on many
different forms: some globetrotters report consuming a dish called General
Chicken at a Chinese restaurant, only to discover that it was indeed an
unmistakable close cousin of the Indian Country Captain curry. In its very
basic form, it is a curry or stew of chicken, enhanced with turmeric and
chillies and bread, if any was available. Butter was not easily available, and
in its place the cook was quite likely to offer the unsuspecting guests some
red-currant jelly in a little bottle that has formerly contained pomade for the
hair.
Caramel custard, or 'custel brun' as it was
known among Indian servants, was to become another staple of the dak bungalow
dining table because of the easy availability of eggs and milk. Like 'sudden
death', it too acquired a nickname -- '365' -- because it was served almost
everyday of the year, or so it appeared. Some English travellers banned the
dessert at home because they were forced to have more than their fill of it
while staying at dak bungalows and eating at railway stations.
But some inspired cooks went above and
beyond, experimenting with known techniques and inventing a repertoire of
dishes unique to the menu a traveller could expect at these bungalows. Famed
khansamas such as Bernard of the Bilaspur Circuit House and Peter of the
Krishnaghur Dak Bungalow, who learnt to prepare a hybrid Anglo-Indian cuisine,
offered up memorable dishes that could almost border on sublime. One such dish
and a star of Anglo-Indian cuisine was the delectable chicken cutlet that
survives to this day and has taken on many variations, ranging from vegetarian
to mutton and paneer cutlets.
When Lady D'Urban, the wife of Sir
Benjamin, the former governor of Cape Colony, became gravely ill during her
stay at the Cape of Good Hope in 1840 and was unable to consume the average
meat dish, an ingenious Bengali cook from India accompanying the group came up
with a 'delicate little chicken cutlet' that was at once easily digestible and
delicious, so much so that the Lady consumed nothing else for the next several
days.
Country Captain
Cold meats and curries are sometimes
converted into this dish, the condiments for which are as follows:
Two
chittacks or four ounces of ghee, half a teaspoonful of ground chillies,one
teaspoonful of salt, a quarter of a teaspoonful of ground turmeric, and twenty
onions, cut up lengthways into fine slices.
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 chillies, 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.
Source: The Indian Cookery Book, 1948
Dak Bungalow Murgh Roast
Serves 4
Ingredients:
1 whole 3 1/2 lb chicken, cleaned (do not
remove the skin)
1/2 teaspoon salt
Juice of one lemon
2-inch piece of fresh ginger root, peeled
and chopped
2 cloves of garlic, smashed, peeled and
chopped
2 green chillies, seeded and chopped
1/2 teaspoon turmeric
2 tablespoons yoghurt
1/2 teaspoon garam masala
3 tablespoons ghee (clarified butter)
Method:
Prick the chicken all over then rub with
the salt and lemon juice well into the skin. Set it in a bowl and let it
marinate for an hour.
Place the ginger, garlic, chillies,
turmeric, yoghurt and garam masala in a food processor and process to a puree.
Pour this puree into a plastic bag and
place the chicken in the bag as well. Fasten the bag securely and shake it
until the chicken is well covered with the marinade. Refrigerate it for 4-5
hours, or even overnight.
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F (190
degrees C, gas mark 5).
Using either a wok or a saucepan large
enough to take a whole chicken, melt the ghee over high heat.
Drain the chicken from its marinade,
reserving any left over, and brown the bird on all sides in the wok. Use a pair
of wooden spoons or tongs to turn it.
Do not pierce it with a fork. Now place the
chicken in a baking pan and pour the ghee remaining in the wok over it.
Let it bake in the oven for 30 minutes,
loosely covered with a piece of foil.
Half-way through the baking time, spoon any
remaining marinade over the chicken, and then baste it with the juices and ghee
in the bottom of the pan.
Serve hot or cold.
Baked Rose Custard: An Update of the
Classic Caramel Custard
Serves 5
Ingredients:
1 pint milk
4 tablespoons sugar
3 whole, beaten eggs, plus 2 beaten yolks
1/2 teaspoon rose water
1 tablespoon flaked almonds
A few rose petals
A pinch of salt
Method:
Preheat the oven to 300 degrees F (150
degrees C, gas mark 2).
Blend the milk, sugar and salt together.
Beat in the eggs and egg yolks.
Add the rose water and mix well.
Pour into an oven-proof dish and bake for 1
hour.
Remove from the oven and sprinkle the top
with almonds.
Decorate with a few rose petals.
Source: Jennifer Brennan, Curries and
Bugles:
A Cookbook of the British Raj, 1990
By Frank Krishner
