C46 Chicken Country Captain

The original recipe was very basic, simply being chicken fried in a chilli/turmeric paste and garnished with fried onions. It was served to the British in India when travelling by river in local Indian (country) boats. An original recipe from 1869 can be found in a recipe book called "The Indian Cookery Book" (see note 1). Nowadays it is commonly found in Southern States of America where it underwent a complete transformation with a variety of different spices added. The original recipe is nothing like curries we know and love today, so it is unsurprising that it has undergone such dramatic changes.
This offering is different again, but preserves the original name simply to show its distant origins. An excellent flavoursome curry.

Ingredients

For 1	Continued...
1 tbspn oil	¼ tspn ground coriander
50 gm onion (prepared weight)	¼ tspn ground cumin
50 gm red pepper (prepared weight)	300 ml c46 curry base sauce (see note 2)
2 tspn red or green chilli (chopped)	1 tspn tomato purée (see note 3)
½ tspn chilli powder	1 portion c41 precooked chicken
½ tspn fenugreek powder	¼ tspn salt
½ tspn fennel seeds	1 tbspn tamarind juice

Preparation

Break the tamarind block into enough small pieces to make 1 heaped tbspn (about 12 gm), soak in boiling water for at least 15 min, then press through a sieve to remove any debris and reserve the juice.
Chop the onion.
Deseed and finely chop the chilli.
Deseed and roughly chop the red pepper.
Grind the fennel seeds to a powder in a pestle and mortar

Cooking

Heat the oil in a wok or heavy pan and cook the onion, red pepper and red/green chilli, stirring regularly, for 2 min.
Stir in the chilli powder, fenugreek, ground fennel, ground coriander and ground cumin and cook, stirring, for 1 min, adding a little c46 base sauce if needed to prevent drying and burning.
Stir in the tomato purée and 40 ml of c46 base sauce and cook, stirring, for 1 min.
Add the chicken, salt and 80 ml of c46 base sauce and cook, stirring regularly, for 3 min, adding c46 base sauce as needed to maintain the desired sauce consistency.
Reduce the heat and stir in the tamarind juice and cook for 1 min.

Serving

Serve with rice and garnish with some freshly chopped coriander.

Notes

(1) Reference: "Curry - A Tale of Cooks & Conquerors" by Lizzie Collingham (Oxford University Press). This reference also has an old recipe for curried black rat - I kid you not! It is not recommended to try at home, or anywhere else for that matter.
(2) The c46 base sauce should be diluted with 100 ml of water and warmed before use. Other base sauces can be used, diluted or not, as the specific base sauce requires.
(3) The picture of ingredients shows fresh tomato, but tomato purée is actually used.

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