INDIAN CURRY
Most of the curry powder or paste to be found in this part of the world is a mixture of ¼ of dried chilli, ¼ coriander, ½ dagatafolum; but the native curry cook uses a much larger variety of spices and likes to grind them himself fresh daily between two stones. The spices commonly used are:
Red chilli (roasted)
Coriander seed (roasted)
" " (fresh)
Cinnamon
Nutmeg
Baked garlic
Scraped cocoanut
Dagatafolum
Caraway seed
Yellow pimentos
Red pimentos
Cardamon seeds
Curcuma (saffron root)
A FRICASSEE OF CHICKEN
(Ceylon style)
Cut 2 good-sized chickens in 8 pieces. Season with salt and pepper; put in a saucepan with about 1 quart of cocoanut milk; add to this a little cinnamon, ¼ teaspoon fresh coriander, ¼ teaspoon of powdered saffron, a little red pimento, and boil until tender; at the last minute thicken the sauce with 4 yolks of eggs mixed well with ½ pint cocoanut cream; keep hot but do not boil, as the richness of the ingredients would make it curdle. As this curry is not hot it is served with a sambo which consists of small dishes on one tray containing such savories as plain scraped cocoanut, pimento paste, and chopped onion with a red pepper sauce.
To obtain cocoanut cream, use the same process as that for ordinary cream;—as for the milk: have 3 fresh cocoanuts scraped very fine to which you add 3 pints of water, stir together for a few moments, then strain, let this milk stand for 3 hours to obtain the cream.