Powell's Famous Curry Recipe

Method

1. Take three or four onions of medium size (I like plenty of onions) and chop them coarsely.

   

2. Add two cloves of garlic (again to taste, I like garlic) and chop or press fine.
3. Put these to cook very gently in three tablespoons of olive oil. Cook till soft and just about to brown.
4. Add a tablespoon of flour and stir in.
5. Add curry powder (obviously varying amount according to strength of curry powder and taste of guests).
6. Cook very gently, making sure onions do not stick to pan.
7. Add a small apple, peeled, cored and cut into thin slices.
8. The longer you can cook at this stage the better.
9. Add three tomatoes cut small, with all their juice.
10. Add some stock and let the curry bubble and hiss. At first a pint of stock may seem too much, but as the curry cooks the stock will be absorbed, especially if the curry is made a day or two before. Again it is a question of taste as to how liquid you like your curry to be.
11. Add salt, a handful of raisins, a teaspoon each of sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, along with other mixed spices, a few thin slices of pimento cut small, a tablespoon of coconut, any herbs available, a tablespoon of mango chutney and a squeeze of lemon juice.
12. Pour the rest of the stock in gradually and stir.
13. This can simmer all day; I favour making a curry on, say, Thursday, to be eaten on Sunday.
14. If you leave the curry to cool it should be taken from the pan and put in a dish, then put back into the pan and warmed very slowly.
15. Half an hour before you propose to eat the curry, put the meat in, cut in fairly small chunks. It must have all the fat removed. Pork is always good, with chopped-up sausages of all kinds. Personally, I like mutton best and chicken least.

Notes

1. If you use uncooked meat it must be cooked with the onions and curry powder.
2. People are naturally inclined to use leftover meats for curry. This is perfectly all right, but if really good meat is used the result is correspondingly good.
3. Shrimps, prawns and eggs can be used instead of meat. If eggs are used they should be hard-boiled and set in halves on the curry.
4. Odds and ends of potatoes and vegetables may also be called into play, though the last should be used in moderation. A purely vegetable curry can be very good.
5. A dash of Worcestershire sauce and Angostura may be added during the cooking process.
6. Bombay duck is dried in the oven, but poppadoms are not at all easy to cook without making them greasy. A fish-slice is useful in holding them down and removing them at the right moment from the pan.
7. Fried banana (at least one per person) is good at relieving the hot taste of the curry, as is cucumber cut in small chunks and dressed with vinegar and brown sugar.
8. The curry when served up may be sprinkled with dried coconut.
9. Serve with boiled rice (keep separate from the curry).
   Allow half a cup of rice per head.
   Put in two cups of water for every cup of rice (I usually add about half a cup to allow for the rice not being too solid when tipped into the colander).
   Cover and boil.
   When cooked, pour cold water from the tap over the rice in the colander, separating it with a fork.
   You should previously have warmed a dish in which some melted butter has been placed.
   Pour the rice in and again separate with a fork.
   The rice should be put in a fireproof dish, which is then put under the grill or in a not too hot oven for a minute or two before serving.
10. Leftover curry may be used for mulligatawny soup.