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Rice Curry with Chicken
1 1/2 lbs. spring chicken 2 tablespoons shortening 1 onion 2 tablespoons curry powder 1 teaspoon salt 2 tablespoons soy sauce 1 teaspoon sugar Clean and remove bones from chicken and cut it in small pieces. Brown it in fat, cook 10 minutes. Add chopped giblets and onion, then curry powder, salt and enough boiling water to cover. Simmer until meat is tender. Thicken liquid with little flour, and add soy sauce. Make a ring of cooked rice, place chicken mixture in center.
A straightforward braised curry from an era when "curry powder" meant one commercial blend and soy sauce was still a novelty on American shelves. The method is sound; only the quantities and a few assumptions need updating.
- Sugar is listed but never usedThe ingredient list calls for a teaspoon of sugar, and the instructions never mention it. Add it with the curry powder and salt, where it balances the spice blend.
- "Spring chicken"A young bird of about 1 1/2 to 2 lb, roughly a modern Cornish hen or a small fryer. Boneless thigh meat is the nearest substitute; a bird of this weight would have yielded well under a pound once boned.
- GibletsThe heart and gizzard, chopped fine; the liver turns bitter in a long simmer, so leave it out or add it in the last five minutes. Many supermarket birds no longer include giblets, and the dish works without them.
- ShorteningHydrogenated vegetable shortening or lard was intended. Any neutral oil or ghee browns the chicken just as well, and ghee suits the spices better.
- Bloom the curry powderThe point where this dish is won or lost. Let the powder fry in the fat with the onion for a full minute before the water goes in, otherwise it stays raw and chalky in the finished sauce.
- TimingTen minutes of browning is longer than needed; five to seven minutes over medium-high heat is enough for colour. Boneless pieces then simmer tender in 20 to 25 minutes, faster than bone-in pieces would.
- Thickening"Little flour" means about a tablespoon, slaked in cold water to a smooth slurry before it goes into the pot. Simmer two or three minutes after adding it so the flour loses its pasty taste.
- Soy sauce lastAdded at the end, as directed, so it seasons rather than reduces. Taste before adding more salt; two tablespoons of modern soy sauce carries considerable sodium of its own.
- YieldServes three to four with about 4 cups of cooked rice. For the ring, pack hot rice into a lightly oiled ring mould or bowl, then invert onto a warmed platter.