The first curry I learned to make was the one Dad used to cook at home with leftover roast meat or sausages. I loved it and couldn’t wait to make it myself when I left home, serving it to my boyfriend and his sister, who took a night off from being a vegetarian because it looked so delicious.
These days, making a curry at home involves a trip to an Indian shop to get fresh spices such as coriander, cumin, turmeric, fenugreek, mustard and chilli, which you then toast and grind and introduce to some meat, along with copious amounts of coconut oil – thanks to Jamie Oliver. In Nana’s day, a curry was simply a sauce that you added to some cold meat.
I can find recipes dating back to the 19th century in my old cookbooks, and most of them require little more effort than using a bought curry powder and throwing in a few sultanas, chopped apple – if you’re really exotic – and stock.
For most Kiwis, our introduction to curry would have been this dish – made the day after a roast, to use up leftovers – and having just made it again myself, using leftover roast lamb, I can pronounce it delicious. It’s very easy for a quick work-night dinner.
This recipe probably came to New Zealand from England, where people became accustomed to curry because of the British colonial rule in parts of India from 1858 to 1947. The English used curry powders, as any fresh spices were almost unobtainable after the war.
I didn’t find a recipe for Royal Wedding Curry, but in 1953, Coronation Chicken was created for the banquet at Queen Elizabeth’s ceremony.
It was a messy looking thing made out of diced cold chicken and hard-boiled eggs, mixed with finely sliced onion and chopped apple, which you then smothered in a sauce made from mayonnaise and curry powder. I wasn’t tempted to try it, and stuck to the more traditional Kiwi curry sauce.
You can use this recipe for anything, including popular old dishes like curried eggs, curried brains, curried chops, curried oysters, curried mutton, curried fish, curried sausages, curried lamb’s liver and even curried lobster!
You could say that in Nana’s day there wasn’t much you couldn’t dress up with this sauce. The traditional accompaniment for such a curry was sliced bananas rolled in desiccated coconut and boiled white rice. For the meat, use leftover roast meats like lamb or beef, or you can cook some sausages and chop them up.
Cold meat curry
1 onion, chopped
1 apple, peeled and chopped
1 tbsp dripping – or olive oil
1 tbsp curry powder
1 tbsp flour
1/2 cup sultanas – more if you like a sweeter curry
150ml milk
1 tbsp chutney – a tomato chutney is perfect
1 tsp malt vinegar
500g cooked meat, chopped
2 cups beef stock
Gently fry the chopped onion and apple in a saucepan with the dripping or oil for five minutes.
Add the curry powder, flour and sultanas and cook for a few minutes over a medium heat.
Pour in the milk and stir until a sauce consistency develops. Then add chutney and vinegar.
Finally, stir in the chopped meat and beef stock. Cover with a lid and simmer gently for about 20 minutes.
Choose curry powder carefully, as they vary in heat. I used Gregg’s brand, and found that one tablespoon gave a nice hot curry. Buy a mild powder if you’re sensitive to the heat, and don’t store it for longer than 18 months, to ensure a good flavour.
Preparation: 5 min. Cooking: 20min. Serves: 2-4
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