Ingredients for a curry powder, from the diary of Henry Cooke, 1870-1873

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iBase ID

241916

Reference identifier

ZEC20140625002

Title

Ingredients for a curry powder, from the diary of Henry Cooke, 1870-1873

Place

Preston

Personal names

Henry Cooke

General notes

At the age of 18, Henry Cooke left Preston for India in 1870. He kept a diary of his time working as an engineer in the Indian Civil Service, mainly involved in canal construction.
His diary also includes a recipe for curry, which shows how quickly he developed a taste for exotic food:
"Ingredients for a curry
Take 3 tablespoonful of ghee; the same of duhee; dried chilies, turmeric, coriander seed roasted, dried ginger, each 1½ drachm; fenugreek roasted, poppy seeds, black pepper, chironjie nuts, of each 1 drachm; 12 sweet almonds, blanched; cocoanut ½ oz, 12 cloves, & half a lime; the whole of these ingredients, with the exception of the almond & nuts, are to be ground up separately, either on a stone, or in a mortar, with a sufficient quantity of water to form a paste - the almonds, chironjie and cocoa nut must be pounded together; & where these are not procurable, a tea-spoonful of sweet oil may be substituted. Curries may be acidulated with dried or green mangoes, green, ripe or salted tamarind, lime-juice or vinegar.
Cut up the fowl, meat or fish into its proper pieces, put them into a pan over the fire with some sliced onions & fry until brown in ghee or butter. When the onions & meat are clearly done, add the curry ingredients and simmer the whole gently with a little water, cocoanut milk, or broth if more gravy is required."
Apart from duhee (curdled milk), all the ingredients as well as the method are very familiar to us today. The use of chironji nuts might suggest a Bengali influence to this curry recipe. The experiences of Lancashire folk as administrators of Empire, as soldiers, missionaries and tourists encountering foreign cultures, has clearly left a lasting legacy in our taste buds.

Medium

Digital Image

Colour

Original image size

digital

Year of image

c1870

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Locator

DDX 576/2/2

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