Hannah Glasse’s Butter Chicken (1774)

Hannah Glasse’s Butter Chicken (1774)

This  recipe is from Hannah Glasse’s Art of Cookery made Plain and Easy, was first published in 1747. Her book was very famous for its time and was a major reference for home cooks in England and its colonies for more than 50 years after the publication. It was revised several times during her lifetime, but to avoid bankruptcy she had to sell the copyright.  This recipe for the chicken curry was added in a later edition of the book published in 1774.

The recipe from the book is...

To make a curry the Indian way.
TAKE two small chickens, skin them and cut them as for a fricassee, wash them
clean, and stew them in about a quart of water for about five minutes, then strain
off the liquor and put the chickens in a clean dish; take three large onions, chop
them small, and fry them in about two ounces of butter, then put in the chickens and
fry them in about two ounces of butter, then put in the chickens and fry them together
till they are brown, take a quarter of an ounce of turmerick, and a large spoonful of
ginger and beaten pepper together, and a little salt to your palate and strew all these
ingredients over the chickens whilst it is frying, then pour in the liquor, and let it
stew about half an hour, then put in a quarter of a pint of cream and the juice of two
lemons, and serve it up. The ginger, pepper, and turmerick must be beat very fine.

Information source Net...

My recreated recipe is as follows....

Hannah Glasse’s Butter Chicken (1774)

Ingredients
1 kg Chicken , cut into pieces
2 Onions chopped
1 tbsp of grated Ginger
1 tbsp Fresh pound Pepper powder
1 tsp Turmeric Powder
Salt to taste
4 tbsp of Butter
1 cup Fresh  Cream
Juice of 1/2 fresh Lemon

Method
Add 3 cups of water and cleaned, washed chicken in a pot and boil it for 5 minutes. Strain the stock and keep it aside. In the same pot, melt 2 tbsp of butter, add the chicken and sauté it for 5 minutes. Take the chicken out and keep it aside. Add the remaining butter and fry the onions till translucent. Add the chicken back and fry both together till golden brown. Take ginger, pepper powder, salt and turmeric powder in a bowl, add 1/4 cup of the stock. Mix it. Add the paste to the chicken. Stir the chicken and sauté it for 2 minutes. Pour the remaining stock and cook till the chicken is tender. Add the cream. Mix it and simmer for 2 to 3 minutes on a low flame. Add lemon juice. Serve hot with Rice.