There were usually four main ingredients; Onion, Chicken, Banana, and Sultanas; as well as all the spices.
Quite recently I made a Chicken curry, which we later decided would have benefitted hugely from the addition of some Banana, so last night, when I made the same Chicken curry again, I decided to do just that.
I haven't eaten a Banana enhanced/enriched curry since the 1960's, when such things were still popular, so this was more a 'memory lane' meal than gastronomy. The above is a dreadful photo, but I think you can just about make out the slices of Banana.
I must say, it was really good; we both loved it. My memory was correct.
25 comments:
Just two nights ago I was trying to remember what went in the sausage curry I grew up with! I wondered if there was banana in addition to the sultanas. There must have been! Although the spices came courtesy of Keen's, haha.
Your dinner reminds me of a dish i used to make.
Rijsttafel. We always had many small dishes of bananas, nuts, sambal, toasted coconut, raisins, vegetables to add to rice and chicken curry and whatever was leftover chopped finely. It was so much fun the kids loved it.
It wasn['t a true "Ricestafel" as we called it but so much fun.
parsnip
I think my father used Sharwoods Madras Curry Powder; it was almost the only one available in those days. Very exotic!
'Westernised' foreign dishes can often be better than the original.
I still make that - usually with leftover lamb.
Reminds me of my mother's Currys too.
I make a similar curry now and again, just for me
We shall from now on, it was so good.
Food snobs would throw their hands up in horror, but it really is delicious.
I always have sliced banana with my curries, always!
Here we never use banana in cooking, it seems interesting to me and I'll try it.
That just proves what I've been missing. My father was right.
We use Prunes and Apricots mostly, but that's with N African influenced dishes.
In the '70s we always had bananas with curries and a South Indian friend who taught us to make curries always included bananas.
I just looked in my Mother's copy of Mrs Beeton out of interest to see what she says and she mentions bananas as widely used in Indian curries along with apricots and almonds.
I think it was more a fashion in those days. These days it would probably be frowned upon by Indian cooks, but I couldn't care; it's a good addition to a chicken curry.
My mother made a revolutionary break-through when she stuck pieces of Cheddar cheese and pineapple on the end of cocktail sticks. My father would not eat curries because he said that Indians had lower standards of hygiene than us. We lived near Woking - the focus of Indian restaurants outside London in the South.
I've never had a curry with bananas in it, but why not. I love a sweet curry with sultanas.
Hmmm, I wonder if those 1970s Vesta packet curries had banana in them?
Sometimes we remember things as being much better than they really were. In this case, I am glad that was not the case and you enjoyed a ‘blast from the past’.
I'm rather sorry to note that the 'Mumbai Escorts' (that I've just deleted below) made no comment about Bananas. I would have thought it their perfect opportunity!
You're probably too young Andrew. This was very much a 60's/70's thing. I'm hoping for a revival.
Weren't they dreadful. They made a sort of Chinese meal too; even worse!
It's back on the menu here!
Looks good. I have never made a curry but this looks an easy one to start with - dare I ask that you post the recipe in one of your posts please?
Basic, everyday, curries are very simple. They usually start by frying onion until very slightly browned, adding meat, adding spices, then finishing with flavourings to taste (Lemon, salt, pepper, yoghurt, etc). More complex curries obviously involve a lot more ingredients.
I Love Curries and yet I've never had any with Banana enhancing the dish... now MUST try it!
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