This recipe for curry calls for chutney as one of the ingredients. These days we tend to think of chutney as a preserve or sweet condiment, but historically chutney can vary in sweetness, texture, ingredients and level of spice. Chutney comes from India and Pakistan, and can be vastly different from one side of the region to the other. In the 19th century – while India was still a British colony – certain sweeter chutneys were exported back to England, and this is probably what Maggie Ritchey was familiar with. They were mainly made with fruit, vinegar and sugar, boiled down to a reduction. Depending on the type of chutney available to you, it could kick up the spice on this dish, so be careful.

Curry

Put into a saucepan a piece of butter the size of a small egg, let it melt, add to it one onion finely minced & 2 apples minced. Cook these together until soft, then add 1 tablespoonful curry powder, 1 tablespoonful flour, 1 teaspoonful chutney, pinch salt, 1 tablespoonful lemon juice, & 1 pint water or stock. Let these cook til quite soft, rub them thoroughly through a sieve, return to the saucepan, make quite hot & throw in either 1 lb veal, rabbit, mutton, lean pork fish, or fowl cut up in neat joints or pieces. Let this simmer very slowly by the side of the fire 1 1/4 hours. Serve on a hot dish with plenty of boiled rice in a separate dish. Note. In making curry from cold meat, make the sauce in the same manner, then make it very hot, throw in the cooked meat, allow it to remain in the saucepan by the side of the fire for about 15 min to get hot through, but on no account allow it to boil. Crated cocoa nut, 2 tablespoonful in with the apples etc. is a great improvement.