Jalfrezi

A stir fry made to use up cold meat, with the technique brought by Chinese labourers in Assam.

Chicken, Lamb. Not vegetarian — contains chicken, lamb.

Ingredients

• 600 g cooked chicken or lamb, in strips
• 2 onions, in thick wedges
• 2 green bell peppers, in squares
• 1 red bell pepper, in squares
• 6 green chillies, slit lengthways
• 3 tomatoes, in wedges
• 3 tablespoons ginger and garlic paste
• 2 teaspoons ground cumin
• 2 teaspoons ground coriander
• 1 teaspoon turmeric
• 1 tablespoon tomato puree
• 1 teaspoon garam masala
• 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
• 4 tablespoons oil
• a handful of coriander leaves

Method

1. A STIR FRY MADE TO USE UP COLD MEAT, WITH THE TECHNIQUE BROUGHT BY CHINESE LABOURERS IN ASSAM. Its article is unusually specific about both: jalfrezi WAS CREATED IN BENGAL DURING THE BRITISH RAJ TO USE UP LEFTOVER MEAT BY STIR FRYING, and THE STIR FRY TECHNIQUE WAS BROUGHT TO INDIA BY CHINESE LABOURERS WORKING IN ASSAM TEA PLANTATIONS IN THE 1830s. The dish CONSISTS OF A MAIN INGREDIENT SUCH AS MEAT, FISH, PANEER OR VEGETABLES, SPICED AND STIR FRIED, OFTEN WITH CHILLI PEPPERS.
2. SO THE MEAT GOES IN ALREADY COOKED, AND THAT IS THE POINT. Yesterday's roast, cut in strips. A jalfrezi made from raw meat is a perfectly good curry and it is not what the dish was for, and the leftover meat is also why the pieces are strips rather than cubes.
3. AND ITS ARTICLE IS HONEST ABOUT WHERE IT IS EATEN. In a 2011 survey it was rated the most-ordered dish in UK Indian restaurants, having taken over from chicken tikka masala -- and THE DISH IS RARE IN RESTAURANTS IN INDIA. Worth knowing before anyone claims it for either country.
4. EVERYTHING MUST BE CUT BEFORE THE PAN GOES ON. A stir fry gives you no time. Onions in wedges, peppers in squares the same size, chillies slit but whole.
5. THE PAN HAS TO BE AS HOT AS IT WILL GO AND NOT CROWDED. Smoking oil. In two batches if the pan is small -- vegetables piled in together steam and go limp, which is the one thing this dish must not be.
6. ONIONS AND PEPPERS FIRST, TWO MINUTES, STILL CRUNCHY. They should be scorched at the edges and raw in the middle. Take them out.
7. THEN THE PASTE AND THE GROUND SPICES, THIRTY SECONDS, THEN THE MEAT. Ginger and garlic with the cumin, coriander and turmeric in the hot oil, then the strips tossed through to heat them.
8. VEGETABLES BACK IN, TOMATOES AND PUREE, ONE MINUTE MORE. Garam masala and coriander off the heat. There should be almost no sauce -- just enough to gloss the pieces -- which is what separates a jalfrezi from every other restaurant curry.

Our own recipe. This one was written for this site rather than taken from anywhere, so there is no source to point you at. The quantities and the order of the steps are choices, not the only way to do it.

Filed under India · All recipes