Jalfrezi Cooking Sauce (485g)
£3.50
History
In the Chittagong hills in the former Indian state of West Bengal, now part of Bangladesh, a Buddhist tribe called the mogs can still be found. In the Anglo-Indian days of the Raj, 150 years ago, mogs became household cooks, particularly in the nearby Calcutta district. It was they who interpreted their memsahibs' demands for good old plain English cooking, such as roasts and pies and mountains of boiled vegetables, to be served in endless courses at lunches, dinners and banquets in stifling heat and humidity.
The Mogs enthusiastically cooked this strange alien food in totally unsuitable conditions, often without any form of oven or decent kitchen equipment. Naturally, given a chance, they added a little spice here and there, and a wonderful food style evolved. In those days there were no refrigerators, but the memsahibs allowed no wastage. So the cooks also had to devise ways to use up left overs for another meal. Jal frezi, became the name of a particular dish for using up cold cooked meat or poultry left overs, combining them in a spicy curry stir fry.
Today
Jal Frezi has evolved in recent times at the Indian restaurant to become a rapidly cooked stir- fry, which uses meat or chicken breast or prawns or vegetables. The chosen ingredient is sauteed or stir-fried with spicy gravy and lightly cooked onion, garlic, ginger, tomato, green capsicum, fresh coriander and chilli. The amount of chilli demanded is quite high, these days, and the dish is correctly rated 'Hot'.
In the Chittagong hills in the former Indian state of West Bengal, now part of Bangladesh, a Buddhist tribe called the mogs can still be found. In the Anglo-Indian days of the Raj, 150 years ago, mogs became household cooks, particularly in the nearby Calcutta district. It was they who interpreted their memsahibs' demands for good old plain English cooking, such as roasts and pies and mountains of boiled vegetables, to be served in endless courses at lunches, dinners and banquets in stifling heat and humidity.
The Mogs enthusiastically cooked this strange alien food in totally unsuitable conditions, often without any form of oven or decent kitchen equipment. Naturally, given a chance, they added a little spice here and there, and a wonderful food style evolved. In those days there were no refrigerators, but the memsahibs allowed no wastage. So the cooks also had to devise ways to use up left overs for another meal. Jal frezi, became the name of a particular dish for using up cold cooked meat or poultry left overs, combining them in a spicy curry stir fry.
Today
Jal Frezi has evolved in recent times at the Indian restaurant to become a rapidly cooked stir- fry, which uses meat or chicken breast or prawns or vegetables. The chosen ingredient is sauteed or stir-fried with spicy gravy and lightly cooked onion, garlic, ginger, tomato, green capsicum, fresh coriander and chilli. The amount of chilli demanded is quite high, these days, and the dish is correctly rated 'Hot'.