Indian-Style Chicken Curry
Chicken simmered in a golden curry sauce with onions and coconut milk, served with fragrant rice. A stopover journey transposed into French cuisine.
Chicken simmered in a golden curry sauce with onions and coconut milk, served with fragrant rice. A stopover journey transposed into French cuisine.
You think you know me through my scores; you forget that I first served on the seas, and that the East entered my memory through my nostrils before my ears. There, in the stifling heat of the trading posts, a plate of curry rose like a fanfare of spices. I kept the taste of that poor man's saffron we call curry, and I marry it at home with a chicken from our own land. Sauté it gently, sir: spice, like a theme, must be awakened before it is allowed to sing.
- •Chicken pieces — one chicken (flesh for simmering)
- •Curry (spice blend) — two spoonfuls (aromatic signature)
- •Onions — two (sauce base)
- •Coconut milk — one bowl (smooth creaminess)
- •Rice — as needed (accompaniment)
- •Butter or lard — a little (cooking fat)
Indian-Style Chicken Curry
Chicken simmered in a golden curry sauce with onions and coconut milk, served with fragrant rice. A stopover journey transposed into French cuisine.
Why this dish? As a young naval officer, Roussel sailed to India and Indochina; these stopovers marked him so deeply that they later nourished his opera-ballet *Padmâvatî* and his *Évocations*. The curry, brought back in the trunks of French sailors, is the memory of those crossings set on the plate.
You think you know me through my scores; you forget that I first served on the seas, and that the East entered my memory through my nostrils before my ears. There, in the stifling heat of the trading posts, a plate of curry rose like a fanfare of spices. I kept the taste of that poor man's saffron we call curry, and I marry it at home with a chicken from our own land. Sauté it gently, sir: spice, like a theme, must be awakened before it is allowed to sing.
Ingredients (period version)
- Chicken pieces — one chicken (flesh for simmering)
- Curry (spice blend) — two spoonfuls (aromatic signature)
- Onions — two (sauce base)
- Coconut milk — one bowl (smooth creaminess)
- Rice — as needed (accompaniment)
- Butter or lard — a little (cooking fat)
Ingredients
- Chicken thighs — 4 (flesh for simmering)
- Curry powder — 2 tbsp (aromatic signature)
- Sliced onions — 2 (sauce base)
- Fresh grated ginger — 1 tsp (liveliness)
- Coconut milk — 250 ml (creaminess)
- Basmati rice — 300 g (accompaniment)
- Butter — 30 g (cooking fat)
Method
- Brown the chicken pieces in butter, then set aside.
- In the same pot, sweat the onions and ginger, add the curry and toast for 1 minute to release the aromas.
- Return the chicken, pour in the coconut milk and a little water, season with salt.
- Cover and simmer over low heat for 35 to 40 minutes.
- Meanwhile, cook the rice in salted water and drain.
- Serve the curry with its sauce, with the rice on the side.
How it was made : The 'kari' appeared in French cookbooks as early as the 19th century, brought back by sailors and colonials; it was adapted with local products and commercial curry. Originally without hot chili in France, the bourgeois version remained mild, softened with cream or coconut.
The contemporary twist : Serve with small condiments in ramekins (raisins, toasted slivered almonds, diced apple) in the style of 'Indian rice' on ocean liners.
Albert Roussel · Charactorium
