Jalfrezi
Jalfrezi is a curry dish popular in Britain. It was created in Bengal during the British Raj to use up leftover meat by stir frying, a technique that was brought to India by Chinese labourers working in Assam tea plantations. It consists of a main ingredient such as meat, fish, paneer or vegetables, stir-fried, and in its modern form served in a thick spicy sauce that includes green chilli peppers.
History
Jalfrezi recipes appeared in Anglo-Indian cookbooks during the British Raj as a way of using up cold meat leftovers by frying them with chilli and onion to make a curry. This ignored the fact that eating leftovers was taboo to many Hindus. One story is that it was the invention of Marcus Sandys, governor of Bengal. The English-language usage is derived from colloquial Bengali jhāl porhezī: jhāl means spicy hot; porhezī means suitable for an abstinent diet.The stir-frying technique used for making Jalfrezi was introduced to British India from Chinese cuisine as Chinese labourers migrated to Assam to work in the tea plantations during the 1830s. This meant it was much quicker to make than traditional curries. In Indian restaurants in Britain in the 20th century, "jalfrezi" could mean a standardised curry sauce with a little extra curry powder and food colouring.
Dish
Jalfrezi is made with green chili peppers, onions, and tomatoes. Vegetables or meat are then stir-fried into the mix, using fresh meat such as chicken breast, which may, as in the versions by Jamie Oliver or the Hairy Bikers, be marinated in yoghurt. The British Indian chef Atul Kochhar proposes a version using duck, while Madhur Jaffrey offers a recipe using beef. In Britain, the resulting spicy curry has a thick gravy, and in a survey in 2011, was rated the most popular dish in UK Indian and broader South Asian restaurants.In India, The Hindu proposes a "quick fix" chicken jalfrezi without a gravy; the meat is cooked in butter flavoured with chilli, coriander, cumin, fenugreek, garlic, ginger, onion, and tomato, and cooked "till dried".