I was surprised to find a Chicken Curry recipe in a hundred-year-old St. Paul, Minnesota church cookbook compiled by the Sisters of St. Joseph. Chicken Curry is a traditional Indian dish, and I would not have expected it to be commonly made in the U.S. in 1925. But, maybe one of Sisters had been a missionary in India, or maybe I just did not realize how small the world already was becoming.
The Chicken Curry was lovely and had a very nice sauce.
Here’s the original recipe:
Two teaspoons of salt seemed like a lot, so when I updated the recipe, I changed it to 1 teaspoon.
The recipe called for covering the chicken with water and then thickening with flour. When I made this recipe I had a lot of broth, so a measured out 2 cups of broth and only thickened that amount.
The original recipe called for a whole chicken that was cut into pieces. These days rather than selling chicken parts for the entire chicken, they are often sold by the particular type (thigh, breast, leg), so when I made this recipe I decided to use chicken thighs.
Here’s the recipe updated for modern cooks:
Chicken Curry
1 3-lb. chicken cut into pieces (or 3 pounds of chicken pieces) – I used thighs.
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1 medium onion, thinly sliced
1 teaspoon vinegar
1 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon curry powder
2 tablespoons butter
1/4 cup flour
water
Put vegetable oil in skillet and heat using medium heat. When hot, add the chicken pieces; cook for 10 minutes. Turn the pieces of chicken. Make a space at one side of the skillet and add the onion slices. Cook for another 10 minutes.
In the meantime, combine vinegar, salt, curry powder and 1 cup water in a small bowl. Then add to the chicken and onions. Add enough additional water to just barely cover the chicken. Bring to a boil and cover. Cook until the chicken is tender (about an additional 20 minutes).
Remove lid and measure out 2 cups of broth. Set aside.
Melt butter in saucepan then stir in the flour. Gradually add the broth while stirring constantly. Bring to a boil and when the mixture has thickened remove from the heat. Strain the sauce.
To serve, put the chicken pieces on a plate. Top with the sauce. Serve with rice.
Addendum: After this post was published, a reader discovered that I’d previously done a post in 2019 with another Chicken Curry recipe. I added “Recipe 2” to the title of this post. Not quite sure how I had forgotten doing the original one. In any case, both versions are nice. Here’s the link to the other version:
It looks really good. I guess it was not a problem to get curry power.
Apparently curry powder was readily available back then.
Wonderful to read this 100-year-old recipe, Sheryl. I, too, am surprised to see the Sisters of St. Joseph in MN in 1925 making curry, which makes this recipe even more special. Your 2025 adaptations are great.
It’s nice to hear that you enjoyed this post.
I read the recipe and thought this is pretty straightforward and the. I saw “add the liver and gizzards” and reread the ingredients. A whole chicken. I think my adaptation today would be to use a chicken gravy packet instead of flour to thicken the broth. It sort of looks like curry gravy in your pic.
When they said a “whole chicken” they meant the whole chicken. I can’t imagine using the liver and gizzards in a recipe like this today. Using a chicken gravy packet is a great suggestion.
That recipe also could have been donated bya parishioner. A lot of church cookbooks ask for recipe donations.
You’re absolutely right. It could have been donated by a parishioner. A lot of church and community cookbooks identify who donated each recipe. I wonder why the sisters decided not to do that.
I don’t know.
The fact that it asked for curry powder tells me it was a common ingredient back then!
Agree – that makes sense.
It’s typical of older curry recipes just to use a generic curry powder, isn’t it, when nobody woud dream of doing that these days. We all have the full battery of cumin seeds, turmeric, coriander seeds and the rest. But I’m prepared to believe this was a tasty dish!
That’s a good point. Modern recipes generally would call for the individual spices.
And Yet some of us have all the individual spices and the curry powder!
True!
I’m also one of those people who has both the individual spices and curry powder in my kitchen cabinets.
Have a look at this link for a southern dish ‘Country Captain’ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Country_Captain. “In 1991, The New York Times columnist Molly O’Neill researched the origin of the dish known as country captain, which had been a steady feature in southern cookbooks since the 1950s. Working with Cecily Brownstone, they discovered that the dish originally published in the United States in the pages of Miss Leslie’s New Cookery Book published in Philadelphia in 1857″ I also happen to know that the first Indian restaurant in England (1810) pre-dates the first fish and chip shop by 50 years (1860). Still, to have made it to Minnesota! I do think that McCormick’s (1889) curry powder is somewhat sweet rather than hot and would be an exotic but not too spicy flavor.
This is fascinating. Thanks for researching it. Chicken Curry has had a much longer history in the U.S. that I realized. Minneapolis and St. Paul were flourishing manufacturing and trade centers a hundred years ago so it’s probably not surprising that recipes popular in other parts of the U.S. had made it to Minnesota.
Well you made this recipe in 2019 from a 1919 Proctor and Gamble cookbook using lard to fry the chicken. That recipe had current jelly with curry powder to make the sauce. The Sisters of St Joseph still have two locations in St Paul, Minnesota. My daughter used to live there. That’s a beautiful part of St Paul in the Twin Cities.
LOL – Thanks for catching that. I’ve done a lot of posts over the years, but I would have thought that I’d remember doing the original post. 🙂 I updated the recipe title to indicate that this is “recipe 2” (and I also updated the 2019 post to say that it is “recipe 1”). I also added a note at the end of this post indicating that it is the second version of Chicken Curry that I’ve posted.
It’s wonderful to hear that the Sisters of St. Joseph still have locations in St. Paul.
Curry powder has been around for many years and they still sell it here. My children always say it reminds them of Chinese chip shop curry and they went through a phase of always asking me to make it…I’m sure it was tasty a good idea to use thighs 🙂
Curry powder is a nice shortcut. I like how spice blends make it easier to make some dishes that otherwise would be more complex.
I love the brevity of the recipe, and the fact that you just have to know how to cook pretty much
cheers
sherry
Many recipes from a hundred years ago lacked detail. There seemed to be a general assumption that recipe users had a fairly high level of knowledge about cooking processes and techniques.
That does seem to be the case. When I look at these old recipes, I see women were expected to know how to cook and bake. There isn’t a lot of instruction.
When I was learning to cook, I used my mom’s 1956 second edition Betty Crocker picture cookbook. It taught me so much and I learned the why behind so many things I had been taught by my grandmothers and mom.
A lot of recipes still assume a lot of cooking knowledge, but they do include more detail.
Similarly to you, Betty Crocker cookbooks played a large role in my growth as a cook. When I was a child, I had a Betty Crocker children’s cookbook that I loved; and, I received a Betty Crocker cookbook as a shower gift when I got married that was my go-to cookbook for years (and I still frequently refer to it).
I inherited my mom’s cookbook and treasure it. The last time I was in a book store, I looked at the modern Betty Crocker cookbook and was very disappointed. It was nothing like the one I had.
Agree about modern Betty Crocker cookbooks being a disappointment. My old loose-leaf Betty Crocker cookbook is falling apart. A few years ago, I decided to buy a new Betty Crocker cookbook. But, I didn’t like it and ended up just putting it on a bookshelf in the family room, and reverted to using my old worn-out cookbook.
Don’t you love the simplicity of the old recipes? I have numerous church recipe cookbooks, they have the best recipes! Thank you for sharing.
I agree – Church and community cookbooks are the best. The people who contribute the recipes generally share their personal favorite recipes which leads to the compilation of a great set of recipes that are generally practical to make and tasty.
A “heavenly” recipe with a symphony of flavors and simple ingredients!