Cheese Curry.

Last week I considered two food words that I love, and what you get when you put them side-by-side -  Cheese Soup. I also love ‘curry’, and, believe it or not, there is such a thing as Cheese Curry.

I have often wondered why there does not appear to be any anglicised version of Indian dishes based on paneer. I wondered if this was because British colonials were not enthusiastic about vegetarian food. The first two recipes I give you today suggest that perhaps what happened was an ‘Indianisation’ of that longstanding British favourite – Welsh Rabbit (see here, and here). Admittedly, these recipes are from Australian newspapers –but the cultural ethos in Australia at the time was clearly British. Now I just need to find some nineteenth century recipes for curried cheese.

Curried Cheese a Tasty Meal

"What can we have for a change?" is the question many a woman asks herself when the wcekend tea hour approaches. Next time try curried cheese.

Dissolved teacup of butter in a small saucepan, then add 1 teaspoonful of curry powder, a small chopped onion, and salt to taste. Stir in gradually half cup of milk, and allow to simmer until the onion is cooked. Then add 2 oz. of grated cheese, and stir until the mixture thickens. Serve on rounds of toast.

Advocate (Burnie, Tas. ) Tuesday 23 June 1931

Curried Cheese Savoury.

 Rub the yolks of 8 hard-boiled eggs through a sieve and cream them with 2oz finely grated cheese, a few drops of lemon juice and sufficient curry powder to taste. Stir in the pulp of a tomato, and add a few drops of mayonnaise. Spread thickly on fingers of hot buttered toast, and put into a warm oven to heat thoroughly. Garnish with finely chopped parsley and the hard egg whites cut into fine strips.

The Queenslander (Brisbane, Qld.) Wednesday 31 August 1938

The third recipe I give you is on a different plane altogether. I am not at all sure that I find it appealing.

Curried Cheese Ring With Eggs & Tomato.

Combine 1½ cups sieved cottage cheese, 1½ cups soft breadcrumbs, 1 teaspoon grated onion, 2 tablespoons melted margarine, 1 teaspoon curry powder, 2 egg yolks, salt and pepper. Mix well. Fold in 2 stiffly beaten egg whites. Pour into well-greased pint ring mould, place in pan of  hot water, and bake in moderate oven 1 hour or until set.

Add a pinch of marjoram or thyme to contents of a tin of condensed tomato soup; bring to boil. Add 6 sliced or quartered hard-cooked eggs and ½ cup sour cream to the tomato soup. Unmould cheese ring and fill centre with egg and tomato mixture.

Advocate (Burnie, Tas.) Saturday 29 September 1951

Quotation for the Day.

The whole object of travel is not to set foot on foreign land, it is at last to set foot on one's own country as a foreign land.

G. K. Chesterton.