first class mutton curry

This mutton and vegetable curry comes from the days of the Raj, when travelling by train was a great experience, but limited to the privileged. This first class mutton curry or railway curry was a dish served to the first-class passengers.

This recipe can be traced back to the mid-to-late nineteenth century. Which, at around 150 years old, is one of the more modern recipes in this book. Basically, it is the Indian Railways’ version of “meat and three vegs”.

You will need to start this recipe the day before to allow overnight marination. Or, you could be like the cook mentioned below and get up before dawn to start preparing this.

The tale behind the dish is wonderful, if myths can be believed. The story is something like this.

An army officer was travelling in First class, and lunchtime was approaching. At that time, First class travel was limited to the senior colonial bureaucrats and their families, British Army officers, and the occasional members of Indian royalty. In Second class you would find more junior members of the army and administration and well-to-do Indians. The Third class was for the rest. Mahatma Gandhi wrote an amazing book of articles called “Third Class in Indian Railways” which talks about some of his experiences in 1917. Well worth reading as it provides great insights into the man and the times he lived in.

You also need to know the way the trains were assembled back then. The First-class carriages were at the front of the train, with the First-class dining car behind them, then the kitchen, or galley car, next. The Second-class cars followed, then the remainder of the train with Third class and baggage. The galley car prepared both First and Second class food.

Back to our officer. From late morning, he could smell wonderful aromas coming from the galley car and he was looking forward to his lunch. He took the early sitting and was probably enjoying his pink gin when his lunch arrived.

His lunch was some boiled mutton chops, boiled potatoes, boiled carrots and boiled peas.

Apparently dismayed, and upon tasting this unpalatable offering, he took his plate, went into the galley, grabbed the cook, and told him to “do something with this”. Which the cook promptly did, and the officer returned to his seat with a steaming, spicy, aromatic revised version of his lunch. His lunch companions were not enjoying their lunch much either, and seeing what he had brought back they all insisted on the same.

What then happened was this new way of doing “meat and three vegs” went as viral as could be expected of the times. Every time they got onto a train, the original travellers insisted that it be prepared the way it was on the earlier journey. Others saw it, tasted it, and then also insisted upon it. Thus “first-class mutton curry” came to be.

You can see from the recipe that the actual cooking process is quite simple. Most of the work is done in preparation and marination – all of which can be done before getting onto the train. You can even prepare the fried potatoes in advance.

I can only imagine what it must be like to prepare and cook on a swinging and bumpy train, so a dish that is simple to cook, with no last-minute preparation is highly desirable. Mind you, working with an old-time pressure cooker in such conditions would have had its moments, too.

As an aside, my great-uncle was an engineer responsible for maintenance on the Indian railways. He is from that part of the family that stayed in India during and after Independence. He told me that he was such an aficionado of this dish that he could tell where the train had originated from, based on the taste of the dish.

This is the Eastern Railways version. The South-Western Railways used vinegar instead of tamarind. Use three tablespoons of brown vinegar and add water to make up one cup to replace the tamarind water. You can also add quartered tomatoes at the same time as the potatoes.

The curry is traditionally served with fresh-baked dinner rolls. Well, it is meat and three veg.