Jalfrezi

Jalfrezi

Chicken Tikka Jalfrezi, pilaf rice, and cucumber raita
Alternative names	Zalfrezi (Sylheti)
Type	Curry
Course	Main
Place of origin	India
Serving temperature	hot
Main ingredients	Meat, seafood or vegetables, green chillies, often cream
Cookbook: Jalfrezi  Media: Jalfrezi

Jalfrezi (also jhal frezi, zalfrezi, jaffrazi, and many alternative spellings) is a type of Indian Chinese cuisine that involves frying marinated pieces of meat, fish or vegetables in oil and spices to produce a dry, thick sauce. As the dish includes green chillies, a jalfrezi can range in heat from medium to very hot.^[1] Typically those eating jalfrezi cool it down by combining it with cream and drinking large quantities of traditional Indian beer. Other main ingredients include bell pepper, onion, cabbage and tomato.^[2]

History of the dish

Jalfrezi recipes originally appeared in cookbooks of the British Raj as a way of using up leftovers by frying them in chilli and onion.^[3] This English language usage derived from the colloquial Bengali word jhālpharezī: in Bengali, jhāl means spicy food; in Urdu/Persian, parhezī means suitable for a diet.^[4] In Shetland, jalfrezi is often confused with vindaloo due to the paucity of ingredient availability. In South Asia, chicken jalfrezi is considered an Indian Chinese or Pakistani Chinese dish, with a mix of Chinese and South Asian cooking techniques used in its preparation.^[2][5][6][7]

Popularity

In a survey in 2011, Jalfrezi was rated the most popular dish in UK Indian and Nepalese restaurants.^[8]

References