In the magazine 'Harlequin's Woman', which was published in the mid 1970's, there was a column entitled 'Harlequin Cookery', written by Glennis Zilm. This excerpt is from volume 2, number 8. I think you will find it of interest. I couldn't do nearly as good a job recreating Prudence's wonderful meal as she did, so I will copy it here for you.

(See Essie's comments about the article at the end).

'...do you remember the mouth-watering meal Prudence Sinclair served to Hugo Macallister in...Where No Roads Go ( #784 )?
Because of an unfortunate first meeting, Hugo feels he has cause to dislike Prue, but circumstances force them to become partners in a remote New Zealand guesthouse. Hugo doesn't know Prue is an experienced hand at guesthouse cooking and makes some scandalous remarks before he finds out.
On their first day, a hard-working one, Prue makes lunch for the two of them and for Hohepa, the Maori bakery cook. She calls them to lunch and as they come Hugo says:

"Good. Suppose it's just bread and cheese today? A real working day snack. We won't expect anything flossy."
"It's on the veranda, she said dryly. "I didn't want you on my wet kitchen floor."
Hugo paused in astonishment. The table was beautifully set and a lush fern in a scarlet pot sat in the centre...On a silver tray stood three stemmed glasses of a delicious dessert with a striped jelly base, heaped-up chopped fruit, ginger, nuts and whipped cream.
Some of Hohepa's golden rolls peeped from a snowy napkin set in a bark basket she had found; the butter was in crisp curls, dewey-sweet with sprinkled water; the salad was a perfection of appetizing color, and a delicious smell of soup that had certainly never come from a packet wafted toward them.
Hohepa laughed at the look on Hugo's face as he sat down. "Surely, boss," he said,"when Prudence was in the kitchen, you didn't expect baked beans on toast!"
...Prudence brought in a Madras curry she had made from the cold meat she had found. It was circled with fluffy rice decorated with chopped tomato and green pepper, and rich with spices and dried fruits.

It's not easy to tell just what Madras curry Prue might have made, but after a few experiments I thought this one would be like it.

1 tart apple, diced
1 onion, coarsely chopped
1 garlic clove, minced
1/4 cup butter or margarine
2 tablespoons flour
1 teaspoon curry powder ( or more, to taste, if you like curry )
1 teaspoon salt
2 cups milk
1/2 teaspoon candied ginger
1/2 cups raisins
2 tablespoons chutney
3 cups of diced cold roast lamb ( almost any left-over meat may be substituted, but New Zealand lamb is the likely leftover that Prue found )

Cook and stir apple and onion in the butter until transparent ( about five minutes ). Remove from heat and mix in the flour, curry powder and salt. Reheat until mixture is bubbly, then remove from heat and stir in milk. Heat to boiling point, then add raisins, chutney and meat. Cover, and heat thoroughly, stirring occasionally, over a medium low heat.
Serve in a ring of boiled rice, decorated with chopped bits of tomatoes and green peppers.

This dish is a meal in itself and certainly doesn't need a soup as the first course unless you've spent a morning fixing up a large guesthouse.
Curries are usually served with several "side dishes" containing such accompaniments as chopped nuts, flaked coconut, chopped tomato, chopped green onion, sliced banana, seived hard-cooked eggs, chopped crystalized ginger, crisp bacon bits, chutney ( a "must" ),and, if you really want to impress, Bombay duck ( a special dried fish that can be sprinkled over the curry ).
In India, each accompaniment was handed around by a separate servant - and a "seven-boy curry" was the height of luxury.
Curry really is the name of the spicy sauce in which meat, chicken, eggs or vegetables can be cooked and not really the name of the dried spice we find on grocer's shelves. Curry powder is a mixture of other spices, such as ginger, coriander, cardamon, cayenne, tumeric, fenugrrek and so on. They range from the fiercely hot mixtures used in the Madras areas of India to the milder ones used in Indonesia.
Each spice company mixes the spices to their special recipe and you may want to try several varieties before you find the one your family likes best.

After a curry, the dessert should be fairly light. Many people just serve fruit, especially melon, but a nice jelly, such as Prue had ready, would be a pleasant meal-ender. I like this one - and I think Prue would have chosen a red jelly as the base.

Prepare strawberry jelly from a powdered mix according to package directions. Pour one half the liquid into the bottom thirds of tall glasses to set; leave the remainder to set in the bowl. When this has firmed, whip with an egg beater, then pile the jelly bits into the glasses, filling to two-thirds. Add canned fruit salad, top with whipped cream and decorate with chopped candied ginger and a few nuts.'

Here is what Essie Summers herself had to say about the article, in a letter to Harlequin Magazine.

"...Might I compliment Glennis Zilm for the extraordinarily clever way she produced the probable recipe for Madras Curry as included in my Where No Roads Go? Vol.2 No.8. The only way in which it differed from mine, was that I use water instead of milk (but milk is correct) and omit the garlic which I dislike. I'm looking forward to reading other authors' meals as translated by Glennis."