The Curry thread

[mickthecactus]

So, who likes a curry?

Very popular in the UK but what about those of you in the rest of the world?

My favourite food and I can cook it reasonably well but last night went out for one and had chicken chettinad. It's a hot curry and just about at my heat limit for curry but the heat didn't overwhelm the flavour which was good.

Generally I prefer spicy to hot but once in a while I fancy a bit of heat. Not mad on creamy curries though.

[Deleted]

I love curry. I can't imagine that we do not already have a curry thread of some sort here. I'll go looking and merge the threads if I find it.

after my search:

Amazing but there is no thread with curry in the title although there are two full pages of threads where curry is mentioned somewhere in the discussion, on this branch alone and without even looking at the other two food branches or the travel branches.

I keep my curry powder in a metal box that also serves as a sort of funeral urn in a way. It was given to me by a Pakistani colleague who died at age 50 already 15 years ago. I automatically think of him every time I refill from one of the crummy plastic bins in which the product is sold now -- or any time I make curry. This tin is stamped with an expiration date of May 1979 so it must date back to around 1975 or so. Since a picture is worth a thousand words...

[deyana]

I like curry, but not too hot. I had a LOT of it while in the UK recently. I'm glad to get back to the more bland food for now.

Like Mick, I prefer spicy to hot. I hate it when all you can taste is curry powder and chillies.

[mickthecactus]

Indeed, I searched for a thread and couldn't find one.

Love that tin - it's an ornament in it's own right.

But neither of you say if there are curry restaurants in France or Canada or what the reaction is to curry there.

Do you only make curry from powder though? Not from scratch?

[Deleted]

Oh god, I love curry, and we have brilliant restaurants in Vancouver, where we have the world's largest population of Punjabis outside of the Punjab. I have three Indian restaurants within a five minute walk of my place in Vancouver (a new Indian restaurant just opened in my husbands' neighbourhood in Seattle as well, although there aren't nearly as many Indians in Seattle as Vancouver).

I also make my own from scratch. I have a couple of brilliant cookbooks, but of course the internet is a great source. I love hot, spicy, creamy, sour, whatever. I love to make naan, paratha, raita and different rices. The only thing I don't make are papad and samosa - I'm not a big fan of deep-frying at home.

When I first cooked a curry, many years ago, I got instructions from a nice clerk at Patel's who handed me a package of curry powder, along with a packet of cardamom, cinnamon bark and cumin seeds and he told me how to fry the spices first. Now I make my own and I've never looked back (except for a brief foray into Coronation Chicken when I'm in the mood).

About 20 years ago in Vancouver the first "new Indian" restaurants opened and they were a revelation. No more unidentifiable meat swimming in identical brown sauce (how hot do you like it? means more chili powder added in the kitchen). Dishes came out of the kitchen with different textures, smells and colours as the chef would cook them for his family, and they're gorgeous. You can spend a lot of money on an Indian restaurant, or you can spend a little. I usually go for the in between. I have two places I call for delivery, which is great when I'm suffering from a cold and need a pick-me-up.

I love Indian food.

Here's Vancouver's most famous upscale Indian restaurant.

[Deleted]

Mar 19, 2015 13:35:36 GMT mickthecactus said:

Indeed, I searched for a thread and couldn't find one.

Love that tin - it's an ornament in it's own right.

But neither of you say if there are curry restaurants in France or Canada or what the reaction is to curry there.

Do you only make curry from powder though? Not from scratch?

Every town in France now has at least one Indian restaurant. Paris must have about a thousand of them. I live just off the edge of the Indian area of Paris, so I have a choice of at least 200 restaurants within 5 blocks or so. If you have never seen one of my Ganesha threads, take a look at this: Ganesha 2013

I don't make my own curry powder because it has too many ingredients. Referring to my tin: coriander seeds, turmeric, chillies, cumin seeds, fenugreek seeds, fennel seeds, trifala & nagkesher, cloves, cinnamon, garlic, curry leaves, salt.

[Deleted]

Lucky you Lizzy!!
We have only about 2 Indian eateries here in NOLA.
I love a good curry.
I have made some successfully but don't do them often enough.

NYC has great Indian eateries and markets. Most of them are confined to one section on the East side in the E 30's and a bit below.
I like to stock up on spices when I'm there because they are difficult to find here.

[Deleted]

You know what is a great source for spices? Health food stores. They often have bulk spices that you can buy a teaspoon at a time, and they tend to have a great selection (that's where I go in Seattle). And of course, the internet....

[mickthecactus]

I went to an Indian restaurant in NYC.

Our card got cloned........

[Deleted]

Yes, we have a Whole Paycheck Food store here that I go to for spices sometimes.
I would kill to have a Trader Joe's here and because NOLA is known for it's cuisine I don't understand why there aren't more of these markets around here.
It has always frustrated me.

[mickthecactus]

I can get pretty much all the spices I want at my local supermarket. Indeed, all the ones on K2's post other than trifala and nagkesher whatever they are. They sound like Indian solicitors.

[Deleted]

Well, apparently Trifal (or triphala) is an ayurvedic ingredient and may not be used solely for its flavouring:

Triphala powder is a composed of a blend from the dried fruits Haritaki, Bibhitaki and Amalaki. The blend is distributed into equal proportions to ensure maximum efficiency. These dried fruits are well known as harad, baheda and amla as a part of Ayurveda medicine.

And this for nagkesher:

A few months ago I was home visiting my parents and we had a lunch with a few other Maharashtrians. The conversation turned towards food, and in particular ingredients that are important for making authentic garam masala. Garam masalas vary widely by region in India, and the two ingredients in question were dagadful and nag kesar. I had never really heard of these spices so I did a bit of research to learn more.

If you search for “nag kesar” you may find Mesua ferrea, a hardwood tree that grows in India and surrounds. That’s not where the spice comes from, however. This sparked the most debate at lunch, but I think I’ve figured out that the spice is the bud of a different tree, Mammea longifolia. Both Mesua and Mammea are in the family Calophyllaceae, which probably led to the name clash.

I'm sure both of them could be excluded from a curry with no discernable difference in flavour.

[htmb]

I've always enjoyed eating curried foods, though most of the dishes, with only a couple of exceptions, have been very Americanized versions.

[Deleted]

Now I'm trying to remember the first time I ever ate a curry, even a fake one. Frankly, I have no idea when it might have been, but the oldest time that comes to mind was a Thai curry in a Chinese restaurant in Paris, perhaps in 1971. But since I already knew what a curry was at that time, at least enough to order it, there must have been one or two curries before then.

[Deleted]

Mar 19, 2015 15:49:46 GMT casimira said:

I would kill to have a Trader Joe's here...

You know, I have a love/hate relationship with Trader Joe's. Here in Seattle I have one a block away and I go there a lot. But my husband and I don't eat ready/processed meals so my shopping list is limited.

In decending order of preference: Wine, beer, cheese, olive oil, dairy sometimes, crackers, certain produce (lemons, eggplants, artichokes). They have a lousy selection of herbs and spices, by the way, and everything else is hit and miss, because some days they have it and some days they don't. Absolutely no walnuts yesterday, they pulled them all because of salmonella. But I can get plonk du Rhone for $6.99, and my husband likes the cheap beer. Oh, and I can get my Sam-E supplement for cheap.

[Deleted]

Mar 19, 2015 22:20:43 GMT kerouac2 said:

Now I'm trying to remember the first time I ever ate a curry, even a fake one. Frankly, I have no idea when it might have been, but the oldest time that comes to mind was a Thai curry in a Chinese restaurant in Paris, perhaps in 1971. But since I already knew what a curry was at that time, at least enough to order it, there must have been one or two curries before then.

Thai curries are another beast altogether and something I don't eat because they're all made with coconut milk. www.sherv.net/cm/emoticons/sick/vomiting-girl-smiley-emoticon.gif

[htmb]

I seem to remember the first authentic meal I had in an Indian restaurant. It might have been in San Francisco, but it was the '70's. Too long ago to remember the details.

My local deli makes a curried chicken salad that's fairly tasty, but I'm sure all they really do is dump in some curry powder and spicy mustard.

[Deleted]

Actually, Lizzy, I make more curries with coconut milk than with yogurt and sometimes I mix it half and half.

[lagatta]

I think coconut milk is up there with fresh coriander in the love it or hate it ingredients list.

I also use it for curries, because I avoid cow's milk, and find the goat's milk yoghurt I can buy is too expensive to cook with. And no, making my own wouldn't save me any money.

Montréal is far behind Vancouver, but there is a South Asian neighbourhood just east of mine, across a railway viaduct. One oddity is that there are several halal byow places...

Vancouver has become a great Asian city (East, Southeast and South Asian. Of course there are some to decry that change, but from the little I know of that city (only been there once, for a short work trip) it seems fairly harmonious.

I sometimes buy spices on Jean-Talon west, in the South Asian area, but I can find most of what I'd need for curries or anything else at Anatol, a bulk spice shop run by a Greek family. A coffee grinder is very handy for spice mixtures, and I've come to prefer it for easy-to-grind spices such as cumin or caraway. I have one for spices and another for coffee, both bought second-hand.

[mickthecactus]

Just been watching cooking in Pondicherry which was a fascinating mix of Indian and French techniques.

[cheerypeabrain]

I love spicy food, however the older my beloved gets the milder he likes his curries...so I'm more likely to make korma or butter chicken etc these days to cater for his delicate palate. My own favourite curry has always been biryani...last good one I had was at an Indian takeout in Dorset. With a high Indian/Pakistani population in Leicester you'd think that there would be some fabulous restaurants here...but I've not found one to match the ones we used to frequent in Luton and London back in the 70s.

[tod2]

Cheery, we here in KwaZulu Natal have the best curry in the world. Known as a "Durban Curry" . Durban is known as the curry capital of the world. Maybe not out of Durban…..I venture to add.
The curries the UK we enjoy are a totally different calibre to the ones we have here.
We have eaten curries in UK and my husband who is curry mad does not qualify them as enjoyable. Either too much coconut milk or not hot or flavourful enough for his taste. We do have Indian restaurants that serve all the different curries from around India but they are expensive and make you pay for every item. The curry, the rice and the poppadoms/naan or chutney is all individually priced. Works out to a very expensive meal.

Cheery, I make a mean biryani but a curry is so much easier. I cannot eat hot spicy curry and I think the Durban curry is damn hot. I prefer to add a chilli salsa on the side to hot it up.
My son on the other hand cannot have it hot enough but his partner tells me he couldn't eat last nights serving from a curry outlet - it was that flaming hot!

For my taste it should be spicy to a degree but very tasty with decent meat - not all bones and gristle -

[mickthecactus]

I don’t think heat necessarily makes a good curry.

Next time you are in London eat at The Cinnamon Club in the Old Westminster Library.

[tod2]

Tell that to a man from BOMBAY…! HA HA! Mick, take the day off and make this recipe: A bunny is the ultimate lunch. From poor people buying a quarter bunny to top CEO's in a large company enjoying it with a client using a newspaper as the tablecloth on the Mahogany boardroom table.

[kerouac2]

That is fascinating, but I like bread insufficiently.

[mickthecactus]

I’ve always wanted to try bunny chow.

[onlyMark]

There is a cafe called Lime'n Thyme an hour or so to the north of Lusaka and whenever I'd be going that way I'd have a bunny chow for brunch.

[tod2]

Mark, as previously posted about the type of curry we get here, I found this excellent video describing in detail what the difference is between our curry and the curries on offer overseas.

tinyurl.com/y36yvlku

[cheerypeabrain]

I'd like to try making a Durban bunny chow...looks absolutely delicious. Looks very hot tho...I guess that I could reduce the heat by adjusting the quantities of certain spices...

[tod2]

Oh definitely. I could never eat the heat of a genuine Durban curry served at a venue. To tell you the truth, I am amazed when Indian Restaurants overseas(UK) offer the customer the type or level of heat they would like! That's like adding a hot source or just more chilli powder. In a Durban curry these things are decided as one structures the curry. Not an added afterthought.

Cheery, Let me give you some good advice. Advice as I would serve up a Bunny Chow. Don't use ghastly factory made white bread that is the worst thing anyone could possibly buy let alone actually eat the stuff.
Buy a lovely Farmer's Loaf or some bread that is 'white' bread, (as that is the one thing you cannot change)…..No brown or health bread!! I use Chiabatta mini loaves or a whole Demi-baguette split sideways. They do it that way in Durban as its the cheapest, and unfortunately it's one of the most unhealthiest items in the bantu and Indian communities.

The really only hot spice is the chilli powder/and or some curry powder. I use RAJAH mild.

I'm sure on YouTube you will see many ways to serve it. Just remember to remove the soft white inner bread, then put it back on top. It has to be served with "Carrot sambal" Grated carrots mixed with slithers of chopped onion in a little sweet vinegar.. I also serve a full on sambal of chopped tomato, onion, green pepper and carrot - can add cucumber too, and of course diced green chillies. I always serve a curry with a sweet fruit chutney. I'm sure you have seen Mrs..Balls Chutney in your supermarket. That just makes it!

Bunny Chow can only be eaten with the hands tearing the bread away from the loaf and dipping it in the sauce. I will admit I use a fork or spoon to gather up the meat and potato part of the curry..