The Truth About Curries
May 15th 2007 10:47
Most people in the world today know what a curry is (or at least think they do). In Britain the term ‘curry’ has come to mean almost any Indian dish, whilst most people from the sub-continent would say it is not a word they use, but if they did, it would mean a meat, vegetable or fish dish with spicy sauce served with rice or bread.
Curry is a fashion of cooking: a process whereby meats, fish, vegetables or even fruit are cooked in varying combinations of ground herbs and spices, (known as curry pastes), to produce a stew like dish. All dishes that are hot and spicy are not curries, nor are all curries fiery hot.
Nevertheless, curries have evolved to suit international tastes and variations. Most commonly known groups of curries available these days are the Indian, Japanese and Thai curries. And with each group, each of them has a different set of curry spices/ingredients put into it and different methods of preparations.
The Indian Curry
I'm gonna have to be stereotyping an Indian curry this time, as it is easier than being politically correct and segmenting it into the many different states in India with it's specific curry version - cos there's just too darn many of them!
Curry powder is an amalgamation of some "Indian" spices best applied to the flavorings of curry dips and dishes, where a hint of curry influence is desired. So, an Indian curry doesn't need to have curry powder in it. However, curry leaves can be the core ingredient in giving it it's defined charactersitic of a curry. More commonly in Indian curries, you may find lentils and vegetables used, as well as meats. And these may be served with bread (chappati, naan or pratha) or rice (pilau, briyani or plain)
The Thai Curry
Red, Yellow or Green? Thai curries are generally coconut based and flavoured by the key ingredients in Thai curry pastes, which are mostly wet and fragrant: fresh chilies, lemon grass, galangal, garlic, shallot, kaffir lime, cilantro roots, and shrimp paste. And for the added "thai"-ness, fish sauce is used as a seasoning instead of salt.
The Red Curry derives it's colour from red chilli paste, the Yellow curry from fresh tumeric and the Green Curry from green chillis. Ultimately, lots of fresh and concentrated coconut milk is used as the base of the gravy, which gives it's rich and aromatic full bodiedness. Thai curries are thick and served with jasmine rice.
The Japanese Curry
One of the most popular dishes in Japan, it is commonly served in three main forms: curry rice, karē udon (thick noodles) and karē-pan (bread). It is usually thicker, sweeter and milder than its Indian equivalent and much quicker to prepare - Japanese curry is nearly always prepared by using a commercial curry roux.
A wide variety of vegetables and meats are used to make Japanese curry. The basic vegetables are onions, carrots, and potatoes. For the meat, pork, beef and chicken are the most popular, in order of decreasing popularity. Curry was introduced to Japan during the Meiji era (1869 - 1913), at a time when India was under the administration of the British East India Company. Because of that, curry in Japan is categorized as a Western dish instead of an Asian dish.
Personally, I favour the Indian curry only because of it's spiciness and original roots. As well as the wide range available. The Thai curries comes a close second, as a real comfort food -yummy flavourful coconut curry, served on steaming hot rice on a cold rainy day (oooh, yum!). And the Japanese curry... well, not really a fave a tall! Alas, to each it's own eh?
Curry is a fashion of cooking: a process whereby meats, fish, vegetables or even fruit are cooked in varying combinations of ground herbs and spices, (known as curry pastes), to produce a stew like dish. All dishes that are hot and spicy are not curries, nor are all curries fiery hot.
Nevertheless, curries have evolved to suit international tastes and variations. Most commonly known groups of curries available these days are the Indian, Japanese and Thai curries. And with each group, each of them has a different set of curry spices/ingredients put into it and different methods of preparations.
The Indian Curry
I'm gonna have to be stereotyping an Indian curry this time, as it is easier than being politically correct and segmenting it into the many different states in India with it's specific curry version - cos there's just too darn many of them!
Curry powder is an amalgamation of some "Indian" spices best applied to the flavorings of curry dips and dishes, where a hint of curry influence is desired. So, an Indian curry doesn't need to have curry powder in it. However, curry leaves can be the core ingredient in giving it it's defined charactersitic of a curry. More commonly in Indian curries, you may find lentils and vegetables used, as well as meats. And these may be served with bread (chappati, naan or pratha) or rice (pilau, briyani or plain)
The Thai Curry
Red, Yellow or Green? Thai curries are generally coconut based and flavoured by the key ingredients in Thai curry pastes, which are mostly wet and fragrant: fresh chilies, lemon grass, galangal, garlic, shallot, kaffir lime, cilantro roots, and shrimp paste. And for the added "thai"-ness, fish sauce is used as a seasoning instead of salt.
The Red Curry derives it's colour from red chilli paste, the Yellow curry from fresh tumeric and the Green Curry from green chillis. Ultimately, lots of fresh and concentrated coconut milk is used as the base of the gravy, which gives it's rich and aromatic full bodiedness. Thai curries are thick and served with jasmine rice.
The Japanese Curry
One of the most popular dishes in Japan, it is commonly served in three main forms: curry rice, karē udon (thick noodles) and karē-pan (bread). It is usually thicker, sweeter and milder than its Indian equivalent and much quicker to prepare - Japanese curry is nearly always prepared by using a commercial curry roux.
A wide variety of vegetables and meats are used to make Japanese curry. The basic vegetables are onions, carrots, and potatoes. For the meat, pork, beef and chicken are the most popular, in order of decreasing popularity. Curry was introduced to Japan during the Meiji era (1869 - 1913), at a time when India was under the administration of the British East India Company. Because of that, curry in Japan is categorized as a Western dish instead of an Asian dish.
Personally, I favour the Indian curry only because of it's spiciness and original roots. As well as the wide range available. The Thai curries comes a close second, as a real comfort food -yummy flavourful coconut curry, served on steaming hot rice on a cold rainy day (oooh, yum!). And the Japanese curry... well, not really a fave a tall! Alas, to each it's own eh?
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