Curries et all / was What do I cook with this?

[Guest guest]

> See that's the thing... I did eat at an Indian Restaurant and loved it.

> It wasn't the yellow curry that I've seen before. What was it??

 

Well, as curry is a general term for gravied dishes with a mix of spices, it'd

be hard to say,

right? LOL What I love about Indian cooking is its enormous variety - each

region

different, each religion/culture different. What I also enjoy so much is the

variety of

flavours - and no two people use the same mix of spices for the dish that is

made even if

it has the same name - a bit, I guess, like real cooking everywhere. It's also

great not to

be stuck, as a vegetarian, with a meat substitute (although those can be used to

look like,

taste like - very clever!) plus two veg as in western 'cuisine'.

 

Had a nice Indian lunch out yesterday at a new Indian restaurant in town (tipped

by a list

member who recently visited it!). Since it was only lunch, I did eat lightly:

pakoras, plus

pilaf, dal, dry potato and cauliflower curry, a mushroom and pea curry, and of

course

the cold salads, raita, pickles, chutneys, breads, etc. without which the meal

would have

been incomplete. Heaven help me when we go for dinner. Delicious!

 

Happily a curry freak.

 

Best love, Pat

[Guest guest]

Well what's green or red curry? Is that different from the yellow

kind? I'm really a curry idiot, truth be told. I have had a lot of

people tell me that the yellow kind is the " cheap " curry, and that there

are others that are amazing.

 

C

 

Pat wrote:

 

> > See that's the thing... I did eat at an Indian Restaurant and loved

> it.

> > It wasn't the yellow curry that I've seen before. What was it??

>

> Well, as curry is a general term for gravied dishes with a mix of

> spices, it'd be hard to say,

> right? LOL What I love about Indian cooking is its enormous variety -

> each region

> different, each religion/culture different. What I also enjoy so much

> is the variety of

> flavours - and no two people use the same mix of spices for the dish

> that is made even if

> it has the same name - a bit, I guess, like real cooking everywhere.

> It's also great not to

> be stuck, as a vegetarian, with a meat substitute (although those can

> be used to look like,

> taste like - very clever!) plus two veg as in western 'cuisine'.

>

> Had a nice Indian lunch out yesterday at a new Indian restaurant in

> town (tipped by a list

> member who recently visited it!). Since it was only lunch, I did eat

> lightly: pakoras, plus

> pilaf, dal, dry potato and cauliflower curry, a mushroom and pea

> curry, and of course

> the cold salads, raita, pickles, chutneys, breads, etc. without which

> the meal would have

> been incomplete. Heaven help me when we go for dinner. Delicious!

>

> Happily a curry freak.

>

> Best love, Pat

>

 

[Guest guest]

> Well what's green or red curry? Is that different from the yellow

> kind?

 

Whoops, I see what's happening here :=) You're talking Thai curries and I'm

talking Indian

and Sri Lankan curries.

 

>I have had a lot of people tell me that the yellow kind is the " cheap " curry,

and that there

> are others that are amazing.

 

Tell these people that there are many kinds of curry - and here I speak of the

finished

dish, not the mixed dried spices or the curry pastes - and are different in each

country

and in the various regions within the countries. Bald statements like yellow

curry is 'cheap'

curry is just silly. I hope you laugh next time someone says it. LOL

 

But perhaps they are referring to inexpensive commercial curry powders - spice

mixtures

- which sometimes contain rather more turmeric and rather less of some of the

more

expensive spices. Perhaps. You'll note that many recipes don't mention curry

powder at all

- just as well, because if that's all that's used instead of a different mix of

spices for each

dish everything would taste the same :=( Some recipes suggest a Tbsp of curry

powder

(sometimes naming the region it should be from) and then add in several other

spices. (I

keep some kinds of spice mixes - that I've measured and ground myself - in small

airtight

jars in a dark cupboard. You never know when they'll come in handy.) Actually,

now that I

think of it, I just posted a curry recipe that doesn't mention curry powder at

all - you just

add the spices freshly ground as called for. (Not many in that one.)

 

So this is where the problem lies: are we talking about the *spice mix* as

'curry' or the

finished gravied dish as a 'curry' - it should be the latter, but we all make

shortcuts in

speech now and then. And *then* which country's or region's curries (whichever

of the two

above you mean) are we speaking of?

 

Once we get that sorted out, then I think we can talk curry!!! Okay? We'll

convert you yet!

 

Best love, Pat