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Friday Food and Drink Post: Currying Favor
I love a nice bowl of curry! Unfortunately, I get the same reaction to those words in my married-into family as I get when I exclaim “I love a nice piece of fruitcake!” So to indulge myself, it’s necessary to either go out with friends who share similar tastes, or to hook up, one way or another, with my brother and sister in the UK so that we can have a pig-out. (The Worcestershire area has some very nice Balti restaurants (I prefer the beef), and some of the better Indian restaurants, which offer more of a variety, do lovely curries. I’m not a fan of “curry and chips.” Nor of most “fish and chips” as they manifest themselves in the land of my birth, either, but that’s a whole nother story).
In the matter of curry, I’m pretty indifferent to, and catholic in my tastes, as far as the country of origin and heat output. A nice Thai panang (red or green curry), or Kiang Som Kung (sour shrimp curry) is scrumptious. Vindaloo, ramped up to a heat scale of about nine out of ten is delicious, as is Makhani, a mild chicken dish. Stretching the definition a bit, I’ll throw in a nice jambalaya here as well. The common factor with most curries, worldwide is rice, although the varieties change from place to place–plain long-grain, basmati, jasmine and so on. The subtle flavor of the rice enhances the spices in the curry, or in the case of plain rice, provides a nice contrast, and it’s important to use the right one for the right dish. Or so I think.
I’ve just returned from a trip to Pittsburgh to help my friend Andrea, who’s had a bit of a run of bad health lately, plant some flowers in her garden. She and I had a delightful afternoon last week at a local ice-cream parlor, and we followed that up with a visit to Bedner’s Farm and Greenhouse, just down the road. It’s a lovely nursery of the plant variety. It’s the only other place, besides luxury fabric stores in Italy, and sundry exotic spinning and knitting supply places all over the world, where I have to worry that the credit card company might be calling Mr. She to “turn me in” for an overabundance of retail therapy before I make it home. But I digress.
Andy and I had a delightful morning and afternoon, starting with delicious fresh bagels, cream cheese and coffee, followed by gardening (her garden is lovely; a haven for birds and wildlife, almost right in the middle of the city of Pittsburgh), and then she took me to lunch.
At a new and nice little curry place on Banksville Road. I asked for Vindaloo, as hot as they could make it. The young woman taking my order wasn’t sure I knew what I was asking for, and was a bit tentative about writing it down.
Andrea assured her I did, and that “hot as you can make it” was exactly what I wanted.
You see, she was with me in Washington DC a few decades ago, on a trip to the Smithsonian to see the Mesopotamian Art treasures from the Louvre which were on display. The trip on which I ate the hottest Vindaloo I think the world has ever seen. And she’s been trying to recreate that experience for me ever since.
Now that’s a real pal.
When you’re in the mood for a good curry, what do you order up?
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True. But if I really want heat, I’ll add sriracha or a bunch of chilis. ;)
@latapada, Peru has the Special Operations lead for PANAMAX 2020. It’ll require, I’m sure, a couple trips down there for planning and coordination. I got it. I’m in. I’m looking forward to it.
I love curry. I especially like green curry, but I admit I’m a wuss–medium to mild is more my style. We haven’t made it at home, but had plenty in Thailand. And here, like @latapada, we always ask “American or Thai hot”? We finally know they always mean American hot. They bring extra heat for Jerry on the side..
This, right here, is what makes Ricochet, despite its occasional shortcomings, totally worth it for me.
My introduction to curry was in Thailand. I started my career with XOM there in 1981 and worked there over a 3 year period rotating to and from Houston, TX on a 28-28 schedule. An unusual curry I was introduced to was khao soi, a northern thai curry noodle soup – mad with soft and crunchy egg noodles. I first had this at a hotel we frequented in Khon Kaen, Thailand, not far from the drilling rig I worked on. We would often go there for lunch. The proprietor, a very tiny Laotian man, who we knew as Mr. Mu, would often be found at the outdoor restaurant when we arrived. He was always dressed in a 3-piece suit, with the underlying vest looking like a wool, winter vest. On this particular day it was brutally hot and there was Mr. Mu in his finest, eating and dripping sweat – whether due to the weather or the spiciness of the food, we did not know. We asked him for some recommendations and he suggested what he had at his table: khao soi and laab moo (a minced pork salad). It was delicious and due to the spiciness of the laab we ended up sweating as much as Mr. Mu was. Good times and good food.
Sure. I like hot, just not so much so that one can’t taste any other flavor. We do Thai and Vietnamese food on a regular basis, and even Ethiopian once, but have no idea how to spot a reputable curry shop.
Leave that with me for a day or so and I’ll consult with my brother and sister, as I’m in the States and visit only sporadically. Do you like mild or hot?
Also, others, please weigh in.
Delicious, mouth-watering and evocative, thanks. Reminded me, as I was reading this, of Northern Thai sausage, Sai Ua (or some sort of approximate spelling or variant). Not a curry, but food for thought for another post. As it were. Just delicious. I don’t want to know how it’s made.
I just thought of a dish that is reminiscent of curry: doro wot – a spicy red Ethiopian stew with boiled eggs. Doro wot is paired with a spongy flatbread called injera. When we lived in Doha, Qatar, we had a live-in Ethopian maid and she loved to cook this national dish of hers for us.
“To curry favor, favor curry.”
PDQ Bach
I prefer Japanese curry. In keeping with Japanese taste, even at the hot level it would mild compared to SE Asian curries. My favorite is katsu kare, curry with breaded pork cutlet. I also much prefer sticky short rice to Thai style rice.
One of the carryovers from the Imperial Japanese Navy to the current Maritime Defense Force is the Friday curry meal. You can buy kaigun kare, the traditional Navy recipe, at the grocery store. Japanese curry comes in concentrated dehydrated blocks you mix with water, meat and vegetables. We buy ours at the local Asian grocery.
Sort of like a curry bouillon cube?
Exactly.
The Thais sell fresh curry paste in the markets, and you get a scoop off a “lump,” of the stuff, also almost like a curry bouillon cube. Was hoping I had a photo, but I can’t find one at the moment, but they look like this:
(Click on the photo for a link to the site.) Such a variety, and hard to know what the special features of each are, when you’re used only to “red,” or “green.”
I’ve found this product (available on Amazon) to be quite good: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004AOFZRA/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1
We needed a Thai food fix tonight so I cooked a Thai coconut green curry with chicken in my wood fired pizza oven. I usually just cook this in a pot on the stove – but I had a wild hair tonight and this was spectacular. A slight smoky flavor from the oak and cherry wood that I used for cooking. For my spices I use Marion’s Kitchen. (For your FYI, the best she
hashad was Indian Butter Chicken but it is not longer available – SAD). Fresh Thai basil from my garden topped it off. Cheers.Absolutely brilliant! What’s the temp in your oven when you do that?
Y’know, I’m not sure whether to love you ’cause you’re smashing out of the park, or hate you because you’re making me look bad.
Okay, I make make my own self look bad, so:
Outstanding!
It was around 400dF – I have to watch it closely so it doesn’t get to hot.
Thanks. Good ingredients are key, and a wood fire always adds flavor. I bet I cook 95% of our big meals outside on fire (I even do bread, scones, and fruit pies in the pizza oven). I first learned years ago by reading a book called Thrill of the Grill. The authors had a great tip: check the wood on your fire every time you finish a beer. This leads to two good things: a proper fire and lots of beer. Cheers.
Definitely wouldn’t work for me. 😜
Results: probably awesome, maybe tragic.