The FT Curry Compendium!
 

After searching FT and finding only place-specific topics here, I'm looking forward to any constructive or topical info on your greatest curry experiences.

These could be your best examples at your local or visited city restaurants, local street or community vendors, spice shops or your own home-made specialties.

While there are likely to be many discussions buried in the UK/Ireland and BA forums, I'd appreciate your contribution here in DiningBuzz.

My personal quest is to begin to make curries at home, from scratch.

Last night's attempt (my very first) was okay, thanks to some very helpful advice from a colleague who originates from a curry culture.
By first frying some onion, then some spices, then some Aussie beef, eventually slow-cooking for 3 hours, it was quite edible.

Hope that you can help - and I'll add some specific local Sydney curry heroes soon. :)

[Edit to add: FYI the exploding curry story is a fun read. :)
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=695369]

For London see my post here:
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/showt...=1#post8365983


For NYC:
- GHANDI CAFE 212 645-1456 / 8339
283 Bleecker @ 7th Ave
(Open tilll midnight 7 days)
- MADRAS MAHAL 212 684-4010
104 Lex Ave (27th & 28th St)
- VATAAN (Gujarat Veg Indian)
409 3rd Ave @ 29th 689-5666

Chicago - Gareb Nawaz - Devon st - hole in wall
San diego - Monsoon - Gaslamp district
Kenya - Haandi - Best kebabs in the world
Orange county - Clay Oven

My curry preferences are plain and simple. I'd just go to any Ajisen Ramen locations to get Japanese style curry and that'll be it. Can do so in both Toronto and Hong Kong.

At a very local level, immigration rules are allowing migrants seeking residency in Australia to have a hospitality course count toward their application.

Mrs B has had a very substantial inflow of college students from parts of India and Bangladesh, who will be inviting us to their restaurants, once they have set them up.

Hopefully some of these new establishments will expand the variety or increase the quality of the curries on offer.

I'm thinking of a prawn curry..mmm! :D

On the topic of the courses that count toward residency, cookery is one that Mrs B might do, before it is taught in her course, so she may even learn some curry cooking secrets. :)

OP: to aid your quest, there are many curry varieties all over the world; pretty distinct differences between them.

(I am a mediocre cook so excuse the decidedly non-normative descriptions that follow)

I've tried/cooked the following. All are considered "native" foods in the respective countries of origin although curries I believe are Indian in origin.

1) Japanese curry. Slightly sweet. Dark brown, thick and non-spicy. Rarely made from scratch but instead with commercial curry stock cubes (sold by companies like House, Ajinomoto etc). Chief ingredients include cubed beef chunks, potato and carrots. May include chunks of apple (Vermont Curry). Usually tastes better several days after you cook it,; curry is stored in a pot at room temperature and simply reheated again and again.

2) Malaysian curry. Chinese Peranakan, Indian and Malay versions exist. Usually made with a coconut milk base but not always. Very spicy. Main spices (in addition to the curry powder) include turmeric, lemongrass, cloves and aniseed. Subvarieties include rendang (less gravy, made with grated coconut meat) and sambal (sour because of the use of tamarind)

3) Thai curry. Mostly coconut-based. Dishes like Gaeng Khew Wan (Green Curry), Kari (Yellow Curry), Massaman Curry, Red Curry, Panang etc. Distinguishing ingredient in Thai curries include fish sauce , tamarind and kaffir lime (makrut).

4) Indian curry. I've tried Southern curries (Malayalee curries, Andhra curries etc) - these are dark, sour, very spicy, can be coconut-based. Others I've tried a lot: Northern curries (buttery) and Goan Fish curries.

5) English curries. Chicken Tikka Masala, Balti curries and the like. I like this too.

6) Ethiopian Berbere curry. Very similar I've found to southern Indian curries.

I'm sure there are many more varieties.

Hi tide, that's a helpful dissection of curry options.

Tonight, as another experiment, I threw together something with an American flavour - only for a change. ;)

After frying the onions and cooking some steaks (then cut into strips) I used a little less of the usual spices and after simmering for a while, added some Stagg Chilli,before adding diced potatoes and simmering for a couple of hours.

It still ended up tasting like a curry, though the chili taste was still there in the background.

I know I'm weird - just wondering if such an odd combo is done anywhere, like a hybrid Curry-Gumbo. :D

As an OT side note, it's interesting to see what everyone's default is when they just see the word "curry". For whatever reason, I immediately thought of Japanese, and didn't realize I was way off base from what the OP had intended until I read the rest of the replies, which all appeared to be heading in an Indian direction.

ill bet theres a lot on chowhound :D

im not a huge fan of curry, but i do have a curry vignette >

my cousin had (and enjoyed) tonkatsu with curry sauce while in Hokkaido for a joint training exercise, so i special ordered it at my favorite local japanese place (owner/chef = thai, head sushi chef = japanese) when we were having a party for him. i think i tried a bite, and it was not bad at all, very interesting combination.

everyone seems to have their own curry / uses, but it did originate in India. i wonder if it originally spread through Asia together with things like Buddhism and martial arts..