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Kitchen Notes: Curry
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Hal
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PostPosted: Sun Feb 25, 2007 5:08 pm    Post subject: Tumeric in Curry Reply with quote

A much lesser known family of curries is the Sri Lankan curry, which is characterized by chicken, fish, or vegetables in cooked in spices and coconut milk. One of the Sri Lankans I talked to said that tumeric is a natural preservative and eliminates the need for refrigeration of leftover curry, which is why they use it. Sri Lanka is very hot, and refrigerators were uncommon in the region I visited, but food can be left out for days with no ill effects.
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Peter
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PostPosted: Sun Apr 01, 2007 11:19 pm    Post subject: Curry should be avoided Reply with quote

From what I understand, cooking with curry produces aerosolized oil that soaks into porous surfaces and never leaves. It can damage the resale/rental value of properties as nobody wants to rent it, and can make enemies of neighbors when the stench seeps into neighboring units triggering lawsuits.

Attempting to 'cover it up' as some people do by using some nonsense oil or toxic chemical based 'air freshener' makes the problem worse, not better, because now you have a cocktail of oils present. So if you are looking at a prospective place to rent, especially if the kitchen has an 'air freshener' plugged in and the previous tenants were East Indian, there is a big problem.

It is my opinion that cooking with curry should be banned in lease agreements, along with smoking indoors.
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Guest
Guest





PostPosted: Sat Apr 28, 2007 8:59 pm    Post subject: Murray Koenigii "Curry Leaf" and Citrus Hytrix &qu Reply with quote

I purchased a small Murraya Koenigii plant and a small Kaffir lime plant from www.logees.com a few years back. When the Murraya Koenigii blossoms it has a really lovely frangrance and I love the smell of the crushed leaves. I just checked the Logee website and they still have these plants available. They make nice houseplants and do not succumb to the usual pests that kill all my indor plants.
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Guest






PostPosted: Tue May 01, 2007 11:27 pm    Post subject: Re: Curry should be avoided Reply with quote

Peter wrote:
From what I understand, cooking with curry produces aerosolized oil that soaks into porous surfaces and never leaves. It can damage the resale/rental value of properties as nobody wants to rent it, and can make enemies of neighbors when the stench seeps into neighboring units triggering lawsuits.

Attempting to 'cover it up' as some people do by using some nonsense oil or toxic chemical based 'air freshener' makes the problem worse, not better, because now you have a cocktail of oils present. So if you are looking at a prospective place to rent, especially if the kitchen has an 'air freshener' plugged in and the previous tenants were East Indian, there is a big problem.

It is my opinion that cooking with curry should be banned in lease agreements, along with smoking indoors.

Wow.

Cooking anything creates aerosolized oils that embed themselves in porous surfaces throughout the kitchen.

Should cooking Italian be banned in lease agreements? Or is it OK because you like the smell?
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none yet
Guest





PostPosted: Mon May 28, 2007 6:51 pm    Post subject: huh? Reply with quote

Quote:

It is my opinion that cooking with curry should be banned in lease agreements, along with smoking indoors.


and it is my opinion that you should be banned from posting such - in my humblest opinion - crap.

apologies for such a direct statement, but i believe that this is a suitably strong way for me to register my protest at your obvious naivete. i mean, how can you say that only indian cooking causes obnoxious curry oil smells in kitchens and stuff? what about barbequeing (sp?) or something similar from whatever part of the world you're? does that leave "agreaable" smells? what about apartments (in ny atleast) that don't have an exhaust fan (something so basic that almost every village loo in india has one)? does crap smell sweet?

wake up, chap.
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Faraz
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PostPosted: Sun Jul 01, 2007 12:55 am    Post subject: thanks Reply with quote

Thanks a lot for this article. I have been tired of telling people that Indian curry is not what they show encased in a bottle Smile
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BAB - Cuisine Engineer
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PostPosted: Thu Aug 02, 2007 4:05 am    Post subject: Curry - Thanks! Reply with quote

The Best Article Ever - covering one the most complex, regionally defined, cuisines known to human-kind!

The objective approach is to consider the bias nature of curry critics, and move on!
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gfairbairn



Joined: 07 Jan 2008
Posts: 31
Location: http://athenafoods.com/

PostPosted: Mon Jan 07, 2008 4:36 am    Post subject: Awesome Reply with quote

this was a great read. My wife is from England and had never really had any other curry besides the curries she had had when she lived in England. When we moved back here to the states, it took a long time to find a curry that she liked. I started experimenting with my own curry making and have slowly turned her more into liking a variety of curries now. I will have to have her read this so she can read for herself what I have been telling her for years...the british have their own version of curry...she just doesn't believe me.
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Too LAzy To Sign Up
Guest





PostPosted: Fri Nov 07, 2008 4:48 pm    Post subject: Curry Reply with quote

"any dish that begins with toasted spices can be considered a curry."

I'm sorry, but this is just not correct, especially in Indian cuisine. Western chefs have spread a lot of confusion about the meaning of curry.

My favorite book on Indian cuisine is by Sylvia Panjabi and is called Great Curries of India and I am married to an Indian and spend about 4 hours cooking Indian food every day.

A combination of fried spices is called a masala. The packaged spice combinations you buy are typically also called masalas in India, and if they aren't, it's either because they are intended to be used IN a curry dish or it was labeled wrongly by people who don't know the meaning (happens a lot in India!)

A Curry is simply the liquid part that comes later.

A curry is always started with a masala (fried spices), but a masala does not always become part of a curry.

The dish the masala (spices usually friend in oil or clarified butter) goes into can be a dry dish (called a subzee) or a wet dish (meaning it has a curry).

In summary, a curry is the thin or thick gravy-like liquid part of a dish.

In addition, the majority of Indian curries do not in fact use curry leaf (although it's an excellent fragrance for dals and some meat dishes).

The most common spice in a curry is chili in most parts of India.

The most common masala is called "garam masala", the contents of which also differ depending on reguion/village.

Natasha T. Verma
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SAME LAZY CHICK
Guest





PostPosted: Fri Nov 07, 2008 7:05 pm    Post subject: correction Reply with quote

The author I mentioned is wrong; her name is camellia panjabi.

Let me clarify about the curry powder: in India it's usually a masala that makes the base of a curry, some refer to this as a curry powder. But it's the creationof a liquid that is what makes a curry. Dry dishes (called subzee) are made with masala but or curry powder (as some call it) but are not curry-based or called curry.
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Soma
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PostPosted: Sun Feb 15, 2009 12:15 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Nice article on Curry. I would like to mention tho' that the use of Curry leaves is pretty much limited to the Southern & South Western part of India. If they are at all used in the other parts, it is to prepare the pre mentioned regional dishes.

Also spices are not always toasted/fried before... they may be added anytime during the cooking process.

Soma(www.ecurry.com)
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Jim Cooley



Joined: 09 Oct 2008
Posts: 377
Location: Seattle

PostPosted: Sun Feb 15, 2009 5:40 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Soma is right, curry leaves are used mainly in Kerala, the south-western state of India.

Reminds me of the time I tried to bring a curry tree back with me and got busted by the Ag officer at the airport. We had a good laugh because I had plenty of company. But I didn't get to keep the tree... Sad

Turmeric does aerosolize when heated in oil and leaves a yellow residue behind. Very hard to clean, so make sure you have an exhaust fan running when you heat those spices!
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PostPosted: Sun Feb 28, 2010 12:30 pm    Post subject: curry leaf Reply with quote

surely this refers to 'Methi Leaf' ie the leaf of funugreek the seeds of which provide a much more potent addition to Indian curries. No mention in your comments of Malay and Singaporean curries. Also, FRY your spices first don't toast em. Fitz (Nottingham UK)
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Jim Cooley



Joined: 09 Oct 2008
Posts: 377
Location: Seattle

PostPosted: Sun Feb 28, 2010 5:31 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

No Guest, methi and curry are two different spices. And to correct you again, one toasts spices when making a masala (garam, etc.), and then fries the resulting masala when making a curry.

Other than that, you are spot on! Big smile

BTW, I've discovered that alcohol is a really good solvent for turmeric stains. Mix half, water half isopropyl (70%) with a little Dawn or other detergent, spray on clothes and rub before washing.


Last edited by Jim Cooley on Wed Dec 29, 2010 1:36 am; edited 1 time in total
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akgenuske
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PostPosted: Thu Apr 01, 2010 12:39 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

This is a great article, wonderful clarification and description. I love curry from all regions and have always wondered why they tasted different. Thank you for the effort!
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