Jean wrote on Sun, 20 Jul 2008 13:52:45 -0400:
> James Silverton wrote:
>> Melba's wrote on Sun, 20 Jul 2008 11:56:35 -0500:
>>
>>>> If a recipe, say for Thai Pineapple Fried rice, included
>>>> curry powder- what exactly do I need? I have green and
>>>> yellow curry paste, but I have never used just plain old
>>>> curry powder. I do have access to a large Asian grocery - I
>>>> just need to know what to look for.
>>
>>> I don't know that this answers your question but it is an
>>> interesting article:
>>> http://www.startribune.com/lifestyle.../18044399.html
>>
>>> Local author Raghavan Iyer seeks to shed some light on
>>> misconceptions about curry -- the word is unknown in India
>>> -- with a masterwork of his native cuisine.
>>
>>> By Kim Ode, Star Tribune
>>> Last update: April 23, 2008 - 3:27 PM
>>> Are there really 660 curries?
>>
>>> Yes -- for starters.
>>
>>> "I first pitched it as 1,001, but Workman said, oh, give us
>>> between 600 and 800," Iyer said, laughing. Bottom line, the
>>> book has 701 recipes -- 660 for curries and the remainder
>>> for what he calls cohorts. That's his word for side dishes
>>> and such. "Accompaniments is very much a clinical term,
>>> while cohorts signifies compatibility."
>>
>>> No powder in India
>>
>>> Curry is the word that requires more clarification. The
>>> Western world regards it as a dish spiced from a jar labeled
>>> "curry powder." But Iyer said that curry isn't about spice,
>>> but gravy. "To us, it's all about sauces," he said. "No
>>> self-respecting Indian kitchen would have curry powder."
>>
>> Oh yeah! My favorite Indian grocery is patronized mainly by
>> people who look of Indian origin and it's the only place I
>> have seen wih kilogram cans of curry powder and more sealed
>> packaged masalas than I could ever imagine.
>>
> Hmmm. I do see garam masala mixes at the Indian shops. I
> haven't looked for the curry powders though. If they carried curry
> powder, I would have to observe who was buying it! That actually
> might be interesting.
Garam Masala is just one spice blend (quite easy to make by the way) but
there are vacuum sealed packages of spices in the store for, at a guess,
60 different Indian dishes. One rather good one is Aloo Chait Masala for
making Indian potato salad. About the only perhaps unusual thing you
need, apart from the masala, is cilantro and the salad is fat-free and
very good.
--
James Silverton
Potomac, Maryland
Email, with obvious alterations: not.jim.silverton.at.verizon.not