What is the best curry you ever had?
By Norfolk_Jim
@Norfolk_Jim (214)
March 8, 2008 4:24pm CST
What is the best curry you ever had? Either it tasted so good or because it was memorable for some other reason. The best curry I ever had was the one my mother used to make. Sounds corney I know but true all the same. She made it using a curry paste and I use the same paste but can never replicate the taste. I like to make my own curry from spices in the cupboard. The best one I can make is a Rogon Josh I got off an indian families web site, its super and ever so straightforward to make. Our local eatery also does a great Rogon Josh but I find theres such variety in curry I never get tired of it. Most memorable one was the Cape curry I had in South Africa, a Malay dish that I've only ever tasted the once but with table mountain as the backdrop it was really memorable.
4 responses
@The_Col_G (55)
• Australia
9 Mar 08
Though I love really hot curries, the best I've ever tasted is a fairly mild South Indian curry called avial (or mixed vegetable kootu). It (usually) contains green (very unripe) bananas, angled loofah (ridge gourd), eggplant (aubergine), yam, snake beans (yard-long beans), ash gourd and drumsticks (the plant variety, not the chicken variety). It contains coconut milk, which is probably what makes the curry mild, and sometimes plain yoghurt as well. I love all the different tastes and textures. It can be expensive to make, as some of the ingredients are difficult or time-consuming to find. Some of them can be substituted with things like potato, peas, carrots, green beans, zucchini (courgettes), etc. Avial means medley, so probably the more different ingredients the better. The seasonings needed are green chillies, cumin seeds, curry leaves, turmeric and salt.
@Norfolk_Jim (214)
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9 Mar 08
Wow, that sounds like one very different curry. I dont think I'd find those ingredients in my local supermarket anytime soon! I like the curries that have rich flavours rather than just heat. Sometimes I'll take on a western Vindaloo, which I think are not at all like true Indian vindaloos, but I do this as a challenge rather than for the taste. Its interesting to take on a curry that fights back, LOL. The most popular curry in the UK was invented here, chicken Tikka Massala. Thats not a curry I really care for too much. Theres still a lot of interesting curries on the families web site. I dont know if posting a link here is allowed but if you search for "route 79" you might find it. For a home done web page its pretty amazing stuff and I'm working through all of the recipes there.
@The_Col_G (55)
• Australia
9 Mar 08
If you have any Asian grocers anywhere near you, you can probably find most of the ingredients there. I'm lucky that there are plenty - Vietnamese, Chinese, Indian - near where I work, so I can get them fairly easily. My friend said she saw one of the British tv chefs (Nigella, maybe - not sure) make one with commonly available ingredients.
As to the "heat" of curries, my ex-wife's friend served in Malaya and claims a curry isn't a real curry unless, after you've finished it, all the sweat and mucus drips back down onto the plate. He obviously likes it fiery. LOL
@ellyij (17)
• Trinidad And Tobago
11 Mar 08
My favourite is curried duck and it must be hot!! This is very West Indian and here you can't eat curry without pepper, as a matter of fact we eat most foods with pepper. I must admit I have not had curry from other countries but my husband has and he says its quite different; we use a powder not paste and its yellow not red.
@Norfolk_Jim (214)
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11 Mar 08
That sounds amazing. I've never heard of curried duck before. I've got two in the freezer so maybe I should try it out. I like pepper and most spicey foods but my family have blander tastes so I mostly have to cook hot or spicey dishes for myself.
@paid2write (5201)
•
9 Mar 08
Reading this discussion is making my mouth water. I do like a good curry. When I make curry I use a mixture of spices. I was shown how to create an authentic curry by an Indian friend of mine. I would like to taste different curries from other parts of the world.
@Norfolk_Jim (214)
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9 Mar 08
I probably eat curry 2 - 3 times every week and a different one each time. The only thing I've not liked curried is turkey. I also avoid prawns as it seems like a waste of their subtle flavour. I'd like to try a good deal more foods from other countries. The influx of East European immihrants into Norfolk means that a lot of polish, latvian, Romanian and Estonian staples are getting their own section in the shops here in Norfolk though I seldom know how those things are used. Thai curries are also interesting and there are many chinese ones too. I'm not sure if any come from South America but they possibly do. Potatoe and guinea pig anyone?
