Curry is probably one of the best loved dishes in the world and most countries have their own recipes – as a matter of fact, curry is considered to be addictive by many of our learned peers. Quite a few studies have found  the reaction of pain receptors to the hotter ingredients in curries leads to the body’s release of endorphins and combined with the complex sensory reaction to the variety of spices and flavours, a natural high is achieved that causes subsequent cravings, often followed by a desire to move on to hotter curries – but whether this is true addiction or not is

certainly open to debate. The word curry is derived from the Tamil word kari and is more commonly understood as a vegetable in sauce or sauce in the Dravidian languages, rather than the masala “spices”. As a matter of fact, in most of the languages of the southern part of India, it really means side-dish which can be eaten with a main dish like rice or bread. Curry powder (masala) was originally invented by the Brits during the days of the Raj so that they could approximate the taste of Indian cuisine when the returned home – and who can blame them?  Usually the masala is a mixture of these spices and ghee (clarified butter, coconut milk and occasionally palm oil). Today, in Britain and North America, the commercial curry powders contain far too much ground turmeric which produces a rather yellow sauce – often considered to be the only spice used in curry.

Those that know realise that a half decent curry consists of a combination of ginger, often some hot paprika, fenugreek, mustard seeds, chilli, fresh garlic, fresh coriander leaves,  allspice, white pepper, cinnamon, roasted cumin, cloves, nutmeg, mace, green cardamom seeds or black cardamom pods, bay leaves and coriander seeds and salt. Remember, though that the curry produced in India is quite different and more often than not, the word curry itself is unknown and in other parts of the world, it is different still – today we will have a brisk look at the various countries and their tendencies. The word, curry, is actually a word used throughout Europe and America to describe a rather large variety of spiced dishes that originate in the Indian and South Asian cuisine. Even though curry originated in India, it has become hugely popular all over the world and has become so much part of the cuisine of so many countries that it is often, mistakenly, considered to be part of the cuisine of the new country like the currywurst in Germany. Today we look a few countries outside of India that also have strong curry traditions.

CHINESE CURRY

Chinese curries consist mainly of beef, chicken, fish, lamb, pork or other meats combined with onions, pepperoni, potatoes and a number of other indigenous ingredients cooked in a relativcely mild yellow spicy curry sauce served on steamed rice. Here soya sauce, hot chilli oil (or hot chilli sauce) is often served alongside the curry. The Chinese curry sauce, usually sold in powder form, originated from the Singaporean and Malaysian cuisine – the countries that introduced China to the well loved Satay sauce. (Interestingly, the Malay Satay seems to have been introduced to China with wider success by the ethnic Teochew, which are not dominant in the Nusantara, but in Thailand.) There’s a huge variety of Chinese curries – so much so that it differs from restaurant to restaurant in a single town.  Chinese curries are often thin and watery.

BASIC CHINESE CURRY

Ingredients

• 500g chicken breast fillets, skinless
• 8-10 cherry tomatoes, sliced in half
• 1 tbsp dark soya sauce
• 1 tbsp light soya sauce
• 12 broad beans, cut on the diagonal in 2 cm pieces
• 1 small head of broccoli, cut in small florets
• 2 small carrots, cut on the diagonal in slices
• 2 young leeks, cleaned and sliced in thin rings
• 2 tbsp Chinese curry powder (available in local Chinese deli)
• 2-3 cloves of garlic, crushed and pureed
• 1 heaped tbsp grated fresh ginger
• 3 tbsp vegetable oil
• 410 ml coconut milk

Method

• Heat the vegetable oil in a wok and add the garlic and ginger – stir fry until they are fragrant and then add the leeks, stirring until they are soft and translucent at which point you remove them and set them aside.
• Turn up the heat and, should it be necessary, add a little splash of oil before you add the chicken, spreading it out well (do not stir the chicken immediately as you need to allow it to sear a little first).
• As soon as you can smell the chicken (I know this sounds odd, but just do it) it will be easy to turn it over and sear the other side – the cooked side needs to be a golden brown colour.
• As soon as the chicken is ready, add the onion and garlic mixture back to the pan and stir in the curry powder – stir fry everything for a few minutes to bring out the flavours and then add the coconut milk and the soya sauces.
• In the following order add the carrots first and stir fry for about about 3 minutes, then the beans for another 3 minutes and then, finally, add the  tomatoes and the broccoli – the broccoli needs only the shortest time – as soon as it is  bright green, the curry should be ready.
• Check and correct the seasoning and see that everything is cooked to your satisfaction.
• Serve immediately with the steamed rice – the curried coconut milk is delicious with the rice – if there is too much (and there shouldn’t be) use a spoon to eat it.

Indonesian curries, like the kari, kare or gulai vary from region to region and the dish depends totally on the vegetables or meat available at a given time.  A huge variety of meats are available (water buffalo and goat as well as chicken, beef and seafood.  Local ingredients like kaffir lime leaves, galangal, curry leaves, lemon grass, chillies, Indonesian bay leaves, shrimp paste, salam leaves, candlenuts, cumin, coriander seeds and coconut milk are the basis of these curries.  The rending curry from West Sumatra is well known and the method itself is employed all over the world to tenderise rather tough cuts of meat.  (Here water buffalo is slow-cooked in very thick coconut cream – sometimes for hours).

MALAYSIAN CURRY

It was from India that Malaysia received it’s curry at first but now the Malays, as the Chinese, can hardly do without it. Also here the Malaysian curries vary from region to region and, of course economic, cultural, agricultural and religious factors invariably influence it too. The curry powders used in Malaysia are thick with ginger, shrimp paste, chillies, turmeric, garlic, shallots, coconut milk and even, on occasion, tamarind. Rendang is also popular here as it is in Indonesia and Singapore even though it’s drier and consists mainly of meat and loads of coconut milk. In Malaysia sea food like shrimps and cuttlefish are often curried as are aubergines, eggs, fish, vegetables and, of course, mutton and chicken.

JAPANESE CURRIES

Curry is enormously popular in Japan and is eaten, on average, more than once a week. In a country that consumes mountains of wasabi, it’s hardly surprising.  Karē raisu is a common lunchtime curry and consists of curry, rice and pickled vegetables – all served on the same plate and eaten with a spoon – ultimate comfort food. The dish was introduced to Japan by the British between 1869 and 1912, during the Meiji era shortly Japan’ national self-isolation (Sakoku) period. Then curry was considered to be a western dish and not really acceptable. Because the army and the navy there used it with gusto (it was really great canteen food) it was quickly accepted by the nation.  It wasn’t possible to become accustomed to curry every Friday and then forget about it – after all, she is a jealous mistress. To this day, the Japanese Maritime Self-Defence Force still enjoy curry every Friday at lunchtime and many ships have their own special recipes. The basic Japanese curries consist of meat, onions, carrots, celery and potatoes simmered in a large pot – occasionally with grated apples to sweeten it a little. Pork is the most popular meat used in the north, in Okinawa it’s chicken and eastern part of Japan and in the western parts, beef is preferred. Curry  is commonly sold in the form of a condensed ‘brick’ which dissolves in the mixture of meat and vegetables. In Korea, curry and it’s use is identical to Japan but occasionally the curry and rice is served with crumbed pork cutlets (tonkatsu) and then called Katsu-karē (cutlet curry) or korokke (potato croquettes). Well known internationally  are the karē udon which are thick noodles in curry flavoured soup and karē-pan – a deep fried bread in a batter with curry in the middle

KARE RAISU

Japanese Beef Curry

Ingredients

• 500 g beef for stewing (use chuck or something similar), cubed)
• 6 large onions, sliced
• 3 large, fat cloves garlic
• 1,2 litere homemade beef stock
• 1 heaped tbsp grated ginger
• 400 g chopped tomatoes – tins are fine
• 2 large dried bay leaves
• 2 star anise
• 3 heaped tbsp garam masala
• 4 large carrots, peeled and sliced into fine rounds
• 2 large Granny Smith apples, peeled
• 3 medium sized potatoes, peeled and placed into cold water so that they don’t discolour
• Fresh butter as needed
• Salt and freshly ground white pepper to taste

For the curry roux:

• 3 tbsp butter (if you have ghee, use it but the Japanese do use butter)
• 3 heaped tbsp Japanese curry powder – break the equivalent amount off from the Japanese brick if you’re using one

White steamed Japanese rice to serve

Garnishes: fukijin zuke, rakkyou

Method

• Ensure that the meat is well dried by allowing the meat to lie open in the fridge overnight (if possible) – if not, pat dry with kitchen paper.
• Heat a little butter in a heavy-bottomed deep saucepan over medium heat and add the onions and a little salt to taste.
• Lower the heat and cook the onions very slowly – up to 45 minutes so that you have an enormously reduced mixture of glistening, dark golden onions that contain very little moisture.
• In a separate saucepan, sear the beef on all sides and then set aside.
• Now add the ginger and the garlic to the onion mixture and stir well after which you add the tomatoes and stir this well before pouring in all the beef stock, stirring everything together to combine all the ingredients.
• Now add the seared beef cubes, the bay leaves, the star anise and the grated apples.
• Bring up to a brisk simmer, lower the heat and continue to simmer gently for another hour or so – until the meat is tender.
• As soon as the curry has been cooking for about 15 minutes, dry roast about 2 tbsp of garam masala until the room is quite fragrant (take care not to burn it as burnt spices tastes horrible) and stir this into the curry.
• At this point add the sliced carrots as well.
• Now start to make the roux in a separate saucepan by melting the butter, heating it until the foam subsides and then stir in the flour briskly until it becomes golden in colour before you remove the saucepan from the heat to add the curry powder (you can adjust the strength of the curry to your taste here) – continue stirring until the sauce is thick and brown.
• Return this to the heat and stir only a few more minutes.
• Check and correct the seasoning at this point so that you can adjust the salt and garam masala content – should it be necessary, dry roast a little more and add it to the curry.
• Serve with steamed rice, a little fukijin zuke (sweet pickled vegetables) and rakkyou (small pink shallots).

THAI CURRY

Curries consisting of meat, fish or vegetables in a spiced sauce are considered to be curries here and local ingredients like chillies, kaffir lime leaves, galangal, lemon grass and coconut milk are commonly used to produce fragrant and aromatic curries. Here one differentiates between the curries by their colours because the red curries contain more chillies, the yellow ones contain more turmeric and cumin and the green curries contain more green chillies and fresh coriander leaves. The yellow curries in Thailand never contain potatoes (except in the south).

WEST INDIAN CURRIES

Because so many servants were brought over to the islands from India by the European powers that were, curry soon became popular and it, naturally, developed it’s own particular character over a period of time. ‘The sauces here are usually thinner than the Indian ones but it suits the way of life, the people and the climate. In Jamaica curried goat is extremely popular – as is curried fish and shrimps. In Trinidad and Tobago, the curried goat also takes pride of place as does the curried shrimp and in Guyana the variety is massive – goat, chicken duck, beef, aloo, fish and shrimp are eaten with gusto and all over the Western Indies, curry can be found all over the place – be it in expensive restaurants or in the cheaper eateries.

Ingredients

• 1,5 kg cooked lobster
• 1 large onion, roughly chopped
• 3 fat cloves garlic, crushed into a puree
• 2 tsp fresh thyme leaves, finely chopped
• 2 tbsp West Indian curry powder
• 1 tbsp West Indian all purpose spice
• 1 heaped tbsp West Indian fruit chutney
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
• Vegetable oil
• Boiled rice, to serve

Method

• Halve the cooked lobster, remove the meat from the claws and from the rest of the bodies and chop into small chunks – set this aside, reserving the shells for serving purposes.
• Heat a little vegetable oil and gently fry the onions, the spring onions, the West Indian all-purpose spice and the pureed garlic until the onions are soft.
• Check and correct the seasoning and add the thyme, stirring it well to combine with everything before adding the curry powder and the chutney and stirring again over the heat for no more than a minute.
• Now add the chopped lobster, and 125 ml water before bringing the mixture to a gentle simmer until thickish.
• Check and correct the seasoning again and pile the curried lobster onto the reserved shells and serve with rice.