Anyone eat Phall curry.

[si_c]

Retro is the new modern

Tell me about it, 10 years or so ago after my Grandad died, Dad gave/threw away loads of old furniture that nobody could possibly want from the 1960s (Grandad never changed anything in his house from the time he bought it I think). Mrs C is now obsessed with mid-century furniture and is always banging on about how popular it is.

I must admit I do enjoy annoying her a bit by asking "which century?"

 

[AndyRM]

There was a cracking place in Newcastle's Bigg Market, The Rupali which boasted all sorts of mentally hot curries. Sadly the restaurant, and the owner are no longer with us.

Personally I'm not really a curry fan, I don't like the texture. Love tandoori stuff though, prawns or lamb any day of the week.

I worked with a guy who had the whole small man machismo thing going on. He laughed at me when I ordered tandoori, and got the most stupidly hot curry on the menu. Spent most of the rest of the night on the porcelain telephone.

 

[Arrowfoot]

Southern India - Tamil Nadu (Madras) and Kerala and Jaffna Tamils (Sri Lanka) meat and fishes dishes tend to be chilli hot. The rest of India is just spicy and not chilli hot. Thai and Vietnamese are not chilli hot unless foreigners ask for it. They genuinely think that foreigners prefer hot stuff. More a case of cross wires. The exception is Tom Yum soup where chilli is integral to the recipe.

Indian cuisine that we find in the majority of UK restaurants ( estimated at 95%) are from North India and should be not be chilli hot unless the customer asked for it. In India or within their community in the UK, no one will ask for a North Indian dish to be chilli hot. And it will never be done as its not supposed to taste like that.

 

[Adam4868]

Thai and Vietnamese are not chilli hot unless foreigners ask for it.

I'd say the opposite,they think foreigners don't eat spicy so they tone it down unless you ask.Without doubt Thai use heat and a lot of chilli's,some of the hotest food Ive had has been Thai salads "Laab" same when you get to Lao or Cambodia,there's a lot of similarities. Agree Vietnamese is totally different again.

 

[PK99]

Thing about hot/spicy curries is as far as Indian is concerned it's more a English thing.Spent a considerable time traveling India and most of the food you'll find it's pretty bland and stodgy.Dall,Lentils, Potatoes etc.Vindaloo curries,traditionally Pork are usually to the south/Goa even then it wouldn't usually be that spicy.
Thai on the other hand has a lot more heat,one of my favourite dishes is Som Tam a spicy papaya salad,which can be made incredibly hot ! It's not a bravado thing as I genuinely love spicy.Not even lunch time and I'm hungry now.

Yep. Most Subcontinent food is spicy/tasty not hot.
Sri Lanka is an exception, local restaurants refused to serve us the same as the locals.

Thai, on the other hand....

Thai and Vietnamese are not chilli hot unless foreigners ask for it. They genuinely think that foreigners prefer hot stuff. More a case of cross wires. The exception is Tom Yum soup where chilli is integral to the recipe.

Vietnamese I would agree, but not so sure about Thai.
A (self-proclaimed) authentic Thai cookbook I used to have, said that the recipes were given using the number of cillies normal in Thailand, but Thais like their food fiery hot, it advised adjusting the number of chilies to what we find fiery hot.

Back in the day, ie nearly 40 years ago, we frequented one of the very few Thai restaurants in London (Bahn Thai IIRC *) - a basement place in Kensington. English guy front of hosue, Thai wife as Chef. One dish that caught us out was a minced beef dish with lots of French Beans, saw it and ordered it by sight. Lots of beans - only they were not beans, they were green chillies. I was a Vindaloo fiend then but is was way beyond my capacity!

* A couple of years later I was on a BA flight (to Sri Lanka) and the In-flight magazine had a feature on the top 5 Thai Retaurants in the World. Bahn Thai was on of them. It moved to Soho at some point and lost its distinctive edge when it softend lots recipes to a more general western palate. Shame!

Incidental comment. Vindaloo as served in most Curry Houses procaims its lack of autjhenticity by including potatoes and using other meat than Pork. From Portugese Goa it is based on the Potruugese dish Carne de vinha d'alhos - meat marinated in Wine and Garlic. Nothing to do with Potatoes!
This is a good recipe: https://www.allrecipes.com/recipe/217331/goan-pork-vindaloo/

 

[CharlesF]

I love curry, but the heat must be part of the overall dish. I need to taste the meat, or veg, and the different spices.

When we lived in Durban, which has a large Indian community, an Indian lady would set up a makeshift stall outside work and all she sold was biryani. The rush to get there was phenomenal.

I would ask for enough for two and it lasted at least two nights, a huge portion.

All my Indian food is judged against that one dish, she had little English and we never discovered why she mysteriously appeared, and wouldn’t be seen for weeks.

Fond memories.

 

[Adam4868]

Just too add anyone going to India and thinking it'll be like your local takeaways with Bhuna,Jalfeizi,Madras currys your going to be dissapointed.😁
Getting back to spicy...my partner never really liked to much spice/heat with food when we met.Over the time we've been together she will now eat hot food that I've made or ordered.Well share a fiery hot curry and she'll enjoy it.Which made me wonder if you build up a tolerance to the heat ?

 

[Reynard]

I think it's all about balance. Yes, I do keep an array of different dried chillies knocking around, but my Indian or Pakistani type curries (I was taught the recipes by a friend at uni who hailed from Karachi), most of their heat comes from the ginger. According to her, a good curry paste should start with equal amounts of ginger and garlic, plus the other spices according to style, and only as much chilli to just get a tickle. The flavour of the chilli should only be part of the general blend.

Having said that, you do really notice the difference in flavour between the different types of chilli if you just keep it to a tickle. My favourite ones to use are the kashmiri for subcontinent food and the chipotle for tex-mex.

 

[Grant Fondo]

Couldn't get a decent curry in New York for love nor money when I lived there 30 years ago. 'Curry Row' on E. 6th St looked the part, but unless you are a fan of overly sweet korma, more fail than phall. Maybe that's changed?

 

[Ming the Merciless]

The good news is chilli doesn't damage your taste buds.

It does nevertheless overwhelm them when used in large quantities subtracting significantly from the taste of the food.

 

[PK99]

Just too add anyone going to India and thinking it'll be like your local takeaways with Bhuna,Jalfeizi,Madras currys your going to be dissapointed.😁
Getting back to spicy...my partner never really liked to much spice/heat with food when we met.Over the time we've been together she will now eat hot food that I've made or ordered.Well share a fiery hot curry and she'll enjoy it.Which made me wonder if you build up a tolerance to the heat ?

Build up and lose!

I was brought up on basic Northern cooking - herbs were a bit fancy, spice unknown.

At and after Uni (mid 70's) I used to eat the hottest of hot, but not anymore! I still like it hotter than most, but nothing compared to past habits. Ring of Fire used to be my theme tune. 😄

 

[Jody]

It does nevertheless overwhelm them when used in large quantities subtracting significantly from the taste of the food.

It shouldn't, as you have different receptors for flavour and heat.

 

[matticus]

Thing about hot/spicy curries is as far as Indian is concerned it's more a English thing.

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H-uEx_hEXAM

 

[Adam4868]

Build up and lose!

I was brought up on basic Northern cooking - herbs were a bit fancy, spice unknown.

Same....a chips and curry sauce was exotic for me !
Fast forward to a 18 year old fleeing to Australia with a free two week stop in Thailand ! Spent 8 months there on that stopover and so began a love affair with South East Asia and travel.Spent God knows how many years traveling around and avoiding work whenever possible and my love for the food.

 

[PK99]

Same....a chips and curry sauce was exotic for me !
Fast forward to a 18 year old fleeing to Australia with a free two week stop in Thailand ! Spent 8 months there on that stopover and so began a love affair with South East Asia and travel.Spent God knows how many years traveling around and avoiding work whenever possible and my love for the food.

Chip shop curry sauce - haven't had that for so long.

Will it be the same of destroy the memory?