As I may have mentioned recently, I went to Aroma, an Indian restaurant that offers a lunchtime buffet, down in the middle of all of the Toronto International Film Festival hoopla. I hadn't been there in several years, certainly before COVID struck the world, so it was nice having that tandoori chicken and the chicken tikka masala once more.
However, the first example of curry anything that I had as a kid was Japanese-style curry rice that my mother still makes from time to time. That by itself was plenty spicy and hot for me and frankly up to university age, that was really the only form of curry that I knew. Then, I found out about the different types of curry all around the world such as green curry from Thailand and the other styles from India and Pakistan. Of course, I fell in love with naan immediately, so rice and it had to battle it out for my gastronomic affections for many years afterwards.
Yesterday, I wrote about another song by the master Ryuichi Sakamoto（坂本龍一）who had passed away in 2023. Well, another singer-songwriter in Japan who had greatly admired Billy Joel and sometimes I think that he was the Japanese version of the Piano Man himself also sadly died in 2023, and that was KAN.
Especially when it comes to his tenderhearted balladry, the emotions often get stirred and that is also the case with his February 2006 30th single "Curry Rice". Its very gentle arrangement with the acoustic guitar kinda brings up memories of Mom stirring up the curry in the kitchen as the aroma of the stuff permeates the air at home. Japanese curry may not be nearly as powerful as the Indian variety but it's still very homey and welcome.
For those who haven't had Japanese-style curry, what's the main difference between other styles of curry?
ReplyDeletePersonally speaking, the Thai and Pakistani curries were on a higher level of spice and heat. I needed a couple of glasses of milk after those. The chicken tikka masala is very pleasantly creamy and not supremely spicy.
DeleteThe Japanese curry that I've had through brands such as S&B is mild in comparison although each brand can have different levels of heat from mild to hot. Although I've never tried it myself, Vermont Curry in Japan has an apple-and-honey type.
Japanese curry also tends to be a bit thicker in texture than Indian and Thai curries.
ReplyDeleteThat's a good point since I now remember that my Mom's curry initially started out very chunky!
Delete