Public Address | Cafe | Feed: My Life in Curry

Gareth

Wed, 16 Apr 2014 19:42:03 +1200

Blimey! The Moti Mahal in Oxford: scene of many student dinners when I were a lad. Flock wallpaper, the works. I was in Oxford three years ago, but didn't think to check, though I did look down Boulter Street, where I lived for the first half of 1975.

linger

Mon, 31 Mar 2014 16:38:18 +1300

If you think Tulsi's butter chicken is too sweet, you probably shouldn't try their mango chicken. Both are pleasant enough, but the mango chicken was almost too sweet for me , and that takes some doing!

Che Tibby

Mon, 31 Mar 2014 12:03:02 +1300

i can highly recommend this tome by the formidably named pushpesh pant.

it's pretty good, and reads a heck of a lot like a set of recipes collected from a diverse range of other cookbooks, and poorly translated. the descriptions are sometimes out of synch, and other times missing key…

Ben Austin

Mon, 31 Mar 2014 00:50:36 +1300

I always found Wellington butter chicken too sweet, so stopped ordering them long since.

Rob Hosking

Sun, 30 Mar 2014 16:12:56 +1300

Got given the Rick Stein Curry book last year – its the book of the tv series a couple of people have mentioned.

It's close to my book of the year for 2013, nudged out only narrowly by Jesse Norman's 'Edmund Burke: the First Conservative'.

Currnelty working my way through…

Zach Bagnall

Sat, 29 Mar 2014 20:51:33 +1300

Food memories are the best. You can recreate them in the kitchen. It's why we cook.

BenWilson

Sat, 29 Mar 2014 18:49:11 +1300

Was the butter chicken nice? There's definitely good and bad butter chicken, and maybe people went there especially for it? Not uncommon in restaurant trade to have one outstanding dish that gets ordered 10 times more than everything else, at certain times of the day.

Ben Chapman

Sat, 29 Mar 2014 17:11:13 +1300

Speaking of Butter Chicken, a friend and I went for lunch one weekday to one of the Cuba Street Indian restaurants and as we walked in the door, the waiter’s first words to us were “Butter chicken, beer?”.

I’m not sure what that says about him or us, but we…

Russell Brown

Sat, 29 Mar 2014 13:22:12 +1300

Indeed. Golden Curry looks like the kind of joint I avoid.. shiny black, chrome and blue neon. Two tables occupied at 9:30 this evening.

Oh well. There are always memories.

Zach Bagnall

Sat, 29 Mar 2014 11:47:35 +1300

Indeed. Golden Curry looks like the kind of joint I avoid.. shiny black, chrome and blue neon. Two tables occupied at 9:30 this evening. http://i.imgur.com/wR7nDfx.jpg

The most recommended place these days is probably Tayyab's in Whitechapel or nearby Needoo Grill (ex Tayyab's staff). Meat heavy though. For some of that…

Ben Austin

Sat, 29 Mar 2014 05:46:42 +1300

Speaking of Butter Chicken, a friend and I went for lunch one weekday to one of the Cuba Street Indian restaurants and as we walked in the door, the waiter's first words to us were "Butter chicken, beer?".

I'm not sure what that says about him or us, but we…

Ben Austin

Sat, 29 Mar 2014 05:45:03 +1300

Nic, I understand that the Lahore Curry/Kebab House of E1 may have recently closed. Grim news indeed.

I also thought that London curry was a bit off when I arrived, but I think now that is because I was relying upon Zone 1 but then I later when to places…

Russell Brown

Fri, 28 Mar 2014 21:23:16 +1300

Gutted.

Peter Johnston

Fri, 28 Mar 2014 21:08:13 +1300

My first curry was in my first real job as a junior advertising copywriter in Wellington in 1984. it took a few months for the more senior creatives to invite me to one of their lunch sorties – from memory at a Burmese restaurant in Willis St. An unforgettable experience…

Simon Grigg

Fri, 28 Mar 2014 20:02:10 +1300

Now I live in Kuala Lumpur, I am even more blessed with amazing curries.

One of my joys in Malaysia are Indian breakfasts. And just the way you can wander most anywhere and find a hole in the wall serving soul-stirring black pepper chicken or a delicious murtabak.

BenWilson

Fri, 28 Mar 2014 19:44:29 +1300

uh huh … so you’ll be bringing that to the next wine and food match will you?

Tell him not to quit his day job, whatever that is, go on!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mdfk17EKGa0

Oliver Woods

Fri, 28 Mar 2014 18:45:37 +1300

What a wonderful post, Russell.

My first memories of curries are from the wonderful Indian restaurants around Auckland, particularly Mount Eden & Epsom. Simla was where our family often went for family dinners, and later on Chaahat (sp?) in Greenwoods Corner was a staple too. I used to take girls on…

Sacha

Fri, 28 Mar 2014 18:45:21 +1300

sounds like a crafty IPA might survive it

chris esther

Fri, 28 Mar 2014 18:41:15 +1300

Yes the wonderful mural and the cozy booths have all gone from the Golden Curry. I made a special trip to it whilst in London, 2007. As you can see, it is now sterile. The food was really bad as well, nouvelle Indian, average execution.

Bart Janssen

Fri, 28 Mar 2014 18:41:00 +1300

Given that the ingredients that impart heat do so via different chemicals, it might be interesting to create an overload dish that contains all of them, chilli, pepper, Sichuan pepper, wasabi. And if you’re going to do that, might as well also throw in ginger & horseradish too. It would certainly…

Jim Cathcart

Fri, 28 Mar 2014 16:45:49 +1300

I notice that the North Shore has been ragged on a little about the quality of curry restaurants. I met the people in Highbury, Birkenhead who run this place and I thought it was great for time-poor people http://www.spiceneasy.co.nz/

Also, the Curry Kitchen (boil-in-the-bag curries) was born on the Shore.…

Rebecca Williams

Fri, 28 Mar 2014 16:04:57 +1300

i have great memories of burning my face off in Thailand, not to mention the hilarious sign language it took to ensure that they didn't give me any heads or feet :)

Soon Lee

Fri, 28 Mar 2014 14:54:05 +1300

[Pedant] But the heat provided is different because the active chemicals are different.

Capsaicin is only found in the Capsicum genus which include members that don't contain capsaicin like capsicums/bell peppers to members that contain high levels of capsaicin like bird's eye chillies.

The heat from black & white pepper comes…

Simon Grigg

Fri, 28 Mar 2014 07:03:02 +1300

Ahem. Pepper. Which comes from the subcontinent. Including long pepper, which the Romans knew about. It was largely displaced by the more effective South American chilli pepper, but it’s not true that the Indians didn’t have a way to make a hot dish.

Nor the Malays, various peoples of what…

Simon Grigg

Fri, 28 Mar 2014 06:52:28 +1300

The first is that the receptor for capsaicin gets down-regulated when you eat capsaicin. So if you eat a bit of chilli you feel the heat/burn, but next time you will feel less burn, and the next time even less. You really do become acclimatised to curry heat. And if…

Mike Graham

Thu, 27 Mar 2014 23:05:34 +1300

Anyone else remember the Bengal Tiger on Willis St in the early eighties? It was one of the few curry houses in Wellington at the time, although I have vague memories of a Chinese/Indian restaurant in Taranaki St.

When living in London I had many curries at Montys of Ealing.…

Idiot Savant

Thu, 27 Mar 2014 23:05:09 +1300

So hot curries never existed until the Portuguese and Spanish brought back chillies. It makes sense then that there are quite a few authentic curries that have no heat at all – they are "just" blends of spices.

Ginger, pepper, and mustard seeds.

BenWilson

Thu, 27 Mar 2014 21:19:18 +1300

Indeed. But they don't, of themselves, constitute a curry, which is what I thought the name implied. I was hoping of drying the leaves and having free curry powder :-)

Ben Chapman

Thu, 27 Mar 2014 20:45:34 +1300

And mustard and garlic and ginger... They…

Kumara Republic

Thu, 27 Mar 2014 20:26:59 +1300

Mmm, all good stuff... while I can still enjoy it. I hate to dampen the mood, but I've just been informed my rare tooth condition is ineligible for the hospital waiting list. Most of the time, Murphy's law is an everyday annoyance. Right now, it's being a sadistic cunt to…

Dinah Dunavan

Thu, 27 Mar 2014 20:07:06 +1300

Dunedin once had the most marvellous vegetarian curry place, Anandas. The curries were all made with fresh ingredients and changed depending to what was seasonal. We ate there or took out at least once a week. We were most disappointed when it closed down. A year or two later I…

James Butler

Thu, 27 Mar 2014 19:57:15 +1300

Fruit in curries was quite clearly a thing.

My one really dud experience at Satya was when once several years ago I ordered the "Navratan Koorma", described in the menu as "Fruits nuts and veges cooked in koorma", and was served what seemed to be their standard vegetable korma with…

Soon Lee

Thu, 27 Mar 2014 19:23:19 +1300

Curry leaves? I love them. It's a key ingredient for adding authentic flavours to many spicy dishes.

BenWilson

Thu, 27 Mar 2014 19:20:21 +1300

just as Italian is equally a fusion cuisine when it uses tomatoes

Yes, and pasta. They don't do it exactly like the Chinese, but that's where the idea came from.

Soon Lee

Thu, 27 Mar 2014 19:20:02 +1300

Your reference to South Africa reminded me of bobotie which turns out to have an Indonesian origin. The first bobotie I ever had was in New Zealand and was made from a recipe in the Edmonds cookbook.

BenWilson

Thu, 27 Mar 2014 19:18:58 +1300

I guess the point I was trying to make was that chilli and its heat are not required to make a true curry

But they are required to make a hot curry, which seems to be the way Indians like their curry, however this came about. So it's not really…

Soon Lee

Thu, 27 Mar 2014 19:16:19 +1300

And in fact, curries are an example of fusion cuisine because it incorporates chillies that originate from the New World, just as Italian is equally a fusion cuisine when it uses tomatoes, and any European dish that uses potatoes. Virtually everything is fusion if you go back long enough.

I…

Bart Janssen

Thu, 27 Mar 2014 18:38:46 +1300

Ahem. Pepper.

Yup but hardly the same heat as chilli so yes they could make a hot dish but most were not hot as we think of them today. Instead they were "merely" complex mixtures of spices. I guess the point I was trying to make was that chilli and…

Russell Brown

Thu, 27 Mar 2014 18:15:10 +1300

And because I’m a geek I have to say something about the chilli. All the heat in a curry comes from chilli and all chillies come from South America. So hot curries never existed until the Portuguese and Spanish brought back chillies.

Ahem. Pepper. Which comes from the subcontinent. Including…

Chris Waugh

Thu, 27 Mar 2014 17:50:14 +1300

The recipe takes 3 full days of cooking

[...]

usually requires a trip to Sandringham.

Sounds like an epic recipe.

Time also seems to intensify the heat of spicy food – one point for those with a lower chilli tolerance to beware of.

Sofie Bribiesca

Thu, 27 Mar 2014 17:44:33 +1300

Cool info! and here is a picture of chillies drying on a hill in Sth America. :)

Bart Janssen

Thu, 27 Mar 2014 17:34:11 +1300

And because I'm a geek I have to say something about the chilli. All the heat in a curry comes from chilli and all chillies come from South America. So hot curries never existed until the Portuguese and Spanish brought back chillies. It makes sense then that there are quite…

Sofie Bribiesca

Thu, 27 Mar 2014 17:26:02 +1300

Yes. Owned by the same people as the excellent Khyber Spice a few doors along, I think.

The story goes ,the Wife opened the restaurant after the shop became available next door and the Husband is the lovely tall man with the smile still spotted occasionally in the shop. I've…

Bart Janssen

Thu, 27 Mar 2014 17:22:13 +1300

Whew just got back from holiday in time for this thread.

You can buy goat at the Aussie butcher opposite Mt Roskill Grammar, the section is bigger than the lamb section.

As for curries, I grew up eating my mother's version of the Indonesian foods she grew up on -…

Geoff Lealand

Thu, 27 Mar 2014 15:34:02 +1300

It wasn't No. 58 by chance? Our friends Deb and Andrew live there.

Isabel Hitchings

Thu, 27 Mar 2014 15:23:48 +1300

I've just had the most intense memory/craving for the curry my Dad used to make when I was small and we were hippies. Hard boiled eggs and a mildish tomato and onion curry sauce atop a pile of brown rice.

Lachlan Forsyth

Thu, 27 Mar 2014 15:07:44 +1300

I'm glad Russell also mentioned Satya. I previously lived just around the corner from the Sandringham Rd joint and would regularly take out of town visitors there.

They'd wander past the kitchens and look at the hangings on the ceiling and wonder what strange little cavern I'd dragged them into.…

Lucy Stewart

Thu, 27 Mar 2014 14:55:06 +1300

Admittedly, they are likely to be unripe, which perhaps puts them on the other side of the culinary fruit–vegetable divide.

Yeah, it's not quite the same thing as sultanas or ripe banana – different flavour profile entirely.

Sacha

Thu, 27 Mar 2014 14:48:41 +1300

and a damn nice palak paneer

Lachlan Forsyth

Thu, 27 Mar 2014 14:47:24 +1300

This really is an excellent post, thanks Russell. Greatly enjoying it!

You’re bang on, Rebecca. Shubh has lovely samosas, which used to make for a most satisfying walk home after jumping off at the bus stop immediately outside the shop. The curried carrot, pea and potato, wrapped up in a…

Russell Brown

Thu, 27 Mar 2014 13:55:08 +1300

Ok I’m going to do it. I can’t believe no one else knows about it, but I can’t let this thread go by without mentioning Shubh in sandringham road. It’s a curry kitchen. Sell punnets and trays of the best vegetarian Indian curry for the tiniest amount of money. Also…

Ben Chapman

Thu, 27 Mar 2014 13:50:00 +1300

Eating fruit *with* curry is widespread in South Asian cuisine; apparently the British just missed the step where you don’t cook it *in* the main meal…

Putting fruit in curry is perhaps not all that common in South Asian food, but it certainly isn't unknown. Both mango and banana are…

Rebecca Williams

Thu, 27 Mar 2014 13:26:57 +1300

Ok I'm going to do it. I can't believe no one else knows about it, but I can't let this thread go by without mentioning Shubh in sandringham road. It's a curry kitchen. Sell punnets and trays of the best vegetarian Indian curry for the tiniest amount of money. Also…

Lucy Stewart

Thu, 27 Mar 2014 13:24:23 +1300

Fruit in curries was quite clearly a thing. Like Susannah, I wonder if there’s some connection with the sweet, fruity curries of the South African Cape.

Or with the various raitas one eats with curry? I've had banana and coconut raita with various types of curry and it's pretty seriously…

Russell Brown

Thu, 27 Mar 2014 12:09:14 +1300

It occurs to me that I've really just made up my own sausage curry recipe.

It goes like this:

Barbecue or fry your sausages (preferably good-quality chicken ones) and leave to cool enough to slice up into bite-size pieces.

Fry onions, garlic and a little fresh ginger with some curry…

Emma Hart

Thu, 27 Mar 2014 12:06:08 +1300

Fruit in curries was quite clearly a thing.

It's the consistency of the banana after being cooked for long enough to tenderise stewing steak that freaks me out. It might not be as bad as I imagine. Sometimes I contemplate cooking my way through this book, but I'm just too…

Deborah

Thu, 27 Mar 2014 12:04:09 +1300

All of those recipes are pure gold, Ross.

Russell Brown

Thu, 27 Mar 2014 11:58:03 +1300

At the start of the meat section there’s a recipe for “curry”, which is the British “stew with curry powder in it” version, and cooks for hours with coconut, sultanas, an apple and a banana in the stew.

Fruit in curries was quite clearly a thing. Like Susannah, I wonder…

Emma Hart

Thu, 27 Mar 2014 11:51:26 +1300

I have my mother’s recipe book – the one into which she stuck clippings or copied out recipes for things she really fancied. And I really wish it had dates in it, because it’s a fascinating culinary record from someone who grew up in a farming family in the thirties…

Che Tibby

Thu, 27 Mar 2014 11:21:38 +1300

curried eggs (which I still have an enormous soft spot for) were my introduction to curry

BOOM. that was mine too. i had completely forgotten.

i very first job (1982) involved peeling and halving boiled eggs, scooping the yolk out, mixing it with powder and mayonaisse, and piping back into…

Ben Chapman

Thu, 27 Mar 2014 11:16:34 +1300

I remember that, and have been known to make it (usually with whole meat rather than sausages though). I was always under the impression it was a South African variant on curry although I have no idea why I think that.

Speaking of South African curry variants. During the World…

Stephen Judd

Thu, 27 Mar 2014 10:42:21 +1300

Terry Pratchett has quite a lot to say about curry in his Discworld books, in all variants from the searing Klatchian curry to the sad swede and raisin echoes. There is a recipe in Nanny Ogg's Cookbook which is classic Anglo inauthentic curry.

Dave Patrick

Thu, 27 Mar 2014 10:23:26 +1300

Sausage curry with sultanas and cubed apple was a staple when I was growing up whenever mum felt like cooking something "exotic". I seem to recall the curry powder always being Vencat Curry Powder in the little red plastic pot, but that might be just my memory making things up.…

Tamsin6

Thu, 27 Mar 2014 10:17:48 +1300

I'm pretty sure the Golden Curry is still there (it's on Google maps anyway...) – the inclusion on the Just Eat online ordering might explain the lack of a website – could this be the same place?

http://www.just-eat.co.uk/restaurants-goldencurry-sw4/menu

I used to have a copy of The New Zealand Indian cookbook…

Harvindar Singh

Thu, 27 Mar 2014 01:03:12 +1300

...Aashiayana is still the premium priced brand reduced range, great story too, we sold the real estate in about 95 and built a food processing plant in New Lynn doing frozen curries, sauces and marinades, leavened breads and pies, great story too – but the best stories are from the…

Russell Brown

Thu, 27 Mar 2014 00:34:18 +1300

[we] my family, did the first Indian restaurant in New Zealand 1978, the Aashiayana

Harv! I was planning to ask you about that on Facebook.

And I didn't realise Watties owned the brand now. It doesn't seem to be in Countdown supermarkets at all, but the quality has seemed good…

Harvindar Singh

Thu, 27 Mar 2014 00:23:12 +1300

...omg Russell, the Monday Night Problem Drinkers Club and the love of jangly guitar bands, hahaha, oh the memories, not that any of us had drinking problems, hahaha, just could buy a drink anywhere on a Monday night back then – more so though [we] my family, did the first…

Russell Brown

Wed, 26 Mar 2014 23:56:06 +1300

My 43 year old Roberton Rd, Avondale, flat recipe copied out into my 43 year old recipe book written in by my (at the time 40 year old Mum:

Beautiful. What an excellent discussion this is turning out to be.

Ross Mason

Wed, 26 Mar 2014 23:44:03 +1300

Would one of you people who cook up a mean sausage curry care to post a recipe?

My 43 year old Roberton Rd, Avondale, flat recipe copied out into my 43 year old recipe book written in by my (at the time 40 year old Mum:

Ross Mason

Wed, 26 Mar 2014 23:30:11 +1300

Curried sausages. NZ answer to dealing with foreign muck. You know, macaroni cheese. Spaghetti in tins. Rice pudding. As far as restaurant eating goes:Tea rooms – Quarter cut white bread with smear of butter (none of this margarine shit), eggs on toast, baked beans. Bacon. Sophistication like nothing on earth.…

Russell Brown

Wed, 26 Mar 2014 23:28:00 +1300

My first experience of curry was in literary form: Gerald Durrell’s account of working at Whipsnade Zoo, which I have to admit was one factor that delayed by a decade or more my actual tasting of curry. Heavily redacted, here it is:

That's great. Nice job of editing it down…

Andre Alessi

Wed, 26 Mar 2014 22:28:16 +1300

By far the best (and best value) curry I've had in Auckland was at Pakwan in Belmont. Massive servings, lots of free extras and samosas to clamber over broken glass for. They'd have massive vats sitting on the stoves cooking all day until the meat was so tender it'd fall…

linger

Wed, 26 Mar 2014 22:22:19 +1300

Simon Grigg

Wed, 26 Mar 2014 21:33:14 +1300

I agree. All of this strutting and posing over who can eat the hottest chillie/curry is wearisome. What happened to actually tasting the food

When properly used, chillies and heat can be an awesome aide towards tasting the food.

Simon Grigg

Wed, 26 Mar 2014 21:29:49 +1300

Although having said that, Samy’s Curry House on the Dempsey hill was (still is) my favourite. “Fine South Indian Cuisine”

Damn – now you've got me Greg. I'm in HK next week I hope ....

Simon Grigg

Wed, 26 Mar 2014 21:29:11 +1300

a duplicate post it seems.

Ana Simkiss

Wed, 26 Mar 2014 21:16:46 +1300

My life in curry started early, my dad being a gastronaut who travelled from Manchester to NZ via Berlin, India and Eastern Europe and all places in between. His 1969 Indian recipe book is on the shelf. The recipes are along the lines of "start a medium fire.."

Tinakori

Wed, 26 Mar 2014 20:57:11 +1300

Anthony Burgess of Clockwork Orange fame wrote three novels about his time as a schoolteacher in Malaya, the Malayan Trilogy. The descriptions of his curry meals – always accompanied by ice cold Tiger Beer – were what started my yet to be sated interest in curry.

Che Tibby

Wed, 26 Mar 2014 20:36:38 +1300

Growing coriander. Seems like it's mostly luck. Most things in Newlands really struggle, but for some reason despite the unpredictable weather, high winds and poor soil coriander seems to go great.

Except this past year.

Damn fickle herb...

linger

Wed, 26 Mar 2014 20:35:54 +1300

On one level, Japanese curry is terribly wrong. On another …As it happens, my lunch today, at a little restaurant behind my university, was a “cheese omelette curry”, which, as the name suggests, is a cheese omelette served on top of a beef curry rice. You might say this is…

Che Tibby

Wed, 26 Mar 2014 20:27:53 +1300

Yeah man. When the crop is successful I like to sit outside on a warm day and strip the seed heads for an afternoon. The full hippie trip. Cicadas, birdsong, harvest.

Susannah Shepherd

Wed, 26 Mar 2014 19:55:28 +1300

Big fat sultanas, with sliced banana and dessicated coconut on the side.

thegirlstefan

Wed, 26 Mar 2014 19:42:32 +1300

oh Dunedin, it does try- you would think that the proliferation of students would give it any interesting cultural tinge, but in my experience most of the 'ethnic' restaurants at the north end of George St seem to be putting frozen supermarket-bought samosas etc. into the microwave/deep fryer and charging…

thegirlstefan

Wed, 26 Mar 2014 19:33:46 +1300

anyone looking for goat meat in Wellington should try the Halal butchers in Newtown. you can also find all the fresh accompaniments you need a few metres down Riddiford Street at Asiana Foods (Ranchods). I've had trouble getting coriander to grow too, but luckily only have to walk 5 minutes…

Barry

Wed, 26 Mar 2014 19:22:37 +1300

You must get wearied very easily: there is hardly a mention of hotness of curries, and no-one claiming to eat the hottest!

kalypso

Wed, 26 Mar 2014 19:22:04 +1300

My first curry was Mum's Beef and pineapple version (much nice than it sounds, even today although YMMV). Went to a few of the local Shore places when I was older but after eating at work mate's house (his lovely mum cooked everything from scratch ), nothing at a restaurant…

Leopold

Wed, 26 Mar 2014 19:00:46 +1300

I agree. All of this strutting and posing over who can eat the hottest chillie/curry is wearisome. What happened to actually tasting the food

Barry

Wed, 26 Mar 2014 18:47:49 +1300

I hate this thread: I live in Dunedin and no-one really makes a compelling curry and it is the one important food group which I have never mastered the art of cooking. I grew up in rural New Zealand, so my only contact with curry until I was about 20…

Russell Brown

Wed, 26 Mar 2014 18:44:58 +1300

Grey Lynn butchers and Pak n Save on Lincoln Rd seem the other reliable outlets. Cook long and slow unless you have a pressure cooker.

Top tip: When Indians talk about mutton they are talking about goat.

I'm starting to get the urge to go all Persian on a large…

Rich Flavour

Wed, 26 Mar 2014 18:32:16 +1300

September 12, 1994.

Stephen Judd

Wed, 26 Mar 2014 18:28:18 +1300

Random thought: when did restauranteurs start asking "do you want Kiwi hot, or (Indian|Thai) hot?"

Rich Flavour

Wed, 26 Mar 2014 18:07:01 +1300

From scratch is the only way... this is a great recipe, but you need to put in a bit of time and work!

http://www.ecurry.com/blog/indian/curries/gravies/murgh-makhani-butter-chicken/

Rich Flavour

Wed, 26 Mar 2014 18:05:05 +1300

Curry Goat! The Jamaican staple. I have a great recipe if anyone finds any goat meat. Fun fact: it is the most widely eaten meat in the world, just not around these parts.

Raquel Moss

Wed, 26 Mar 2014 18:04:48 +1300

We have absolutely no idea. On the same night we were interviewed by the local newspaper, who were doing a feature on the guy who owned the cooking school (plus three hotels, two restaurants, a spice shop and who knows what else). When we read the story in the morning,…

Rebecca Williams

Wed, 26 Mar 2014 17:54:05 +1300

Tips on growing coriander? By far my favourite fresh herb – can't grow it.

Greg Wood

Wed, 26 Mar 2014 17:43:30 +1300

The Himalaya! We lived one street over for a good few months. What a find, after all the South Indian carry-on in Singapore.

Although having said that, Samy's Curry House on the Dempsey hill was (still is) my favourite. "Fine South Indian Cuisine" — served right at your communal plastic…

Rebecca Williams

Wed, 26 Mar 2014 17:33:45 +1300

Yeah probably about 3l.

I'm still pining about groeing my own from seed ... But something in me balks at the idea of buying a heater .... Or even having to grow things inside.

Russell – do the chilli thread :) it's a whole new conversation.

Greg Wood

Wed, 26 Mar 2014 17:31:08 +1300

Wow... I can see this blog is going to open a pandora's box packed full of cans of worms of an incredibly delicious nature.

Without going into curry stories from eight years of living in Singapore, by way of a theory about how much a cuisine is like a language…

BenWilson

Wed, 26 Mar 2014 17:27:25 +1300

now I have them as weeds

Nice weeds! My garden's the same – I get endless brassicas coming up as weeds everywhere. Zero effort broccoli. It's amusing really, because things pop up when the season is right for them. No thinking involved, just weeding out the things you don't want.

BenWilson

Wed, 26 Mar 2014 17:21:54 +1300

Thanks! Makes about 3 liters? Might make my own tomato sauce for it, too, got millions of them at the moment.

i caved and bought some seedlings from the shop

Yeah me too. At about 50c per plant, yielding 10 or more chilis each, it's economic without being the headache…

Idiot Savant

Wed, 26 Mar 2014 17:14:03 +1300

The foreground ones, shaped more like a small capsicum, sent me into convulsions, to the amusement of my children, when I made the mistake of taking a large bite.

They look like jalapenos; not actually that hot on the scoville scale, but they're big, so I guess you can get…

Russell Brown

Wed, 26 Mar 2014 17:13:19 +1300

A long tradition of Indian restaurants here–might be something to do with the tradition of Indian dairy farming in the Waikato.

Well, there's one thing I learned today.

Russell Brown

Wed, 26 Mar 2014 17:10:19 +1300

Japanese kare raisu – best hangover food ever.

On one level, Japanese curry is terribly wrong. On another ...

Gabor Toth

Wed, 26 Mar 2014 16:33:40 +1300

My favorite “Indian” while living in London was this great vegetarian place. We frequented it often in part because of the all-you-can-eat Sunday buffets (which I note now cost a very modest £6.95 which is only a couple of quid more than it was 20 years ago). Also I tended…

Russell Brown

Wed, 26 Mar 2014 16:13:56 +1300

Curry house on the Shore these days? There was an amazing one in Birkenhead a couple of years back called Bombay Bites – they served an amazing goat curry but sadly it’s gone.

Oh yes, I went there once and remember being impressed.

Russell Brown

Wed, 26 Mar 2014 16:09:53 +1300

apologies for the chilli related thread-jack ….

Sigh ... I was going to save chilli for a future post of its own. But no, go ahead, don't mind me ...

Rebecca Williams

Wed, 26 Mar 2014 15:59:58 +1300

oki doki :) i've had a bit of success with growing chillies this year. very pleased about that as i've had no luck in years past and it's been my fond wish to make this recipe with homegrown chillies. the main difference this year was that instead of insisting on…

BenWilson

Wed, 26 Mar 2014 15:49:10 +1300

Ben I have a good sweet chilli sauce recipe that I’d be willing to share?

No need to ask! Put it up here!

I went through my notes to find out what the hot chili in my pic is. It's a Jalapeño. So not really that hot per volume, but…

Isabel Hitchings

Wed, 26 Mar 2014 15:45:07 +1300

For most of my high school years my best friend was a girl whose family had moved to Nelson from India to help in her uncle's restaurant. I spent many happy evenings hanging out in their kitchen, sampling the food and helping out where I could. On busy nights they…

Ben Chapman

Wed, 26 Mar 2014 15:44:35 +1300

Japanese kare raisu – best hangover food ever.

Peter Darlington

Wed, 26 Mar 2014 15:41:42 +1300

Rick Stein, eh? By chance late last night we watched a repeat of his food tour through Louisiana. I went to bed so, so hungry and dreamed of spare ribs and steak and pound cake!

Yeh, that's the blues one eh? RS appears to be quite the Mississippi Delta blues…

Rebecca Williams

Wed, 26 Mar 2014 15:37:26 +1300

Ben I have a good sweet chilli sauce recipe that I'd be willing to share? Given to me by a mate who used to be a chef :)

Ah curry. Close to my heart! My first curry experience must surely have been something my mother concocted with Gregg's curry powder…

BenWilson

Wed, 26 Mar 2014 15:36:55 +1300

said ‘I was not ready for his vindaloo’, and he meant it, only relenting on the third visit

Love it. You had to show you were serious.

If only the Scoville scale were more useful, one could present credentials showing tolerance to a particular level.

Geoff Lealand

Wed, 26 Mar 2014 15:27:27 +1300

Two good South India restaurants in Hamilton: RR South India (out near the university) and Bananaa Leaf (not sure why the extra 'a') in Hamilton East. A long tradition of Indian restaurants here--might be something to do with the tradition of Indian dairy farming in the Waikato.

Geoff Lealand

Wed, 26 Mar 2014 15:22:34 +1300

Rick Stein, eh? By chance late last night we watched a repeat of his food tour through Louisiana. I went to bed so, so hungry and dreamed of spare ribs and steak and pound cake!

Simon Grigg

Wed, 26 Mar 2014 15:18:41 +1300

Later on in London, we’d trip up to the famous South Indian restaurants in Euston.

The same Euston strip also had the Everest which introduced me to Terai Nepalese curries, a passion I've retained to this day. I'm lucky enough to get to Hong Kong a few times a year…

Alan Perrott

Wed, 26 Mar 2014 15:06:36 +1300

growing up in Mangere in the 70s we had one couple over the back fence – outwardly Pomgolian, but she was born and raised in India and he'd been a soldier stationed there – who used to pass facemelting curries over on a regular basis. my dad would pretty much…

william blake

Wed, 26 Mar 2014 15:01:43 +1300

Used to traverse Auckland to go to the Otahuhu food court and remember choosing a vindaloo from the curry stall. The chef did that inimitable indian head wobble and said 'I was not ready for his vindaloo', and he meant it, only relenting on the third visit. It was worth…

Paul Williams

Wed, 26 Mar 2014 15:01:02 +1300

What's the story to there being so many Malaysian restaurants in central Wellington?

A so few in Sydney! However, Mamak in Chinatown is fantastic, the clue is the persistent queue (for visitors to Sydney).

Lisa Black

Wed, 26 Mar 2014 14:55:22 +1300

Little Penang on Dixon St for Chinese Malaysian, which is what most of the Malaysian places in Wellington are. I don't recall seeing any Malay places in Wellington.

Omar Crawford

Wed, 26 Mar 2014 14:54:08 +1300

Thanks Russell that's really nice to know!

Aromatics is still going,. Luckily dad had a right-hand man he'd been working with for a while and one of my brothers is working alongside him now, so we are keeping the passion alive!

I got back from overseas in time to cook…

Simon Grigg

Wed, 26 Mar 2014 14:49:07 +1300

My current passion are deep southern Thai curries. Blending together central Thai, Malay, Burmese and Southern Indian influences, they tend to be (although not always are) very dry, fragrant (as in northern Malay curries) and – sorry Raymond but this food needs it as it’s part of the complexity –…

Russell Brown

Wed, 26 Mar 2014 14:37:48 +1300

My late dad Noel was a helluva of a chef (Aromatics smoked mushrooms anyone??)

Oh no! I'm very sorry to hear of Noel's passing. I'd always stop and chat with him when he made it up to the Food Show in Auckland, and those chats could range quite widely. He…

James Butler

Wed, 26 Mar 2014 14:25:07 +1300

Are things different in other cities? Are there regional Indian restaurants?

Satya is South Indian, but as you say they have a few of the northern/Anglo Indian fall-backs just in case. There are a few good Sri Lankan places around: 7 Siri in Sandringham has excellent food (try the Lump…

Omar Crawford

Wed, 26 Mar 2014 14:23:50 +1300

Can you recommend one or two? I was a big fan of the Sri Penang on K Rd before moving to the capital.
If you like Sri Penang then you would have loved Satay Kampong. Sadly I hear that institution has recently closed down. My late dad Noel was a…

peter payne

Wed, 26 Mar 2014 14:22:46 +1300

Golden Curry was still there beside the Sainsburys when I departed my Clapham home to return to NZ 18 months ago.

One slightly disappointing thing in the last few years was that many of the UK curry houses – including Golden Curry if memory serves' – had a décor makeover.…

Lucy Stewart

Wed, 26 Mar 2014 14:22:38 +1300

He mentions most of the Indian restaurants in London are actually run by Bangladeshi’s with a Bengali emphasis.

As it was explained to me by a Bengali, Bangladesh and Bengal are essentially the same place divided by an arbitrary border.

Ben Chapman

Wed, 26 Mar 2014 14:19:10 +1300

But the dhansak I used to enjoy in Clapham was probably Bangladeshi. It’s a totally different dish when I’ve had it here.

I'm no expert, but my understanding is that dhansak is Parsi, so probably originates from Mumbai or nearby.

Deborah

Wed, 26 Mar 2014 14:17:31 +1300

Would one of you people who cook up a mean sausage curry care to post a recipe?

Russell Brown

Wed, 26 Mar 2014 14:16:43 +1300

He mentions most of the Indian restaurants in London are actually run by Bangladeshi’s with a Bengali emphasis.

It’s a kind of weird mix, because the dishes, by name, are mostly North Indian. But the dhansak I used to enjoy in Clapham was probably Bangladeshi. It’s a totally different dish…

Peter Darlington

Wed, 26 Mar 2014 14:13:27 +1300

Anyone watching Rick Stein's Indian food show on Sunday nights? Great viewing as he tours round the country and makes me yearn for a foodie holiday! A couple of points of interest from the show are

1. The word "curry" is problematic for Indian people. It doesn't mean anything to…

Lucy Stewart

Wed, 26 Mar 2014 14:07:37 +1300

I was vaguely aware that curry houses were a rarity in most parts of the US the last time I visited. It’s just that my friend Rael knew them all.

Most big cities are OK – I've had decent Indian in Boston, New York, Seattle, San Francisco, and the bit…

Ben Chapman

Wed, 26 Mar 2014 14:05:16 +1300

I've tried to recall my earliest experience of curry – apart form the sausage/sultana Edmonds Cookery Book variety – but I can't pinpoint it. All I know is that it was during the era when curries came in "chicken", "beef" and "vegetable".

There is more variety in Indian curries now,…

Raymond A Francis

Wed, 26 Mar 2014 14:02:43 +1300

I love spicy food and a bit of chili heat but other than to prove your superiority what is the deal with eating food that hurts going in and apparently hurts going out

Che Tibby

Wed, 26 Mar 2014 13:59:12 +1300

It is often all that is listed when an Indian restaurant's menu has a children's selection

yep. so far, it's the only curry the wee man (5) will eat.

i also make my own pastes and powders. do a mean ras hanout too.

James Butler

Wed, 26 Mar 2014 13:54:05 +1300

I seem to recall sultanas being de rigueur in my granddad’s sausage curry.

"Sultanas the size of boiled eggs" as I believe Terry Pratchett termed it.

Ben Chapman

Wed, 26 Mar 2014 13:50:25 +1300

There’s something to be said for butter chicken. For many New Zealanders, it’s their first Indian experience. It has a safe English name involving two ordinary Pakeha ingredients and serves as a delicious introduction to the world of curry. A gateway drug!

It is often all that is listed when…

Liam Keane

Wed, 26 Mar 2014 13:49:13 +1300

Glad you acknowledge the value of a decent curry paste, though the process of making one from scratch is very rewarding. Can't say as Pataks really delivers for me – would recommend Ferns curry pastes, have only tried the Biryani but oh goodness. Most Indian specialist food shops would have…

Geoff Lealand

Wed, 26 Mar 2014 13:39:46 +1300

Big fat sultanas, with sliced banana and dessicated coconut on the side.

Russell Brown

Wed, 26 Mar 2014 13:37:31 +1300

in this pale curry-free* land of eternal winter** I’m currently inhabiting

I was vaguely aware that curry houses were a rarity in most parts of the US the last time I visited. It’s just that my friend Rael knew them all.

Stephen Doyle

Wed, 26 Mar 2014 13:37:26 +1300

My first experience of a decent curry would have been the Moti Mahal on the Cowley Road in Oxford, in the late 70's. Not there any more sadly, probably gentrified out of existence.
The good old sausage curry is a regular in our household.
Can anyone recommend a DECENT curry…

James Butler

Wed, 26 Mar 2014 13:35:53 +1300

butter chicken [...] has a safe English name involving two ordinary Pakeha ingredients

There's an amusing family anecdote about my grandparents being broadsided by "Butter Chicken" pies from their local dairy. Amusing to us; they were livid.

Russell Brown

Wed, 26 Mar 2014 13:35:50 +1300

Later during the trip, we took a cooking class in Udaipur, with a British couple who couldn’t STAND spicy food. We were pretty sure that people like them were the reason we couldn’t get a spicy enough dish from any establishment despite begging and pleading.

That's just weird. Why would…

BenWilson

Wed, 26 Mar 2014 13:35:32 +1300

Now I feel bad for posting pics of my chilis in this glorious neverending summer that Auckland has enjoyed :-)

Lucy Stewart

Wed, 26 Mar 2014 13:20:48 +1300

Wellington's Malaysian curry houses must be mentioned! That's easily one of my favourite things about Wellington.

My first eat-out curry was Roti Chenai opposite Manners Mall, when I was 11. I spent so much time in that place as a teenager with my two best friends that all I had…

Robert Harvey

Wed, 26 Mar 2014 13:14:33 +1300

it actually wasn’t easy to go out and buy a proper Indian curry until as late as the early 1980s.
Before going on our OE in 1971 there was IIRC only one Indian restaurant in Auckland, in Wellesley St West, south side, the block between Federal and Albert Sts. Never…

Ben Chapman

Wed, 26 Mar 2014 13:08:05 +1300

I seem to recall sultanas being de rigueur in my granddad's sausage curry.

Kyle Matthews

Wed, 26 Mar 2014 13:00:08 +1300

Sadly I can't recommend Indian Summer in Dunedin. New owners took it over a year or so ago and we've been a bunch of times, but their service is terrible – every time we order garlic or chicken naan and every time they bring us plain. Sometimes the quality of…

Raquel Moss

Wed, 26 Mar 2014 12:50:30 +1300

I became a vegetarian when I was 11 years old, so Indian cuisine is very near and dear to me. My partner and I live in Newtown, Wellington, meaning we have about six excellent curry houses within spitting distance. My loyalties are torn — Curry Heaven for a fragrant dal…

Dan Horne

Wed, 26 Mar 2014 12:48:40 +1300

Wellington’s Malaysian curry houses must be mentioned!

Can you recommend one or two? I was a big fan of the Sri Penang on K Rd before moving to the capital. I tried a couple of places down here that didn't grab me – but I know that it must have…

Richard Ram

Wed, 26 Mar 2014 12:30:43 +1300

Grey Lynn butchers and Pak n Save on Lincoln Rd seem the other reliable outlets. Cook long and slow unless you have a pressure cooker.

Top tip: When Indians talk about mutton they are talking about goat.

Russell Brown

Wed, 26 Mar 2014 12:28:03 +1300

Is sausage curry a New Zealand thing?

It may well be. I find it works best with chicken sausages (Westmere Butcher), which are less fatty.

Russell Brown

Wed, 26 Mar 2014 12:27:05 +1300

I found, in general, the curry in London to be a bit lack-luster. I longed for some of the more spicy NZ ones, and usually partook when we came back

Ironically, our shorter experience makes us more authentic. Britain has had Indian restaurants for 200 years (and many of the…

Che Tibby

Wed, 26 Mar 2014 12:26:46 +1300

right. coincidentally, just back from eating a kori gassi.

Your local butcher may very well sell goat

can be bought from pak n save porirua fairly regularly, and sometime even in our local NW.

generally i treat it much like hogget.

Tony Siu

Wed, 26 Mar 2014 12:21:10 +1300

Is sausage curry a New Zealand thing?

Russell Brown

Wed, 26 Mar 2014 12:20:37 +1300

Your local butcher may very well sell goat and it's worth a go, even for a novice.

Mine doesn't but the one in the little India cluster on Sandringham Road does. I presume it's cooked long and slow?

Richard Ram

Wed, 26 Mar 2014 12:18:27 +1300

Nice.

Try the search term "west indian curry" on Google and you'll find a new world of options. Your local butcher may very well sell goat and it's worth a go, even for a novice. Recipes are easy and we have most of the ingredients readily available here.

If you've…

Russell Brown

Wed, 26 Mar 2014 12:17:57 +1300

Wellington’s Malaysian curry houses must be mentioned! That’s easily one of my favourite things about Wellington.

What's the story to there being so many Malaysian restaurants in central Wellington?

BenWilson

Wed, 26 Mar 2014 12:17:51 +1300

A gateway drug!

So true. It's like the alcopop of curries. You like it most at first, but then after you develop a taste for curry, its creaminess just gets in the way.

Russell Brown

Wed, 26 Mar 2014 12:16:33 +1300

Ready for the bash ...

Robyn Gallagher

Wed, 26 Mar 2014 12:15:09 +1300

There's something to be said for butter chicken. For many New Zealanders, it's their first Indian experience. It has a safe English name involving two ordinary Pakeha ingredients and serves as a delicious introduction to the world of curry. A gateway drug!

Wellington's Malaysian curry houses must be mentioned! That's…

Deborah

Wed, 26 Mar 2014 12:12:40 +1300

I had to look hard to find the cat, who looks blissfully content, hidden in amongst the basil.

nic.wise

Wed, 26 Mar 2014 12:09:49 +1300

I found, in general, the curry in London to be a bit lack-luster. I longed for some of the more spicy NZ ones, and usually partook when we came back (back for good now, had a few and enjoyed them very much). The exception was the Lahore Curry House in…

Russell Brown

Wed, 26 Mar 2014 12:09:34 +1300

Could send you a wee baggie of last year’s seeds if you’re game. WARNING: they look suspiciously like cannabis seeds.

Really? How kind! I'll DM you my address.

BenWilson

Wed, 26 Mar 2014 12:05:36 +1300

Great to see this blog starting! Good luck for the future.

Looking forward to some good chilli suggestions, considering they’re only ripening now. The long red ones in the background were disappointing, despite being sold as “burning hot”. The foreground ones, shaped more like a small capsicum, sent me into…

Che Tibby

Wed, 26 Mar 2014 12:02:31 +1300

Do you reckon they taste better?

Kind of hard to say. I'll have to come clean and admit that my cooking is mostly based on texture and smell over taste, but they are a lot more 'resinous' than the shop bought stuff. When you grind them in a pestle they…

Russell Brown

Wed, 26 Mar 2014 11:57:50 +1300

Curry Laksa from that food court on… hobson st? In the mid-90s. I remember it like it was yesterday. Took me 5 years to work out how to replicate it.

That would be Food Alley on Albert Street, home of many a budget delight. And laksa is almost a topic…

Che Tibby

Wed, 26 Mar 2014 11:49:23 +1300

Curry Laksa from that food court on... hobson st? In the mid-90s. I remember it like it was yesterday. Took me 5 years to work out how to replicate it.

These days I'm so dedicated to coriander I grow it and harvest the seeds for the next year's eating.

Public Address

Wed, 26 Mar 2014 11:49:23 +1300

Discussion from blog post.