Rosie Makes Shrimp Curry.

02-11-2020

I thought I'd try something different today - SHRIMP!

Hahahaha!!!!

Really.

This is going to be different.

I'm making shrimp curry, per Youngest Hawthorne's request.

Now, when we're talking about curry,

you're talking about one of two things -

there's curry and then there's curry.

First, there's commercial curry powder, the yellowish spice.

Curry powder is a combination of spices,

containing, cumin, turmeric, coriander, cayenne, and a few others

that when mixed together give you the

flavor and feel of India,

even though the mixture itself really isn't used in India.

In India, you have the combination of spices,

notably garam masala, 

but not curry powder per se.

Second, you have a good curry,

which generally refers to a gravy like mixture

and a stew-like dish

containing Indian spices.

In South India, the word for gravy is "kari"

which is probably where the name comes from.

Curries came into being when the British

invented the term and introduced it to the rest of us

via traders, conquerors, and slavers.

It's a bastard with many potential parents

and no clear pedigree.

Oh, wait a minute.  

There might be a third.

That would be the actual curry leaf from the curry tree,

which grows in south India and Sri Lanka
and has an earthy, citrusy taste

and is used in India in various curries and other dishes.

Oh gosh.
I just thought of something else.
Curry could have come from the French verb, cuire,
meaning "to cook."

Confused yet?

Or you can just say to hell with all that
and buy a jar of Thai Red Curry sauce.
(How did we get to Thailand?
Oh yeah.  Via Harris Teeter.)

So, I'm making a bastardized Shrimp Curry today.