Can we talk about curry?

C

carianna-in-wa

Well-known member
A. I cannot tolerate even the tiniest amount of curry powder. I've tried it in eentsy beentsy increments and it ruins any dish for me. I can't even stand the smell of it. Once I threw a tiny temper tantrum in a restaurant because I ordered the chicken pot pie and when it came I couldn't eat it because of the curry. (I think if you add curry to chicken pot pie the menu should specify that!)

B. So this weekend I'm watching a cooking show - can't remember what one - and they were talking about curry, and they listed the ingredients. And all of them sounded like stuff I like. So while I was at my mother-in-law's yesterday I looked over 2 different bottles of curry she had in her cupboard. Every ingredient seemed familiar, and well-liked by me - except one. Fenugreek.

So my questions are: What the heck is fenugreek and what does it taste like? What gives curry that distinctive taste and smell? Does any one else suffer from this intolerance like I do?

 
I'm just the opposite. I love curry and find the aroma quite pleasant. I wrote a post...

...awhile back about making a chicken recipe for the first time and adding a fairly long list of spices to it, as directed. When the dish was cooking, I thought I smelled curry. When it was done and I tasted it, I realized I had made a curry from scratch. I had no idea ahead of time, as the recipe title did not have "curry" in it.

My family and I love a pinch of curry in chicken salad.

Thai curries are a whole different ballgame. They don't taste much like Indian curries. Have you tried those?

Michael

 
One hint that works well is to first saute curry powder in butter/ghee/oil for a few minutes.

It seems to temper that 'off taste'.

My friend has the same reaction to cumin. One single whiff of that and she can't eat the food.

I made a dish two weeks ago: full head of cauliflower, 2 large onions, chickpeas, coconut milk, lime, cilantro and 1 tsp of curry.

I hated it! And I LOVE everything in that dish, but ALL I could taste was the da%$#! curry. Thought it was all a waste, but I brought it in for a vegan friend and she loved it. Go figure. She could barely taste the curry flavor.

Afterward, I realized it was probably considered a Thai dish and I should have used some form of Thai curry, rather than the lone bottle of McCormick's Curry spice I used (whatever that is.)

By the way, I have Fenegeek should you want some to test out your theory. I could ship it with a bio-hazard suit and gas mask.

 
To me it's turmeric that makes curry curry, more so than fenugreek. Do you like turmeric by itself?

Fenugreek is an herb whose flavor I can't quite place. I know the seeds are used separately as a flavoring in imitation maple syrup.

Also, curry powder is very different from a curry made from individual spices. The powder is just a convenience and it can get stale.

 
Carianna, I am EXACTLY like you. The worst of the worst is the bottle of McCormick.

I have tried a couple of different ones from whole foods and could tolerate them. But the best is when I have a recipe like Michael mentioned, a list of spices that I like, when put all together make curry! I don't think there is any one recipe for curry since it is a mixture of spices/herbs. But I have an intense dislike for the McCormick one!

 
I'm right there with ya Carianna. can't tolerate it at all. however

I enjoyed the curried eggplant that was posted awhile back which had you make up the spices from scratch and then toast them a bit. I found this was quite good.

 
I like turmeric in Barefoot Contessa's Corn Chowder... when I smell it alone I

don't get that "curry" sensation.

I know that some people can't tolerate cilantro. I myself love cilantro, so maybe I have the curry version of that. smileys/smile.gif

 
OMG - I can't deal with curry . . .

Try as I may, I can't tolerate the combination of spices, though I might like individual spices. I have recently learned that cumin is one of the outstanding culprits. Made a soup (took all day) that had cumin and I had one to two soup spoons and poured the entire thing out. I also know that tumeric (though I can deal with this in mustard) is another of the offending spices.

I've tried valiently for years - like with oysters - to test myself with the challenge of curry, but my heart is not in it. Curry is one of the very FEW foods, like cilantro, that I know to say NO, NO, NO to. I've taught myself to eat cooked carrots; I've struggled through green beans (go figure), but curry - not yet. Just can't do it.

My apoligies to curry fans. I've tried for almost 50 years. I did my best.

 
dont make curry using curry powder make a curry using individual

ingredients making sure not to use a recipe that calls for fenugreek. Once you have made a curry the way Indians do - using no bottled curry powder you will notice a big difference....and by the way curries should not carry the heat...the sambals and pickles should be both cooling and hot

 
Sorry, LOVE curry, (Even from the spice jar)...but can't tolerate Okra. (I have tried many times!)

 
I second that about making your own curry blend...

I have all of my Indian spices in a box (the asafoetida is just too stinky to keep in the kitchen) that I keep in the laundry room and pull that out when I am cooking Indian or curries. Although I adore fenugreek (I use fresh and dried leaf as well as the ground spice), I can certainly understand some people not caring for the taste of it. It's a very unique taste, like cilantro is. But it's usually noted for soothing gastro distress, so I wouldn't rule the fenugreek as the responsible spice unless you've tried it by itself and know you react to it that way. It is a wonderful herb with all sorts of wonderful benefits (see link).

If you like the convenience of using a pre-mixed spice blend for curry, don't use that nasty stuff they sell in the supermarket, go to an Indian grocery and buy one of the curry or garam masala blends they sell. Much better.

http://www.sandmountainherbs.com/articles/fenugreek-benefits.htm

 
I HATE CURRY.

Can't stand even the freshly mixed stuff.

A story for you, though, if you still want to try...

When I was in cooking school in London, 2 sisters arrived fresh from a teeny town in India, their parents had spent every cent they had to send them to LCB, etc... their second or third day in London I invited them over for dinner and told them we had to stop at the supermarket first, on the way home - when we were in the spice aisle they started giggling, I asked them, and they said "wht the hell is this" while they held up a bottle of curry powder!

They had never been to a supermarket, as we know them, and had ceratinly never seen curry powder - so imagine, if an Indian doesn't even know what it is?!

Subsequently, they cooked for me their version of curry, and I still did not like it.

Besides, there are as many variations of garam masalas or "curry" as there are households in India -

I generally try to avoid visits to Indian restaurants - if I have to go, I will eat the pickles and naan and maybe a butter chicken, but only if it can be guaranteed that it hasn't even been near the curry in the kitchen!

 
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