Posted on: Wednesday, November 28, 2001
Using right ingredients key to curry
| • | Make a holiday curry supper the kama'aina way |
By Wanda A. Adams
Advertiser Food Editor
If you're planning a curry supper, you'll likely have to do some shopping that goes a little out of the way: the Asian Grocery, 1319 S. Beretania, is one source for imported Indian ingredients in Honolulu. (Another option is to check indian-shops.com/ for a list of online Indian food sources in the United States, as well as a spice source.)
At Asian Grocery, I found curry pastes, coconut milk and papadoms (thin rounds of spiced lentil flour that puff up when they're cooked and make a tasty, crisp snack; they are usually deep-fried, but can be microwaved, baked, even roasted over an open flame).
Curry paste — Patak's is among the best-known brands — is simply a blend of ground spices suspended in vegetable oil. The pastes vary not merely in pungency and heat but also in the balance of flavors — some are sweeter, others more vinegary.
You can readily make your own curry pastes: Roast whole spices (such as coriander, cumin and fennel seeds) briefly in a frying pan until they are crisp and release their fragrance. Remove from pan, heat a little vegetable oil or ghee (clarified butter), then fry the spices briefly in oil with powdered spices such as paprika, cayenne, fenugreek, turmeric. Ground fresh ginger and tangy tamarind paste or juice are added, too.
The trick is learning the proportions that appeal to you — one reason that some people prefer to buy reliable prepared blends.
