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The roots of Japan's Indian curry

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Re: The roots of Japan's Indian curry

#51

Post by kizunajp »

anuraj wrote: post #46

"Now to be clear, India has no such dish as a curry. No self-respecting Indian restaurant has a "curry" on their menu. They would have a Palak Paneer or a Malai Kofta or a Murgh Makhani - all of which we lump into "curry" - but no "curry" - This is patently wrong. Curry is a South Indian word referring to vegetables originally (Malakkarry means vegetables). Come to Kerala - you have Moru Curry (Butter Milk Curry) , E…

As I clarified in another comment, I was trying to make the point that curry is a genre of foods (as your examples illustrate).

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=35400253#35400453

Re: The roots of Japan's Indian curry

#52

Post by user- »

anuraj wrote: post #46

"Now to be clear, India has no such dish as a curry. No self-respecting Indian restaurant has a "curry" on their menu. They would have a Palak Paneer or a Malai Kofta or a Murgh Makhani - all of which we lump into "curry" - but no "curry" - This is patently wrong. Curry is a South Indian word referring to vegetables originally (Malakkarry means vegetables). Come to Kerala - you have Moru Curry (Butter Milk Curry) , E…

> Now to be clear, India has no such dish as a curry

Shit, gotta go ask my mom what shes been calling curry my whole life then.

Re: The roots of Japan's Indian curry

#53

Post by TRiG_Ireland »

Brajeshwar wrote: post #28

I'm not much into food. I'm kinda the "I eat because I have to." My disclaimer is that I'm not an expert but here are a few interesting stories that might be relevant to this story. I come from a place where there is a huge influence of the Japanese and grew up in folklores punctuated with Japanese stories. I got to know a tad more, when one of my school-friend took a keen interest in digging up British and Japanese…

In Ireland, I'm used to the idea that Indian restaurants are run by Pakistani men, and Chinese restaurants are run by Malaysian women.

Re: The roots of Japan's Indian curry

#54

Post by dagmx »

franciscop wrote: post #37
dagmx wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A lot of Japanese dishes that are popular today have foreign origins. Tempura, curry, ramen, and salmon for sushi. It’s why I find it hilarious when some people obsess over the authenticity of Japanese food and deride fusion cuisine. It (much like most great cuisines) is the result of intermixing and interpretations of dishes. Many Indian dishes too wouldn’t have existed without foreign interaction. Potato dishes obv…

Salmon for sushi seems not to be the famous story that was going around. Like, it has all the tenets of a nice fake story, talking about Japan and how a foreign more familiar power outsmarted them, but apparently salmon was popular way before Norway theoretically started marketing it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1k4x9FrD5k4

That video isn’t the refutation I think he thinks it is. I’m sure there’s more nuance than “Norway invented salmon sushi” but his argument is a little flakey imho.

His premise is based on American documents of sushi, but salmon was already a popular fish in the west by then. So it stands to reason that they’d use local fish for this dish that depends on good quality protein.

I’m not saying he’s necessarily wrong but his process of arriving at the result is weird, so I don’t think he’s necessarily right either.

Re: The roots of Japan's Indian curry

#55

Post by messe »

Xelynega wrote: post #43
messe wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I only know of one Indian restaurant locally here (Ireland) that has a "house curry" listed, but the rest of the menu is as you describe it.

In that case isn't "house curry" similar to "soup of the day"?

It's been a while since I've eaten there, so I can't remember if it's that, or something along the lines of their own signature recipe.

Re: The roots of Japan's Indian curry

#56

Post by scheme271 »

snowman5678 wrote: post #14
hans0l074 wrote: post #12

Interestingly, the Nepali entrepreneurs also run a lot of restaurants here in Finland - along side Indian ones. Though I feel that there are more Nepalese ones. The cuisine is almost indistinguishable from North Indian cuisine, and I have heard from some folks who have visited Nepal, that authentic dishes from Nepal are missing from these restaurants. Though I suspect that might not entirely be true.

Interesting! I wonder how much of the indistinguishabilty is just them catering to their audience looking for North Indian recipes. There are definitely a lot of Nepali recipes that are very far from Indian cuisine.

It's almost all catering to local taste and what's expected. Nepali food is good but it's not as rich as what you'd get in a restaurant. Daal baht (rice with a thin lentil soup) is not what people expect if they pay $10-20. Hell, most northern indian restaurants feature foods that are way richer than you'd see in real home cooked cuisine. The restaurant versions invariably have way more heavy cream and butter than would ever be used in a typical home.

Re: The roots of Japan's Indian curry

#57

Post by dagmx »

unmole wrote: post #40
dagmx wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The point is that “curry” is a British generalization. Indian restaurants were historically called curry houses as a pejorative. India has many dishes that one might consider a curry, but we have no dish called curry. The only use of the word curry in restaurants is to appeal to British nationals (and anyone they spread their culture to). It’s an artifact of colonialism. I also don’t understand why you think it’s vir…

> The only use of the word curry in restaurants is to appeal to British nationals (and anyone they spread their culture to). So, the Curry Points that dot Hyderabad are artefacts of British colonialism? > The generalization into “curry” was one of colonial misinterpretation. Yeah, no. The Telugu kura which is obviously cognate with kari is used to mean, well curry . How about you tone down the misinterpretation and f…

Telugu Kari doesn’t mean curry in the sense that British people understand it. Please actually look up the history of what kari is.

The use of curry in Indian restaurants in Hyderabad are an artifact of colonialism. Hyderabad in particular caters a lot to foreign nationals due to the proliferation of the tech sector there.

Anyway What curry dishes are they serving there? “Hyderabadi chicken curry”? What is it called natively?

Re: The roots of Japan's Indian curry

#58

Post by whitemary »

kizunajp wrote: post #51
anuraj wrote: post #46

"Now to be clear, India has no such dish as a curry. No self-respecting Indian restaurant has a "curry" on their menu. They would have a Palak Paneer or a Malai Kofta or a Murgh Makhani - all of which we lump into "curry" - but no "curry" - This is patently wrong. Curry is a South Indian word referring to vegetables originally (Malakkarry means vegetables). Come to Kerala - you have Moru Curry (Butter Milk Curry) , E…

As I clarified in another comment, I was trying to make the point that curry is a genre of foods (as your examples illustrate). https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=35400253#35400453

With all due respect, you failed at making that point, but now at least your intentions are understood.

Re: The roots of Japan's Indian curry

#59

Post by Rebelgecko »

sho wrote: post #24
brigandish wrote: post #20

> So if you are craving for spice in Japan, try one of the two thousand "Indian" restaurants and you will not be disappointed. Erm, if you've had a proper curry recently then you probably will be. Like everywhere else, foreign foods get tailored to their locality or they die. If you fancy a naan filled with sugar and some pretty bland dishes then try an "Indian" restaurant in Japan. Which should come as no surprise,…

> spicy foods here are a) not spicy Ha. Can confirm. Lived there 2 years and while I love the food, as far as I can tell there is no food available anywhere in Japan, at all, that the average south east asian would recognise as even mildly spicy. And outside the home islands I have observed Japanese people reacting hilariously to the actually spicy local food. My favourite was a co-worker who literally collapsed to t…

That's surprising, when I get Coco Ichibanya I think level 4-6 is already fairly spicy

Re: The roots of Japan's Indian curry

#60

Post by dfxm12 »

Xelynega wrote: post #43
messe wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I only know of one Indian restaurant locally here (Ireland) that has a "house curry" listed, but the rest of the menu is as you describe it.

In that case isn't "house curry" similar to "soup of the day"?

I would guess it's an original recipe (with no traditional name) and doesn't change daily.
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