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How Curry Became a Japanese Naval Tradition

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Re: How Curry Became a Japanese Naval Tradition

#31

Post by dzhiurgis »

eastbaydev wrote: post #16
delbel wrote: post #6

I eat pre-mixed Thai curry paste from this brand called "Mae Ploy" with coconut oil, powdered coconut milk, meat (either chicken or beef) and vegetables. There's about five different flavors and for $8 you get a 2 pound bucket of it I have never actually been able to finish one in less than a year. Turns out I can eat an amazing very low carb meal for about $2 a day and 2-3 minutes of meal prep. It's currently my "me…

there are lots of premixed Japanese curry blends. Start off with Golden Curry roux blocks, and then you might want to branch out to other brands like Vermont Curry (tastes of apple and honey, its right there on the package!). Its actually even lazier dish than Mae Ploy because all you add it water. You dont even need to have coconut milk in the pantry.

Came here to shill roux blocks too. Learned about them just a month ago. Easy to prepare and great flavor!

Re: How Curry Became a Japanese Naval Tradition

#33

Post by delbel »

jgorn wrote: post #13
delbel wrote: post #6

I eat pre-mixed Thai curry paste from this brand called "Mae Ploy" with coconut oil, powdered coconut milk, meat (either chicken or beef) and vegetables. There's about five different flavors and for $8 you get a 2 pound bucket of it I have never actually been able to finish one in less than a year. Turns out I can eat an amazing very low carb meal for about $2 a day and 2-3 minutes of meal prep. It's currently my "me…

That sounds delicious, I love how much flavour is packed in Thai curry paste. But how can you make a fully cooked curry in 2-3 minutes?

I am embarrassed to admit this but I use a microwave-safe ceramic dish with lid for steaming vegetables. I put two to four tablespoons of coconut oil and 4 tablespoons of curry paste. I heat it up for 30 seconds and mix it and add coconut milk powder. Then I fill it with frozen vegetables and nuke it for 10-15 minutes.

The frozen chicken breasts are cooked in toaster oven for 45-75 minutes at 400f in a cast iron flat plate skillet. I usually start the microwave when this is done, because again I am very lazy and need to run another 20 amp circuit to that spot of the kitchen.

I cut up the cooked chicken and put it in the bowl when it is finished. I have it timed so everything is perfectly cooked. Probably the most offensive and lazy way of cooking this dish, quick and about $2.25 total including frozen chicken, frozen vegetables, paste, coconut oil, and milk. You could add $.13 for about 1kw for electricity to be fair.

Re: How Curry Became a Japanese Naval Tradition

#34

Post by jac_no_k »

themodelplumber wrote: post #2

Nice article. I remember first reading about kinyou curry in the manga series "Zipang" by Kaiji Kawaguchi, in which a modern Japanese Aegis destroyer gets time-warped back to WWII on the first day of the Battle of Midway. Semi-related: We hear a lot about about Japanese curry when it comes to soupy things. But we never hear about Japanese stew (shichuu). Sometimes when I was getting sick of curry--hard to imagine now…

If you manage to find a Japanese grocer, it's a staple item. In a pinch, order through Amazon:

House Foods Cream Stew, 4.93 Ounce (Pack of 10) by House Foods Link: http://a.co/d/hXsgx21

Re: How Curry Became a Japanese Naval Tradition

#35

Post by Arnt »

flukus wrote: post #17
lgessler wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

FWIW online etymologies seem to suggest this description isn't totally off, but I agree the bit about it not having a history is transparently wrong. Etymonline[1]: > kind of sauce or relish much used in Indian cookery, from the leaves of a southwest Asian plant related to the lemon, 1680s, from Tamil (Dravidian) kari "sauce, relish for rice," also "a bite, bit, morsel." As "meat or vegetable stew flavored with curry…

> To be clear: what happened here is that English already had a word "curry" (this is the one we get in the expression "curry favor"), and it encountered and incorporated the Tamil word which coincidentally had an identical pronunciation and a very related meaning. It would be a good candidate to look into the origins of further, perhaps there is a proto-indio-european link and it's not a coincidence.

Tamil is dravidian, not indoeuropean.

Re: How Curry Became a Japanese Naval Tradition

#36

Post by train_robber »

billfruit wrote: post #11
miyhhbftdx wrote: post #5

> The word “curry” originated in India, although it did not have a long history there. Instead, it derived from a Portuguese mispronunciation of a term meaning “spices,” which British colonizers applied to a wide swath of Indian dishes. Such misinformation that I can't even... Kari is a Tamil word. I am Tamil. It has been in the vocabulary for thousands of years. Just made some elephant yam kari for lunch. It is alwa…

May be from Malayalam rather than Tamil. In Malayalam, the dish with gravy is Curry, and dry dishes are never described as curry. Portuguese had at least initially more interaction with the west coast of the Indian peninsula, than the east coast, I suppose.

But even in Malayalam, curry/kari could also be used as an umbrella term for any accompaniments with rice, dry and wet. 'Chorum kariyum' - in this context curry is accepted as all the stuff that you eat with a regular rice meal (including the dry 'thoran'), atleast in where I'm from.

Re: How Curry Became a Japanese Naval Tradition

#37

Post by telesilla »

Ah now I am dropped back 20 years in my past when I first had a curry udon, delicious and piping hot with gigantic pieces of melting tofu and soft boiled potato. I went back often to this cosy locale buried in the chinatown of a busy southern-hemisphere city. One day, it had disappeared and I still feel its loss. Though I try to reproduce this at home, and I try japanese curry whenever I come across one, I'll never again know those first flavours that brought me such happiness. It must have been a homemade curry because every store brand I've tried doesn't match my expectations. I'll keep trying..

Re: How Curry Became a Japanese Naval Tradition

#38

Post by malloryerik »

rangibaby wrote: post #30
malloryerik wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I do wish they'd change the Japanese naval flag -- in much of East Asia the Rising Sun Flag is seen as a symbol of oppression and Japanese imperialism, almost as potent as a Nazi swastika. It doesn't do Japan any good to fly the old imperial flag from every Maritime Self Defense Force vessel, even if it was the naval flag since 1889 (by which time Japan already had imperial designs).

If the Japanese had to change their military symbols for that reason, every country in the world would. Even Germany still uses the iron cross as the symbol of their air force.

I don't see why every country would have to change their symbol. Yes, all countries have guilt in their pasts, as do all people, but Imperial Japan was a fascist regime that killed 50 million often with horrific brutality. And let's remember, it's just a war flag, you can change it with the stroke of a pen. The flag won't care. The Self Defense Forces won't start to suck, and the neighbors will have one less reason to think of Japan as an enemy, a real boost to national defense. You might not understand the depth of animus in the region against Japan -- schoolchildren are taught to despise it because of the fascist empire, and the Rising Sun Flag is shown as an analog to the Nazi swastika. Completely unlike Germans, Japanese are portrayed as at best ignorant of the dark side of their own nation's history, and flying a flag that on sight causes more than a billion people to swell with rage because they connect it to Japan's fascist past does nothing to dispel that notion. Fret not, the neighbors also choose to forget the dark sides of their pasts. Yet they must all live together, in an environment that feels like it mixes 21st century technology with late 19th century nationalism.

I love Japan. I've been visiting five or six times a year for quite a while. I flew in naval exercises alongside the Maritime Self Defense Forces. I enjoy Japanese curry. You should really try curry soup in Sapporo, it's fantastic. I could happily live in Japan for the rest of my days. I'd still be happy if they changed the damn counter-productive war flag.

Re: How Curry Became a Japanese Naval Tradition

#39

Post by sandGorgon »

I think curry is a adopted food in most cold countries and a native dish in hot, humid countries.

A thick stew with tons of spices and salt is basically a food preservation mechanism - especially for vegetables and meat which would spoil quickly.

Similarly, the origin of baked bread - cold countries had a stove for heating the home. someone figured out how to use it as an oven. Most hot countries use fried bread or roasted unleaved bread (roti). Because it is insane to stand over a stove for too long in such temperatures.

Re: How Curry Became a Japanese Naval Tradition

#40

Post by psergeant »

etymacct123 wrote: post #14

not just curry but soup is also indian! of course completely denied by the west so far soup is from sanskrit supa attested in arthashastra of kautilya dated to 1st millennium BC by westerners and 2nd millennium BC by indians see link for specific quote from the text: http://www.alexmthomas.com/2016/05/22/a-review-of-trautmanns...

Related:

> Internet and satellite communication had existed in the days of Mahabharata. How could Sanjaya (the charioteer of King Dhritarashtra in the epic) give a detailed account and description to the blind king about the battle of Kurukshetra? It means internet was there, the satellites and that technology was there in this country at that time”

> Mr Deb said that while European nations and the United States may claim to have invented the internet, the technology mostly began in India and was built by its people.

> "Internet and satellite system had existed in India lakhs of years ago. The richest culture belongs to our nation and I feel proud of it"

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