How to make curried rice the Aleister Crowley way

It isn’t but many millions of authentic people in authentically curry-making parts of the world use pre-made powders and pastes.

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It’s more that the idea of the British only liking the mildest of curries is several decades out of date.

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I think the more up to date version is of a British bro being insistent that he really does want a phall.

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Yes, and millions of authentic Americans in an authentically hot apple pie part of the world eat hot apple pies baked at McDonald’s. Millions of authentic people in authentically curry making parts of the world don’t use something called “curry powder”. Garam masala and such are popular, but not called curry powder.

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But Thais call what they use “curry paste” as do others. And not a few of my very Indian cookbooks (from India, for Indians) say “and add XXXXX curry powder and 5g of YYYYY garam masala” by brand name. It’s like buying any other premade spice mixture with a predictable flavor profile.

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Would that be any actual curry ?

I would have accepted “curry powder” or “cook with curry leaves”…

This comment seemed to suggest that an “actual curry” had curry powder or curry leaves. While some do, many Indian, Sri Lankan and Thai recipes for curry do not use either. Many authentic Indian and Sri Lankan cooks do not use curry powder.

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A dash of Sodomy enlivens any curry dish.

“Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the lettuce.”

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I’ve been living a lie?

I always assumed that there was curry leaf in curry powder/paste/cubes.

Seems like I’ve got some culinary research to do…

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It’s a carry over from the Mughal occupation and Persian cuisine.

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And there it is! The regulation Picture of The Great Beast With A Tea Cosy On His Head! Not a proper piece on The Evilest Man Who Ever Lived without that image!

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If there’s one word that pollutes writing about food, it’s “authentic”. It’s a bullshit word with zero meaning in the context of the glorious transient, shifting and evolving world of food.

“Oh, maybe some Sri Lankans use curry powder, but it’s not authentic.” What fucking crap. Food tastes and recipes evolve everywhere. Family variations to recipes exist. My village cures its olives on the roof; next door doesn’t. Your city makes okonomiyaki with noodles; mine doesn’t. What is authentic Boston pizza? I have no idea, but folks on BBS have referred to it and now I’m intrigued. Is it “authentic” pizza? Who gives a fuck

There is no “authentic” except in a very narrow sense (“this is the recipe for the liquamen that Seneca referred to in Epistle 95”). Food evolves and transmogrifies and we should be utterly grateful. Calling out a broad practice as “unauthentic” is laughable and it degrades the efforts of family cooks and imaginative chefs everywhere. Is this how you were taught by your gran? Excellent. It’s authentically your gran’s recipe. Is it an authentic Greek recipe? It’s an authentic Greek recipe, but not the authentic recipe, because my grandmother did it differently. Sticking to “authentic” food is a recipe (pun intended) for stagnation.

Cooking is an art, but it’s not Art. It’s transient and ephemeral. Everyone one of us is a critic and the expression “I don’t know anything about art but I know what I like” can be literally true and that’s perfectly ok.

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Oh so you’ve heard of ‘er?

Cooking steals ideas and ingredients from wherever needed. The only “authenticity” in food is survival.

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I’m sure I’m not the first to note; where’s the fucking curry?

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Yes, you’ve been lied to, but the good news is you’ve got the smell and taste of toasting your own spices to look forward to. https://www.seriouseats.com/2014/05/indian-spices-101-how-to-work-with-dry-spices.html

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Oh, maybe some Sri Lankans use curry powder, but it’s not authentic.” What fucking crap.

As noted, I shouldn’t have used the word authentic, but it meets the definition of “made or done in the traditional or original way, or in a way that faithfully resembles an original.” Which is not the only way to cook, and that’s never what I said. But, you know what’s fucking crap? Not ever tasting or smelling toasted spices. Bobo had come to think that a shortcut was the REAL step. Tempering it to your own taste, feeling the spices like shapes and forging it into something wonderful. Not Bobo’s fault, many think that. But there is a way of making a curry that can transcend curry powder.
You can argue capitalization, but if anything is Art vs. art, cooking could easily qualify as Art. Ginger, sassafras, mint and spicebush grow wild near me, and it’s magical to take those and others from the forest and make it into cuisine. That’s a Magic Art, that every bipedal humanoid should try at least, to see if they enjoy it. As food science evolves, and the chemistry allows us to preserve food better, homemade may eventually become indistinguishable from packaged. Though one aspect that is lost in short cuts is the meditative aspect, of making something wonderful tasting from scratch. It’s always a bit of a magic trick. And some people really enjoy bland, and if that’s their choice, that’s perfectly fine too.
ETA:
The Magical Art of cooking:image

Cause British curry is it’s own sort of thing, deriving from a particular time and influences on British cuisines.

Curry in Indian cooking is not a specific dish, it’s a catagory. And from what I understand the basic British curry isn’t derived from any specific dish. But naval and military stews where Indian spice mixes were added to make them less bland. That lead to the formulation of western curry powder (and later Japanese curry).

And then subsequent immigration to the UK from India made it a bit more legitimately indian. Though still based on the not particularly Indian curry powder.

These rice dishes basically come from that powder. Using it to flavor pilafs and levantine rice dishes that frequently contain dried fruit as “curried rice”.

Though I’ve heard it speculated that the sultanas and raisins were an early substitute for tamarind, it seems to me more likely that they snuck in through the culinary influence of England’s other colonial holdings.

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Cornwall and the Falklands?

The Falklands love raisins for sure.

Cite?