I'm Korean-American and my mom made this stuff for me and my siblings when she wanted to prepare something easy. She usually used chicken and added peas or mushrooms to the onions, potatoes and carrots. I recently learned about the corn syrup and msg, too, which has made me a little reluctant to open the package of "medium" that I have sitting in my pantry.
I tried that once, and I blew out my microwave. Apparently, I am not alone in this. Now, I boil my sponges in a pot of water (I never replaced my microwave), which seems to work much better.
I remember the best tasting major brands just a few years ago had pork lard AND beef lard in the ingredients. And yes, MSG, like almost everything good does. But now I can't find any Japanese or Korean brand curry with lard in it. I wonder why? It really does miss a certain richness without it, and doesn't taste like the curry I grew up with.
@Rr: Thanks for the tip on the chocolate. It sounds just crazy enough to work.
@peekpoke: Thanks for the debunker on the MSG tip. I for one don't worry about it. Never did, never will. And Lia just blogged something about this in our "Required Eating" section.
The scary calories are not in the beef (although why use ground beef? YUCK! All the Japanese curry I've had or seen is made with slices or little chunks of beef).
The serious calories are in the curry block! It's called curry ROUX for a reason, it's mostly fat.
As for all your "MSG is Evil people" ... So you think you don't eat MSG? Think again...
Some of the names MSG goes under
monopotassium glutamate
glutavene
glutacyl
glutamic acid
autolyzed yeast extract
calcium caseinate
sodium caseinate
E621 (E620-625 are all glutamates)
Ajinomoto, Ac'cent
Gourmet Powder
The following may also contain MSG natural flavours or seasonings
natural beef or chicken flavouring
hydrolyzed milk or plant protein
textured protein
seasonings
soy sauce
bouillon
broth
spices
Free glutamate content of foods (mg per 100g)
roquefort cheese 1280
parmesan cheese 1200
soy sauce 1090
walnuts 658
fresh tomato juice 260
grape juice 258
peas 200
mushrooms 180
broccoli 176
tomatoes 140
mushrooms 140
oysters 137
corn 130
potatoes 102
chicken 44
mackerel 36
beef 33
eggs 23
human milk 22
http://observer.guardian.co.uk/foodmonthly/story/0,,1522368,00.html
In addition, a block of your favorite chocoate enhances the curry to another level. Either the homemade ones or the boxed variety. But still watch out for the MSG!
I agree with jperlow. Its scary how much MSG ALL of the Japanese curries have. S&B, House, etc... They are tasty, but they all give me a headache. If you can make them from scratch, do so.
You have been warned...
@Pauper: I've used chicken and pork before, too. Sometimes I do tofu. I did a sort of week-long taste test of all the boxed curries. There are differences. Some are just wretched, others are bland as air. The boil-in-bag stuff is horrible. Metallic aftertaste similar to boil-in-bag rices or what not.
@JBeach: I've never tackled curry from scratch. The S&B box mixes are about as close as I've gotten.
This article piqued my own curryosity. I'm currently curry-obsessed and this feature gave birth to all the different variations of curry that I have yet to salivate over.
Although I tend to think of mainly Indian and other Southeast Asian curries when considering take-out or restaurant-a-going, in my recent forays into cooking curry cuisine, I've tried my hand at mostly Americanized curries. This is probably because I'm secretly apprehensive about taking on what's considered to be one of the world's most challenging cuisines. Maybe this weekend I'll trek to Kalustyan's (have been dying to check it out) and then get lost in a curry cloud within my own little kitchen.
Or maybe I'll just go out and buy a package of Japanese curry mix and do it up JapanKansan style.
Maybe a taste test is in order...
Usually I use chicken or some cubed beef instead of ground beef.
All the different brands of curry cubes in a box taste about the same to me though. They definitely vary in spiciness
As for the peeps concerned about MSG. Yea, I'm sure MSG is just droppin' those Asians left and right. What a health crisis! Oh man!
But hey, that's just me. Stuff could give me cancer for all I care. (All the more reasons to "kill" embryos and research stem cells). The difference between this and something like aspartame is that this is actually delicious and a huge timesaver for when you come home late and don't want to cook.
.
Yeah. I'm not as afraid of the MSG as I am hesitant about the corn syrup. I'll have to see if the no-MSG version also has less corn syrup.
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