I'm not into foriegn culture, so don't laugh at the question(s) that are coming up.

1. What exactly is Curry? Honestly, I have no clue.

2. What's this Chicken Tikka Massalla stuff?

3. Why does it have to be red? Can't it just taste the same?

4. Is this like the British version of the Hamburger or Hot Dog?

That doesn't surprise me at all, aesthetics are everything in cooking. Taw might be alittle upset at this though . Well, at least now we know where that three-headed frog came from .

curry is indian

Windows NT crashed.
I am the Blue Screen of Death.
No one hears your screams

There is a vital thing that they don't make ENOUGH of a deal over in these articles.

IF CONSUMED IN SIGNIFICANT QUANTITIES.

Now, considering that they don't point this out enough, it really does rank with the "vitamin C can increase the risk of getting cancer" - which is 100% true....if you take around about 50-100 times the RDA for a few years.........

Just like that, if you take enough of these colorants, it MAY cause you harm, and MAY cause cancer (carcinogenic) - but to be honest, you should MUCH rather fear car exhaust fumes, passive smoking, dust particles (soot/coal/lime etc), old paint work, and more as viable forms of carinogens.

Like everything that the media reports, its just so much more attractive to put it in a more "headline" grabbing format. I thought about it the other day, remember most large stories? Well - remember how the sell papers with them? - They present some shocking headline, which when you actually open the paper/read more you find is 100% misleading......like:

"Princess Diana WAS murdered...............claims senile, inebriated, dribbling mental healthcare patient" However- that headline sticks out...
Obviously the title grabs attention, whilst the rest of it is speculative rubbish. There is no real definative link that eating tikka masala can cause cancer whatsoever, and by reading it fully, you would need to eat TONS of the stuff each day.....which harks back to the vitamin C causing cancer problem......

Nearly everything is toxic in large enough levels.........even Oxygen (which we need to live) is toxic in high concentrations - so breathing pure oxygen WILL kill you.....eventually... lol

Also note that its not the normal levels, but adding the EXTRA colorant to the curries that means it could be harmful. As mentioned, people send it back if its not "red" enough.Well - infact, bayleaves are poisonous, nutmeg is toxic, and there are alot of other foodstuffs that can kill you as well - and a heck of alot quicker

Edited by - Chips on 3/23/2004 2:46:21 PM

Chips - Damn straight! Why do you think I hate the Australian Herald-Sun!?! It's all sensationalist excrement. Here's a perfect example; "137 Dead in Car Crash!" read the headline on the front page. What was the article about? The number of deaths on Australian roads durning the last year. It's trash! Everything is dangerous these days. After all, charred steak and similarly cooked foods are also carcinogenic.

@ Esqualix...........I totally forgot that one. Yep - sorry folks, it is actually 100% true.

Charred food, including the ol barbi and slightly burnt toast are terrifically carcinogenic. Its cause all the burnt parts contain what are called free radicals (to do with an electron and atoms), which can form reactions with other things in your body (simplified, plus to be accurate i would have to break out my text books!) to give more radicals. Those radicals are dangerous to things, as they can damage cells by "reacting" so to speak, with the genetics of the cell (going off of 2 year old topic in one lecture, so i might very well be mistaken in my recollection...i just cannot be bothered to dig out stuff to tells ya), which of course is what cancer is.....a mutation of cells. The free radicals can basically cause this damage, and therefore really are "carcinogenic". However, LOTS of things also contain free radicals - so your caput.

A good thing is taht Tea is a great "free radical" mopper, and is therefore beneficial to you as well.

However, if you hold sway to worry over curry , i suggest don't take my words as jest ..............don't overly roast your toast , but take a leaf from me and drink copious amounts of tea , to relax for life and live full , and ignore this pathetic bull! ....oh errr.....

/me slaps chips with wet noodles

Windows NT crashed.
I am the Blue Screen of Death.
No one hears your screams

Watch out, ff. Wet noodles are dangerous too!

well yeah, these ones are burnt wuahahahahahahhaha

Windows NT crashed.
I am the Blue Screen of Death.
No one hears your screams

@Eh

Curry, the "spice" is a powdered amalgamation of many different herbs and spices that have been ground up into a fine powder and mixed together. It varies from region to region in India as to overall composition as well as heat. The color, also, can vary from a yellow golidsh hue to one that is more approximately yellow-orange in appearance. This all has to do with what went into that amalgamation. The main ingredients or core base of a curry powder are coriander, cumin, fenugreek and turmeric (turmeric is the prime source of the goldish color). But there are a whole lot of other things that may be added and create the reginal varieties.

Curry, the dish, is what is made by adding curry powder to various sauteed or simmered meats, fish, poultry or vegetables. These dishes usually are eaten with basmati rice (an aged long grain rice that acquires a nutty flavor from the aging) and a flat bread which in Urdu is called a chapati but I don't know the Hindu name for.

Chicken Tikka Masala is a dish NOT made with curry but with some of the core curry spices, like coriander and cumin in a Garam Masala powder (also has ground cloves, cardamon seeds, mace, nutmeg and peppercorns). In addition tomatos are used and, in some recipies, even a little ketchup or at least tomato paste and a nut paste, usually cashew nut paste. Like the curry dishes, the masala is a sauteed/simmered dish in which usually cubed chicken meat that has been marinated in a yogurt/milk based marinade is cooked with onions that have been slowly sauteed in butter. It is meant to have a reddish color to it (from the tomatos) but the preferred color of red is a little on the unnatural side, now days.

My guess is that eating curry in the UK very much was/is like Chinese food here in the States. You can find a Chinese restaurant just about anywhere (leaving aside quality) in the US. The impression I have is that you can find an Indian or Pakistani curry shop just about anywhere in the UK. In other words, not quite as ubiquitous as a hamburger or pizza joint but close.

i never liked them, them curries. too oily, too bright, unnatural. and the smell sickens me

as for the media, well, they're the media, whadaya expect?

well you havent tried english curries then

Windows NT crashed.
I am the Blue Screen of Death.
No one hears your screams

Chicken Tikka Masala is wot stupid drunken women eat in balti houses cos they don't recognise anything else on the menu, while stupid drunken men try the Vindaloos and Phals.

I have gobi gosht and a korai or saag, that's my fav. But I make better meself so I'd rather eat in.

btw eating curries does NOT give you cancer.

Edited by - Carnevale on 3/24/2004 3:32:12 AM

oi, you watch yourself, i eat tikka masala

Windows NT crashed.
I am the Blue Screen of Death.
No one hears your screams