The reason Jo loves curries so much isn’t just because of the taste. You can make all curries vegetarian so easily without taking away anything from the quality. You can make it as spicy as you like. Beautiful vegetables from our garden on the aft deck are therefore certainly immersed in the tastiest sauces. Carrot, spinach, cauliflower, you name it.
Those sultry days, the bright sun drawing so much energy that I definitely use a shabdkosh (translated: afternoon nap). I could smell it from my cabin. Less than a kilometer away, a food stand was completely surrounded by people. Struggling, I tried to push myself through the crowd to get to the dish that was tantalizing my scent.
When I arrived at the market stand, I saw the dish everyone was craving. Fresh naan bread and a curry of green lentils, chicken thigh and spinach and garlic yoghurt. You know I couldn’t pass up on this.
Complete chaos. I think that’s the best way to describe it. My breath was completely taken away. Drifting slowly on a longtail boat through the seemingly endless rivers of Damnoen in Thailand. Everywhere you look, the water is dotted with local entrepreneurs. The boats stocked with the most colorful dishes, vegetables and fruits you’ve never heard of. All the beauty that Thailand has to offer in terms of food literally floats past your nose. Therefore, I stayed in Damnoen for a weekend to learn about the different flavors. After which I moved further into the country towards Bangkok. I couldn’t believe my eyes when boats with full kitchen equipment came sailing by! The smell of the fried noodles with ginger, mango chutney and shrimps is something I will never forget.
After traveling to India, Thailand, Indonesia and Singapore you notice that there is something else that you will miss enormously besides the beautiful nature; the food! All colors, scents and textures are to dream of. The moment Jo and I came back to our little country, we spent days together in the kitchen to practice and practice with the different methods with which the curries are made. Dry or soaked in for a long time, wet because of the coconut milk, different types of rice. You can vary so much that you just can’t choose what’s best. We haven’t even mentioned the red, green or yellow curry varieties. But what exactly is curry? And what is the difference between red, green and yellow curry?
Curry is a name for the pasta that forms the basis for the various dishes. Simply put, it is a composition of different herbs that together make a curry paste. You can use this paste to make a curry and vary it endlessly. You will see all the curries you eat abroad taste different everywhere. Basically, the red, yellow and green curries are based on the same ingredients, but how much of each ingredient everyone uses is completely based on their personal preference.
