Curry Cuisine

I seem to be on an Asian kick lately and was very excited when I received this Curry Cuisine - Fragrant dishes from India, Thailand, Vietnam and Indonesia. Long title but then... here's a quote from the cover:

"Originating in India, curries have been traveling across the world for thousands of years. Curry Cuisine follows this journey, exploring how immigrants adapted their cooking skills, accommodated new ingredients, and borrowed from existing native cuisines to create an astonishing cornucopia of hybrid curries"

I couldn't have said it better myself. Nor could I have been more surprised at the subtle (and not-so-subtle) differences from region to region, country to country.

There are many things to love about this book:

• glorious photos, not just of recipes, but of marketplaces and ingredients. You can smell the spices and hear the bustle!
  
• lovely intros painting a picture of each country and their curry preferences. Did you know that "every Pakistani would eat meat every day. Lentils & beans are also sometimes used as a main par of the curry, but mainly for economic reasons", or that Japan got its curry not from Asian neighbors but from the British in the mid 19th century?
  
• each chapter is focused on one particular region and opens with spices and herbs commonly used there.

Naturally the hardest part was choosing where to start....do I go with the curries I'm most familiar with Northern India - Rajasthan (lamb & sweet corn curry perfect for all the local corn being harvested), Delhi & Punjab (chicken curry recipe has me drooling), Lucknow & Awadh (lots of lamb choices which would be great with local Nova Scotia lamb), Bengal (the bhapa lobster looks very tempting) and Southern India - quite a few shrimp dishes catch my eye...and did you know that "South Indian cuisine employs a much simpler collection of spices & flavors and gives great importance to the balancing of flavors. Subtle variations are created and layering of spices makes the food lighter"? I just always thought of it as spicier - hotter.

But I digress...what about Myanmar & Maritime SE Asia - Malaysia, Singapore (chili crab anyone), Indonesia, the Philippines have lots of kaffir lime, lemongrass, tamarind, dried shrimp, coconut...the ingredients are fantastic. Then there's Thailand and I know I'll be trying one of the Mussaman curries. Cambodia has a steamed snails in curry custard that sounds intriguing. Laos and Vietnam and then "The Outposts" - Africa, the Caribbean and Britain followed by Japan with very interesting dishes.

But I decided to start with Pakistan, combining two interesting dishes ...

Lamb & Tomato Curry which was much milder and more mellow than I expected served over Chickpea & Rice Pilau that was very aromatic.

Now where will I head next? Good thing my passport is up to date. Any suggestions?