When Noi Bangthamai and her husband opened Siam Hut in Cape Coral in 1985, they had to explain their food to many of their customers. So many patrons just got up and left that the restaurant came close to closing.
"They wouldn't even give us a chance," Bangthamai recalled. "Every table that came in, they asked, 'What is curry?'"
Almost 25 years later, many other Thai restaurants have joined Siam Hut in Southwest Florida. But curry confusion can still puzzle American diners.
Thai curry is very different from Indian curry, which is different from Jamaican curry. All curry is not created equally.
To help clear up the confusion, here's a curry curriculum.
Indian Curry
The word 'curry' comes from the Southern Indian "kari," meaning "sauce," a catch-all term for almost any highly seasoned, gravy-based dish served over rice. Contrary to popular belief, not all curry is spicy-hot. Most restaurants can modulate the heat to patrons' palates.
Some argue that curry isn't authentically Indian but an invention for British spice traders visiting the country in the 1600s.
"Curry became not just a term that the British used to describe an unfamiliar set of Indian stews and ragouts, but a dish in its own right, created for the British in India," Lizzie Collingham wrote in "Curry: A Tale of Cooks and Conquerors" (Oxford University Press; 2006).
Ask owner Anil Desai which spices go into curry and he darts up and down the spice aisle at his Little India store in south Fort Myers.
Red chili. Turmeric. Coriander seed. Cumin seed. Cloves. Cinnamon. Cardamom. Mustard seed. Ginger. Fenugreek. Bay leaf. Nutmeg.
Myriad curry variations exist throughout India, with as many as 20 spices incorporated in different sauces such as vindaloo and rogan josh.
"They have different names, different spices, different tastes," Desai said.
You can buy all the spices at Little India, or India Bazaar down the road on U.S. 41. But both stores also stock spice mixes and jarred pastes that can make curry in a hurry.
Tania Clements of Fort Myers, who prefers to make curries from scratch, was shopping for ingredients at Little India one recent afternoon. Formerly a British resident, she said Indian restaurants sat "on every corner" where she lived in England.
"I'm so passionate about curry — the complex flavors, the intensity" Clements said. "It's very herbal, floral, spicy, exotic."
Jamaican curry
Indentured Indian servants and British colonists brought curry to the Caribbean in the 1800s, according to epicurean.com.
Jamaican cooks like Vincent Earle at V&M Caribbean Market and Restaurant in Fort Myers use curry powder to create dishes with goat, chicken and other meats.
Curry powder is a spice mix created by the British to copy the freshly ground spice blends they encountered in India. Its ingredients typically include turmeric, coriander, fenugreek, cumin, allspice and garlic. Although mild to begin with, Jamaican curry can get a touch of heat from the addition of chilies.
"Everybody cooks differently, with different spices," said Earle, who learned to cook on the island. He moved to Miami in 1984, and opened his store here 15 years ago.
Americans may be more familiar with Jamaican jerk — Earle's top seller — but goat curry is more popular at home, he said.
"Whenever there's a big function or party, you have to have curry goat or it's not a party," he said.
Thai curry
While Earle creates his curry sauce by adding water to meat marinated in spices, and Indians typically create their sauce with yogurt or cream, Thai curries depend almost exclusively on coconut milk. They also use more fresh herbs and vegetables.
As with Indian curries, numerous variations exist in Thai curries and similar dishes from Vietnam, Malaysia, Laos, Indonesia and Burma.
Siam Hut's Bangthamai explained some of the most common on her menu:
• Red curry is made with dried red chilies, lemongrass, garlic, onion, powdered kaffir lime leaves and coriander.
• Green curry contains those ingredients but replaces the dried red chilies with fresh green ones.
• Panang curry emphasizes coriander but contains some of the same ingredients as other curries, including dried red chilies and fresh lime leaves.
• Masaman curry is seasoned with cumin, cloves, cardamom pods and nutmeg flowers and usually contains, peanuts, tomatoes and potatoes. Traditionally, it's cooked longer, like a stew.
Bangthamai tried serving a sour curry made with tamarind but customers turned up their noses, she said. Most prefer Panang and red curries.
Americans have come a long way, though, since Bangthamai started working in the early 1970s at her sister's restaurant in Manhattan — one of the first Thai eateries in Chinatown. When it first opened, they served sandwiches and hamburgers as well as Thai dishes to placate unadventurous diners.
"As people became more familiar with Thai food, we took the sandwiches and hamburgers out," she said.
--- To the right are some restaurants where you can try some differnt curry
