PANDA Japanese Homestyle Curry: 3月 2009

2009年3月22日星期日

WALLACE @ PANDA

Wallace曾是大坑街坊,有「大坑Nigo」之名；近年移居別處,但仍是常客。
大忙Wallace在一個陽光滿滿的午後,在PANDA作了一個關於情人節的專訪,
除了談時裝談情人外,也愛本店新甜品朱古力軟心蛋糕新地。

Japanese curry (カレー ,karē) is one of the most popular dishes in Japan, where people eat it 62 times a year according to a survey. It is usually eaten as karē raisu — curry, rice and often pickled vegetables, served on the same plate and eaten with a spoon, a common lunchtime canteen dish.

Curry was introduced to Japan by the British in the Meiji era (1869–1913) after Japan ended its policy of national self-isolation (Sakoku), and curry in Japan is categorized as a Western dish. Its spread across the country is commonly attributed to its use in the Japanese Army and Navy which adopted it extensively as convenient field and naval canteen cooking, allowing even conscripts from the remotest countryside to experience the dish. The Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force still traditionally have curry every Friday for lunch and many ships have their own unique recipes.

The standard Japanese curry contains onions, carrots, potatoes and a meat. Sometimes grated apples or honey are added for additional sweetness and other vegetables are sometimes used instead. For the meat, pork, beef and chicken are the most popular, in order of decreasing popularity. In northern and eastern Japan including Tokyo, pork is the most popular meat for curry. Beef is more common in western Japan, including Osaka, and in Okinawa chicken is favored.

Sometimes the curry-rice is topped with breaded pork cutlet (tonkatsu); this is called Katsu-karē ("cutlet curry"). Korokke (potato croquettes) are also a common topping.

Apart from with rice, karē udon (thick noodles in curry flavoured soup) and karē-pan ("curry bread" — deep fried battered bread with curry in the middle) are also popular.