The Great Skandan Curry Post V2
Kirisei Style くㅘつ -가り (Kuatsu-Kari)
Skandan Curry, 가り(Kari) is one of, if not the most popular dishes in Skanda. It is most commonly served in four forms, curry rice, curry noodles, curry bread, and just the curry on it’s own, and ranges from mild to very spicy. Out of the four, curry rice is the most common and popular, but all of them are popular options. Curry with breaded pork cutlet is another popular option and is also served with rice, this is known as くㅘつ -가り (kuatsu-kari), but is considered a variation of curry rice.
The base of Skandan curry is typically made of coconut milk, a rice flour/oil roux, Skandan curry powder, soy sauce, and candlenuts; which are used to make the curry base thicker and creamier rather than for their mildly bitter flavor which disappears after cooking. It is not too uncommon to add broth into the base as well, for the creation of curry udon or curry ramen. One can also use a curry paste in favor of a curry powder, though the end result is pretty much the same and that is up to preference. The curry powder itself is usually a combination of turmeric, cumin, coriander, cardamon, nutmeg, allspice, clove, bay leaves/laurel, cayenne pepper (or chili flakes), fenugreek, and white and black pepper, plus or minus a few other individual spices depending on the individual curry. Skandan curries are
always wet curries. If it is a dry curry using Skandan ingredients, that is not a Skandan curry regardless of it's ingredients. Common in stores Skandan stores are pre-prepared instant curry roux bricks that are used like bouillon, as well as pre-prepared powder that still make the curry roux from scratch. Another option would be completely pre-made curry available in retort pouches (vacuum-sealed bags that can be reheated in boiling water). Instant curry mixes make preparation easy, basically simplifying the recipe to simmering vegetables and meat, and have become insanely popular in Skanda with the vast majority of household-made curry roux sauces being made from instant curry bricks.
From this point, any additional vegetables and spices may be added to the sauce, typically in Skandan curry these vegetables and spices typically include onions, carrots, chilis (depends on variety) or bell peppers, garlic, green onions, bay leaves, okra, corn kernels regional), and ginger. Among Skandans popular meat choices are pork, chicken, beef, or a variety of seafoods (including squid and fried fish) and shellfish, though tofu can be and is used as well. Some regional varieties, such as those in western Skanda on the Izu Peninsula, may use lemongrass, turmeric, and shrimp paste in their recipes. Spicier varieties often include chilis. Skandan curry is most often quite savory, with a hint of sweetness, but sweetness ranges. Skandan curry also tends to range massively in spiciness. It can be very mild or incredibly spicy, and this is usually indicated by the variety. Pork tends to be the most popular meat followed closel by chicken. Beef is popular in Tsaizargan varieties.
Korokke (croquettes) are also common and may have their own fillings aside from the typically used meats. Other popular proteins and additions to curry rice include but are not limited to chicken cutlet (a form of fried chicken technically), beef cutlet, sausage, hamburger, eggplant, fries, egg (scrambled or fried), natto (fermented soy beans), cheese, or just straight up commercial fried chicken, a variety popularized by fried chicken restaurants in Skanda.
S
himaku curry is a very mild variety, usually something that a tourist would eat to start their exploration of Skandan curry, or as a comfort food. Shimaku curry typically lacks any cayenne pepper or chili flakes in the curry powder and any chilis in the sauce itself. It may also have sweeteners added to it like honey, additional coconut milk in the initial sauce, or even sliced apples. It is named for the Skandan word for 'quiet'. On the opposite end of the spectrum lies
Kasahi curry. Kasahi curry is as spicy as Skandan curries get and are aptly named using the Skandan word for fire. They may lack coconut milk in the sauce entirely in favor of just water, and often include both cayenne pepper and pure chili powder, addtional black and white pepper, as well as sliced chilis. In the middle, and most commonly eaten by Skandans, is the 'standard'
Kuhena variety named for the city that is most famous for this variety. Kuhena curry is relatively mild compared to Kasahi curry, but offers a nice amount of spice for most Skandans and especially to tourists from nations that don't eat spicy foods often.
Kirisei curry, named after the mountainous region of Skanda it's most often found in, is generally a bit spicier than Kuhena curry, and includes potato chunks, kimchi, peas, and corn kernels. The last significant style of curry is
Izu curry, named after the Izu Peninsula. Izu curry is another spicy variety, a good bit spicier than either Kuhena of Kirisei curry, but not as spicy as Kasahi curry. It is also a fair bit sweeter than those curries. It is more foreign curry, yellow in color and with more 'unorthodox' (by Skandan standards) ingredients. Izu curry includes lemongrass, pineapple, shrimp paste, bamboo shoots, basil, galangal, and okra. They use a curry
paste instead of a curry powder, and fish sauce in favor of soy sauce. They are most often prepared with shellfish as the meat of choice. Tsaizargan curries of the Maru peoples are
not considered Skandan curries due to their numerous differences with Skandan curries but are also quite varied. Of course these are not all varieties of curry, only the most significant or popular ones. Practically every Skandan region and even every Skandan city has it's own variety of curry, even the navy has it's own curry recipe. The navy loves curry so much, in fact, that they eat it for lunch every single Friday.
Hand Cut Instant Curry Roux Bricks, not to be Confused with Chocolate
Skandan curry is generally quite thick, closer to a stew in it's consistency. The most popular variety of curry in Skanda, Kuhena Style Curry Rice (so popular that is usually just referred to as curry itself rather than 'curry rice' or 가り-ろ화위,
kari rohai), is always prepared using Skandan rice
(Aicoica), a tropical shortgrain rice. When served with noodles it’s called 가り-そ놔 (
kari-sona). It may be served with 의だㅙ (
udā (udon style noodles)), ㅘぬそ놔 (
anusona (cellophane noodles)), or 가위ぶそ놔 (
kaibusona, “kelp” noodles*)). This should
not be confused with 가り 의だㅙ (
kari udā), or 가り らめん (
kari ramen). These two are
soups using the curry sauce as part of the broth, where as 가り-そ놔/kari-sona are the noodles on their own with the curry on top of them, and are not soups.
As for curry bread, known in Skanda as 가り-퐈ん (kari-pan), Skandan curry is wrapped in a piece of dough, with the dough coated in bread crumbs, and deep fried, though sometimes it may be baked. Curry bread can be found in bakeries and convenience stores across Skanda. This is another wildly popular variety of curry in Skanda and can be found in practically every convenience store in the country.
가り-퐈ん (kari-pan)
Though the name of “curry” is new, the dish itself has been around in Skanda in some form since at early as the the 4th century BC, though it’s likely that it’s been around even longer than that, as surviving ancient Skandan cookbooks from the time mention pounding various spices into powders- However, it’s generally accepted that many of the modern spices didn’t appear in Skandan curry until later on after contact with Central Meterra.
Initially the dish was made for special festivities and celebrations, but gradually became a common and popular dish throughout Skanda Proper, even spreading to Tsaizargan later on after the Uulyn invasion of Skanda in the 1200s. Though a commoner dish, some hanayo (nobles) and other Skandan kō'i (a sort of king equivalent) would claim that their specific curry was made for nobles, by nobles, and if anyone tried to reproduce their specific recipe they might be sentenced to humiliation. It became a bragging right amongst nobles as to who's chef could prepare the greatest curry, and even ended up in official contests. Maintaining its initial status as a specialty festival food, specific recipes were made for religious ceremonies, some of which are still used today. The origin of the later name "curry" is unknown but is first seen during the early years their colonial era (1832-1951). Interestingly Skandan curry, with the exclusion of Izu varieties, often doesn't fall on the spectrum of red, green, and yellow curries. This is probably because it is rarely any of those colors, most often appearing to be a shade of brown.
"Battleship" Curry based on a Skandan Navy Recipe
* Wide flat knife cut noodles, not to be mistaken with genuine kelp noodles made of actual kelp
The reasoning behind making an updated version of this post is quite simple. A lot of stuff was out of date or didn't go into much detail. It wasn't even using the same written script anymore. Not to mention that this was before we could scale images on the forums, meaning the formerly included images had to be manually scaled in art programs and ended up having low resolutions as a result.
