How do you eat green curry?
November 14, 2013 6:28 PM Subscribe
When you get a soupy rice dish like green curry, what is the intended way of eating it? Are you expected to have a big bowl of sauce at the end that you throw away?
Rice, but if you were to make it yourself and it turned out soupy, nothing's stopping you from eating it with rice noodles in kind of a curry/pho hybrid.
posted by Beardman at 6:38 PM on November 14, 2013 [1 favorite]
posted by Beardman at 6:38 PM on November 14, 2013 [1 favorite]
I think it depends on how you eat. My SO and I eat these dishes over a ton of rice, and I always have a significant amount of sauce left over. He never has a drop, and he isn't just drinking the "soupy" part.
posted by sm1tten at 6:39 PM on November 14, 2013
posted by sm1tten at 6:39 PM on November 14, 2013
In Cambodia, they use slices of a baguette to mop up all the sauce, if you don't like rice.
posted by viggorlijah at 6:58 PM on November 14, 2013 [1 favorite]
posted by viggorlijah at 6:58 PM on November 14, 2013 [1 favorite]
Response by poster: Ok, for those of you in the "no sauce left behind" camp: the amount of rice you get when you order the dish is never enough for that. Do you guys make more when you order in? If you did have enough rice, wouldn't the ratio of meat/veggies to sauce + rice be pretty low?
And last, I'm curious how we Westerners eat it compared to people in Thailand. Any insights on that? My theory is that we see it like a pilaf or stir fry and expect more rice accordingly...
posted by cgs at 7:02 PM on November 14, 2013
And last, I'm curious how we Westerners eat it compared to people in Thailand. Any insights on that? My theory is that we see it like a pilaf or stir fry and expect more rice accordingly...
posted by cgs at 7:02 PM on November 14, 2013
In Thailand, in addition to eating curry over rice, people sometimes eat curry over rice noodles. Totally a done thing.
posted by pravit at 7:27 PM on November 14, 2013
posted by pravit at 7:27 PM on November 14, 2013
Whenever I've ordered in a Thai restaurant there's always been way more rice than I need to sop up all of the sauce in a Thai curry, but I suppose if there weren't I would just take the leftovers home and make more rice to have with it later.
posted by joan_holloway at 7:48 PM on November 14, 2013
posted by joan_holloway at 7:48 PM on November 14, 2013
In the old days of my mighty indestructible esophagus I would just quaff the remaining sauce and roar like a viking.
posted by elizardbits at 7:55 PM on November 14, 2013 [22 favorites]
posted by elizardbits at 7:55 PM on November 14, 2013 [22 favorites]
You can soak up the extra with naan or roti.
posted by whoaali at 8:29 PM on November 14, 2013 [1 favorite]
posted by whoaali at 8:29 PM on November 14, 2013 [1 favorite]
And you always have plenty of naan lying around because you buy it frozen at Trader Joe's.
posted by whoaali at 8:31 PM on November 14, 2013
posted by whoaali at 8:31 PM on November 14, 2013
Firstly don't think of it as soup. It's gravy, to be eaten with rice, bread, noodles etc.
And yes, it is perfectly fine to never finish the gravy. It is also fine to help yourself to the rest, by itself or sop it with bread. Some cooks like their dishes to have more gravy ('wet'). Some like theirs drier. It's fine.
The point is the rice to be honest. Heh. Rice is not the side.
posted by cendawanita at 8:32 PM on November 14, 2013 [1 favorite]
And yes, it is perfectly fine to never finish the gravy. It is also fine to help yourself to the rest, by itself or sop it with bread. Some cooks like their dishes to have more gravy ('wet'). Some like theirs drier. It's fine.
The point is the rice to be honest. Heh. Rice is not the side.
posted by cendawanita at 8:32 PM on November 14, 2013 [1 favorite]
In my experience, a restaurant is rarely going to give you enough rice to finish the whole bowl of curry. That's ok. You either: order another side of rice and keep eating, or take the extra curry home and make more rice the next day. Or even eat the leftover curry as soup. It sounds like you, however, are finishing all the meat and veg with the rice you're given, leaving just sauce? You're doing it wrong. You should keep the rice:meat:sauce ratio even throughout your meal so that your leftover curry is also properly proportioned. It seems you feel this ratio is low; I never find it to be. On preview, I'll echo the previous poster: the rice is not a side.
posted by yawper at 8:33 PM on November 14, 2013 [3 favorites]
posted by yawper at 8:33 PM on November 14, 2013 [3 favorites]
I eat curry for lunch 2-4 times a week. Here is my method:
Spread the rice in a thin layer across the plate, then pour the curry over it and kind of stir it all around until you have an even mixture of rice and curry. It will still seem soupy, that's ok.
Now eat about half of it. Then ask for a box and put all of the remaining food into the box. Scrape that plate clean.
The next day, heat up the food in the box at lunchtime. You will notice that it is no longer soupy! It is probably spicier though. Yum!
posted by rabbitrabbit at 9:22 PM on November 14, 2013 [1 favorite]
Spread the rice in a thin layer across the plate, then pour the curry over it and kind of stir it all around until you have an even mixture of rice and curry. It will still seem soupy, that's ok.
Now eat about half of it. Then ask for a box and put all of the remaining food into the box. Scrape that plate clean.
The next day, heat up the food in the box at lunchtime. You will notice that it is no longer soupy! It is probably spicier though. Yum!
posted by rabbitrabbit at 9:22 PM on November 14, 2013 [1 favorite]
If it's a Thai curry it should be a slurry with the rice- the whole mess should be wet and you should eat it WITH A SPOON not chopsticks. I cannot stress this enough. Fork to push the concoction onto a spoon. Get every bit if that deliciousness.
posted by ethnomethodologist at 11:38 PM on November 14, 2013 [1 favorite]
posted by ethnomethodologist at 11:38 PM on November 14, 2013 [1 favorite]
Best answer: Thai etiquette is not a slurry. Your rice bowl and should remain clean. You take a small amount of rice from your rice bowl to your curry. Of course, you don't have to follow Thai etiquette, but since you asked..
In terms of balancing rice and curry - it's a personal preference. The rice is cheap carbs, and Thais would use a rice cooker. In other words, the expectation is that you get as much or as little rice as you wish. If you want a spoon of rice with every bite of curry, go for it. if you want to eat your curry more like a soup, go for it. Normally, the average Thai wouldn't be given a huge bowl of curry though. In Thailand I've been force fed multiple portions of tom kha kai from a large bowl but never had the problem of a large excess of curry: this is more of a westernised way of serving Thai food.
Think of it this way: a Thai man, unused to Western food, is given a large steak with fries, and more fries in a communal bowl. He might agonise about the correct proportions of steak to fries until he realises its an entirely personal choice. The fries are cheap carbs.
Ordinarily, meat and fresh vegetables are more expensive. So historically, whether you're talking about a Yorkshireman's pudding, an Indian's chapati or a Thai's bowl of rice the idea is that the carbs are there to fill you up and the other stuff is there for flavour and texture.
posted by MuffinMan at 12:59 AM on November 15, 2013 [9 favorites]
In terms of balancing rice and curry - it's a personal preference. The rice is cheap carbs, and Thais would use a rice cooker. In other words, the expectation is that you get as much or as little rice as you wish. If you want a spoon of rice with every bite of curry, go for it. if you want to eat your curry more like a soup, go for it. Normally, the average Thai wouldn't be given a huge bowl of curry though. In Thailand I've been force fed multiple portions of tom kha kai from a large bowl but never had the problem of a large excess of curry: this is more of a westernised way of serving Thai food.
Think of it this way: a Thai man, unused to Western food, is given a large steak with fries, and more fries in a communal bowl. He might agonise about the correct proportions of steak to fries until he realises its an entirely personal choice. The fries are cheap carbs.
Ordinarily, meat and fresh vegetables are more expensive. So historically, whether you're talking about a Yorkshireman's pudding, an Indian's chapati or a Thai's bowl of rice the idea is that the carbs are there to fill you up and the other stuff is there for flavour and texture.
posted by MuffinMan at 12:59 AM on November 15, 2013 [9 favorites]
Your rice bowl and should remain clean
What did you mean to say here?
My colleague lived in Thailand for three years and she's my source. Americans tend to eat Thai like they do Chinese- with a spoonful of rice on the side of their plates. My point is that the rice forms a bed like rabbitrabbit advises. Curry poured on top. EATEN WITH A SPOON not because that's etiquette but also because it is impossible to eat slippery jamine rice with a soupy curry- of any amount- with chopsticks. This irritates me to no end, how people attempt to eat Thai curry w/ rice with chopsticks. You lose all the rice that way- terrible practice.
posted by ethnomethodologist at 11:28 AM on November 15, 2013
What did you mean to say here?
My colleague lived in Thailand for three years and she's my source. Americans tend to eat Thai like they do Chinese- with a spoonful of rice on the side of their plates. My point is that the rice forms a bed like rabbitrabbit advises. Curry poured on top. EATEN WITH A SPOON not because that's etiquette but also because it is impossible to eat slippery jamine rice with a soupy curry- of any amount- with chopsticks. This irritates me to no end, how people attempt to eat Thai curry w/ rice with chopsticks. You lose all the rice that way- terrible practice.
posted by ethnomethodologist at 11:28 AM on November 15, 2013
By clean I mean you don't put stuff in your rice bowl and don't cover all your rice with curry. And yes, not eaten with chopsticks.
posted by MuffinMan at 2:04 PM on November 15, 2013
posted by MuffinMan at 2:04 PM on November 15, 2013
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posted by peacheater at 6:33 PM on November 14, 2013 [13 favorites]