Today we got as close to Thailand as we could while being trapped in Kingston, Ontario by visiting Pat's Restaurant. It offers Thai and Cambodian cuisine and has been in business for many years. Historically, spices, including garlic, ginger, shallots, tamarind, turmeric, and pepper were transported to South-east Asia by Indian traders, between the 4th century BC and 18th century. Arab traders further introduced nutmeg and cloves, while the chili was introduced by the Portuguese in 1511. Thailand, although never colonized, like its neighbors Malaysia and Singapore, also embraced curry as it spread across South-east Asia. Despite the vast amount of trade and sharing of flavours between countries, the tradition of preparing curries was primarily brought to Thailand, and South-east Asia by way of indentured workers from India. Due to the shortage of labourers following the abolition of the slave trade in the British Empire, Indian workers were hired under binding contracts which sent them to various colonies across Asia and Africa - meaning they brought curry with them!
The Thai word for curry - gaeng - means "any wet savoury dish enriched and thickened by a paste" (Sen, 93). These pastes are laborious to prepare - taking up to half an hour to combine with a traditional pestle and mortar. Curries can be either coconut-milk-based (common is Bangkok and central Thailand) or water-based (common in northern Thailand). They are categorized by their colour. Red being made with dried red chilies, green with fresh green chilies, yellow with turmeric, panang with white pepper and peanuts, and massaman is of Muslim origin, containing cinnamon, cardamom, and nutmeg.
At the restaurant, we ordered the Yellow curry and Green Curry. The Green curry lives up to its spicy expectations and it actually has a very funky flavour profile to it. Funky seems like such an odd description but the Green curry at Pat's does not have an overwhelming taste in sweet, sour, or salty. If anything, I suspect the funk to come from the shrimp paste. This is not to say the curry was not good - it was delicious!
The yellow curry, on the other hand, is obviously milder and I think the milder flavors were able to penetrate and come out more than usual. The lime leaves, galangal, and lemon grass were really pungent within the curry.