皆様、こんにちは。スタッフMです。

今日１月２２日は「カレーの日・カレーライスの日」なんですって。

我が家の夕飯のメニューの中で、１，２位を争うほどよく作るものが「カレー」です。でも実は、大きくなってからはカレーが美味しいと感じるようになった私ですが、小さい頃はあまり好きではなかったのですよね。何故かというと、母親が用事で出かける日は決まってカレーだったからです。圧力鍋でササッと作り出かけて行ってしまうので、手抜き料理のような気がして好きになれなかったんです…。

今考えると、手抜き云々というよりも、母の気持ちが外に向いているので、そのカレーの中に愛情が入っていないような気がして好きではなかったのかもしれないです。というか、単純に家族の中の太陽のような存在の母がいない夜が寂しかっただけですね。

そんなほろ苦い思い出があるにも関わらず、私も用事がある日や、忙しい時のメニューはカレーにしてしまいます。圧力鍋で作るとあっという間に出来てしまい、たいして手が込んでいないにも関わらず、家族が喜んでくれるからですが…（笑）。でも、私の場合は、めちゃくちゃ手が込んだカレーの日もあるんですよ。割合で表すと、時短料理のカレーが４割に対して、手間暇も、気持ちも込めたカレーは６割くらいです。（まあまあの割合で手抜きですかね…。）

大人になってから、インドカレーの美味しさにはまった私は、ナンを手作りで作ったり、カレーのルーを使わずにスパイスカレーを作るようになりました。味をみて、たまに物足りない時は市販のカレールーを足すこともありますが、基本的にはスパイスのみです。インドカレーは野菜を入れるとしても、１～２種類しか入れないというルールがあるので、たくさん野菜を食べたい時は、野菜を素揚げしてトッピングにたっぷり乗せたりもします。

また、スパイスが万能すぎて、知れば知るほどハマっていきます。今の言葉で言うと「スパイスはマジで沼！」というやつです。昔々、スパイスをめぐって戦争が勃発したのも頷けるくらい、スパイスをうまく使うと料理は本当に美味しくなるんですよね。スパイスは奥が深すぎて、私はまだまだその序の口すら理解できていないのですが…。

「カレーの日」からスタートした今日のブログ、個人的な話でまた終わってしまいました。

お付き合いいただきありがとうございました。

（スタッフM）

（カレーの日とは全く関係のない写真ですが、今日お店に入った

李朝風の小箪笥が可愛かったので載せました。）

Hello everyone. This is Staff M.

Today January 22nd is “Curry Day / Curry Rice Day”.

On this day in 1982 (Showa 57), curry rice was served to about 8 million elementary and junior high school children nationwide to commemorate the 35th anniversary of the school lunch. In commemoration of that, it is said that this day was designated as “National Menu Curry Rice Day”. In addition, it seems that the All Japan Curry Industry Cooperative, which is a national organization of curry manufacturers, has set this day as “Curry Day”.

That “curry”.
The average number of times a Japanese person eats in a year is 73, and it can be said that curry is now a well-established national dish. However, it is surprising that curry became a national dish in Japan because of the food fraud case in the early Showa period.

Curry was one of the finest dishes in Japan in the early Showa period, and it was a special menu that was rarely eaten by the common people. At that time, restaurants mainly used high-quality curry powder from C & B (Crosse & Blackwell) in the United Kingdom. Despite the high price of C & B’s curry powder, it boasted an overwhelming share. On the other hand, domestic curry powder was also sold, but the image that “curry powder is made in the UK” is strong, and it seems that it could not be sold even at a low price of two-thirds of C & B.

However, in 1931 (Showa 6), a food fraud case was discovered in which a C & B can was packed with cheap domestic curry powder and sold, thinking that if a certain moonshine group looked the same, it wouldn’t come out. This incident was big news at the time, and the distribution of C & B’s curry powder stopped. Then the situation turned out to be unexpected.

When the cooks had no choice but to make curry with domestic curry powder, it became popular as “even domestically produced delicious”. Since that time, the technology of Japanese food manufacturers has been extremely high, and domestic curry powder made by imitating C & B’s curry powder has achieved a taste comparable to that of overseas products.

In the wake of the camouflage incident, domestic curry powder became known throughout Japan as “cheap and delicious.” From there, when it became possible to eat at a reasonable price, curry rice exploded in popularity and grew into a Japanese national dish. It seems that the reason why curry spread all over Japan was because the quality of domestic curry powder was recognized in the food fraud case．

Among the dinner menus at my home, the one that is often made to compete for the first and second place is “curry”. But actually, when I grew up, I started to feel that curry was delicious, but when I was little I didn’t really like it. The reason is that the day my mother went out for business was always curry. I used a pressure cooker to make it quickly, so I felt like it was a cut-out dish and I didn’t like it …

When I think about it now, my mother’s feelings are more outward than cutting corners, so maybe I didn’t like it because I felt like I didn’t have any affection in the curry. Or rather, I just missed the night without my mother, who is like the sun in my family.

Despite having such bittersweet memories, I also use curry for the menu on days when I have business or when I am busy. If you make it with a pressure cooker, it will be made in a blink of an eye, and even though it is not very elaborate, your family will be happy … (laughs). But in my case, there are days when the curry is insanely elaborate. In terms of percentage, curry with short-time cooking is 40%, while curry with time and effort is about 60%. (Isn’t it omission at a reasonable rate?)

As an adult, I became addicted to the deliciousness of Indian curry, so I started making naan by hand and making spice curry without using curry roux. If you are not satisfied with the taste, you may add a commercially available curry roux, but basically it is only spices. Even if you put vegetables in Indian curry, there is a rule that you can only put one or two kinds of vegetables, so if you want to eat a lot of vegetables, you can fried vegetables and put plenty on toppings.

Also, the spices are so versatile that the more you know, the more you get hooked. In the current language, it’s a guy who says, “Spice is really a swamp!” Once upon a time, it’s no wonder that the war broke out over spices, and if you use spices well, the food will be really delicious. The spices are so deep that I still don’t understand the beginning …

Today’s blog, which started from “Curry Day”, ended again with a personal story.

Thank you for your relationship.

(Staff M)

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