I have read with interest the recent series of letters concerning curry
recipes. I grew up partly in Japan, where curry roux over rice has been a
staple since William Clark "invented" it there over 100 years ago. There
were two problems with what the Japanese call "curry rice" and my present
lifestyle: it was full of fat, and for my favorite brand (House) the fat
came from pork and beef.
So I was surprised when I visited my friendly Japanese food store
yesterday, to discover that there is a brand of curry roux mix that is
vegetarian-Meiji. It is not something the average VLF should eat on a
regular basis, since the roux mix is about 2/3 calories from palm oil, but
I think an actual serving of it with vegetables and some version of TVP
over rice would shrink that ratio considerably, certainly within the
"rarely as a treat" range and maybe even, if thinned out and then
rethickened with flour, the <10% range.
I know I'm skirting the edge of list rules here, but for those of us who
would like to have our roux and eat VLF too, there may be hope...
Jim Massey
Humanities, Polk Community College, Lakeland, FL
masseyj@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx