The food that I have tried today was the Spicy Butter Chicken Curry with jasmine rice. It may sound shocking but I have never tried butter chicken curry in my life. The one I tried today was from an Indian restaurant that my cousin went to and bought some for me to eat.

The taste was very nice. It had the right amount of flavor. The saltiness was well balanced with the spicy and nutty flavor of the curry. There was a creamy texture to it that gave a nice wrap and coat to the tongue and mouth, including the jasmine rice. The curry also had a little bit of sweetness to it, giving a good balance between the spicy and the sweetness. The curry had a rich flavor of spices, including the taste of garam masala, chili powder and cumin.

Sight: When I first looked at the dish, it instantly reminded me of the Asian Japanese style curry that I normally eat. The thick consistency and the brown-yellow color look similar to the curry style that I normally eat. Thought the butter chicken curry had a more red color, meaning it has a little bit more heat. The sauce look very thick and the chickens look very tender and moist. The sliced onion bits seemed to have been cooked for a long time because of the tenderness and how it laid over the rice.

Smell: When I first smelled the curry, I was instantly hit with the curry spices such as chili powder and cumin. The smell of the spices were a little bit overwhelming at first but I got a very define and clear smell.

Taste: From the curry, I could taste the garam masala, the cumin and the chili powder. Thanks to the thickness of the sauce, the flavor coated the entire mouth and had a very warm feel to it. I can really taste the peppers that were put into the curry sauce. The onions were very tender and soft, giving out a sweet and salty taste. I feel like the onions gave out the sweet flavor that was needed to the spicy curry sauce. It was well balanced. The chicken was very tender and full of flavor, giving out the chicken stock flavor to the curry. It  was a little dry but the curry made up for the dryness of the chicken. The curry in  general had a good mixture of both spicy and sweetness with a warm and hot feel to the mouth.

Touch: When I put my fingers in the sauce to get a taste of the curry, the sauce was thick and coated my fingers. With the dripping of the sauce, it meant that the sauce had a good ratio of thickness and liquid. Of course my finger felt very hot and warm. The onions felt very tender and soft and broke down easily, whereas the chicken broke down along its original grain.

Hearing: When I was heating the curry on a pan, when it started to boil, I could hear the bubbles pop. The bubbles sounded very thick and loud, representing the thickness of the sauce.

There were a few flavors to the curry that were similar to other things I have tasted. When I took my first spoon of the curry, the taste reminded me off the Japanese curry I usually eat at home. The spiciness of the curry sauce reminded me of a dish I had that also had a similar chili powder used in the curry. For some reason, the chicken and the spicy curry sauce together reminded me of a Korean dish called Buldak (spicy chicken), which is a dish that uses chicken thighs braised in a thick hot sauce. The sweetness of the onion reminded me of the onions in another Korean dish called Bulgogi (marinated beef). In Bulgogi, we cook the onions until they are tender and soft, with a little bit of caramelisation, similar to the onions in the spicy curry.

I feel like the spicy curry is unique because it uses spices that are only found in certain parts of the world. The spices gives the curry the unique flavor that can only be tasted in cuisines related to that dish. In most dishes from other countries, it is hard to find the flavor and sensation that you get when you eat the chicken curry. The people also have a different method of cooking it to give the curry its unique flavor and taste.

REFLECTING ON THE EXPERIENCE

Through eating this food, I realized that this dish has a totally different flavor profile from most food that I eat regularly, which is Korean food. There were many unknown tastes that were unique and surprising to my palette. I realized that my experience with different food from different culture was very limited, with most of it coming from Asia. The taste of the curry really opened up a new flavor profile for me, being able to understand the type of spices and seasoning used in the dish.

The curry was a whole new experience that I enjoyed very much. There were some flavor and taste tat were similar to dishes I normally eat, so the food was very easy to consume and pleasurable to my mouth and palette. The thick texture of the curry is very similar to other Asian cuisines I eat so it was very enjoyable. I would definitely eat it again but I would also want to explore the different cuisines related to this curry. I would like to try the variety of different curries that are available to eat and find the difference in every one of them. But so far this butter chicken curry was a success and I would eat it again anytime with a hot bowl of rice.

There wasn’t any particular flavors that I found less appealing. I thought that some of the spices such as garam masala and cumin powder would’ve bit a little weird for my taste, but surprisingly every flavor was pleasurable to my palette and I got a taste of each spices all blend together. One thing that was a little overwhelming for me was the level of spiciness.

Well now that I understand these different flavors, textures and spices used in the curry, I can incorporate these things to other dishes and idea that I have. I feel like the spices can mix well with hard broth foods from Korean dishes. This was my first time doing a sensory evaluation, meaning its the first time I had put this much concentration and detail while eating something. I feel like if I were to do this every time I eat a different dish, it would help me analyse different textures and flavors that I never thought was there previously.