Curry

For other uses, see the dish.

An Indian chicken curry

A curry is any of a great variety of distinctively spiced dishes, best-known in Indian, Thai and other South Asian cuisines, but curry has been adopted into all of the mainstream cuisines of the Asia-Pacific area. Along with tea, curry is one of the few dishes or drinks that is truly "pan-Asian", but specifically, its roots come from India. Curry was later brought to the West by British colonialists in India from the 18th century.

Curries around the world

The term curry is derived from kari, (a Tamil word meaning sauce and referring to various kinds of dishes common in South India made with vegetables or meat and usually eaten with rice). ^[1] However, the term (meaning a stew) is found in English before the arrival of British traders on the Subcontinent, and may simply have been applied by them to dishes which they thought resembled the stews they were used to. Nowadays the term is used more broadly, especially in the Western Hemisphere, to refer to almost any spiced, sauce-based dishes cooked in various south and southeast Asian styles. This imprecise umbrella term is largely a legacy of the British Raj. There is a common misconception that all curries are made from curry powder or that a certain meat or vegetable is curried. In India, the word curry is in fact rarely used. Most dishes involving lentils are called dahl, or else are referred to by a name specific to the spices used in the preparation. Meat or vegetable dishes are likewise given specific names that indicate the method of cooking, or the particular spices used. There is, however, a particular north Indian and Pakistani dish which is given the name curry or khadi - this involves yoghurt, ghee and besan (see below).

Indian cuisines

Tamil cuisine

Main article: Tamil cuisine

In Tamil cuisine, from which the word originated, curry refers to any dry preparation involving meat or vegetables shallow-fried with dry spices. Curries are named according to what type of food they're made from and then adding the word curry- e.g. potato curry, bean curry, chicken curry or goat curry.

Tamil cuisine (from Tamil Nadu), one of the oldest culinary heritages of the world, is characterized by its aroma and flavor, achieved by a blend and combination of spices, including curry leaves, tamarind, coriander, ginger, garlic, chili, pepper, cinnamon, cloves, cardamom, cumin, nutmeg, coconut, and even rosewater. Lentils, vegetables and dairy products are essential accompaniments, and are often served with rice. Traditionally, vegetarian foods predominate the menu with a range of non-vegetarian dishes, including sweet water fish and seafood, cooked with traditional Tamil spices and seasoning.

Malayali cuisine

Main article: Kerala cuisine

Malayali curries of Kerala typically use shredded coconut paste or coconut milk, bay leaves, and various spices. Most of the non-vegetarian dishes lean heavily on the spicy side. Kerala is known for its traditional 'sadyas', a vegetarian meal served with boiled rice and a host of side-dishes. The sadya is customarily served on a banana leaf.

Punjabi cuisine

Main article: Punjabi cuisine

Punjabi cuisine (from the Punjab region) is mainly based upon Wheat, Masalas (spice), pure desi ghee, with liberal amounts of butter and cream. The area is well known for quality of its milk products. There are certain dishes which are exclusive to Punjab, such as Maha Di Dal and Saron Da Saag (Sarson Ka Saag).

Sandeep Bhateja (Punjabi) the world famous curry chef from Agra, India, is renowned for incorporating various roots into exotic curry dishes.

Other Indian cuisines

Main article: Indian cuisine

In other varieties of Indian cuisine, curry is a sauce - sometimes considered a soup - made by stirring yoghurt into a roux of ghee (a type of clarified butter) and besan (chick pea flour). The spices added vary, but usually include turmeric and black mustard seed. It is often eaten on top of rice.

Other South Asian cuisines

Pakistani cuisine

Main article: Cuisine of Pakistan

A favourite Pakistani curry is Karahi, either mutton or chicken cooked in a dry sauce. Lahori Karahi incorporates garlic, spices and vinegar. Peshawari karahi is a simple dish made with just meat, salt, tomatoes and coriander.

Bangladeshi cuisine

Main article: Cuisine of Bangladesh

Bangladeshi cuisine has considerable regional variations. A staple across the country however is rice and dhal. As a large percentage of the land (over 80% on some occasions) can be under water, either intentionally because of farming practices or due to severe climatological, topographical or geographical conditions, not surprisingly fish features as the major source of protein in the Bangladeshi diet.

The Bengali word tôrkari has been suggested as a possible origin for the English word "curry." It is a generic term, originally from Persian, that can refer to vegetables, cooked vegetables or fish cooked with vegetables.

The widely popular British curry dish chicken tikka masala was likely produced by Bangladeshi immigrants from Sylhet.

Further information: Bengali cuisine

British cuisine

Further information: British cuisine and Anglo-Indian cuisine

Chicken tikka jalfrezi, pilau rice and a cucumber rhaita, as served at the Aladin restaurant, Brick Lane, London. A typical British hybrid, with northern Indian & Bangladeshi dishes, cooked in a Bangladeshi restaurant, and adapted to British multi-ethnic tastes. (November 2005)

In British cuisine, the word curry once came solely to denote a sauce-based dish flavoured with curry powder or a paste variant made from the powder and oils. However, the resurgence of interest in good food preparation in the UK in recent years has led to much more use of fresh spices such as ginger and garlic, and preparation of an initial masala from freshly ground dried spices, though pastes and powders are still frequently used when convenience is paramount.

It should be noted that the debasement of the 'British curry' as a dish solely made with 'curry powder' (which, before about the 1970s, only meant one thing, a yellow powder, consisting mostly of ground turmeric and chili powder, used to create dishes such as 'Coronation chicken') is a 20th-century phenomenon as was the ubiquitous inclusion of — for some forgotten reason — sultanas in every so-called curry. But many excellent curry recipes are contained in 19th-century cookbooks such as those of Mrs Beeton, although it is unlikely that, unlike latter-day curries, these were consumed by the British working class of the time.

As a side note, the famous curry sauce (often associated with the city of Liverpool) that is often served warm as a condiment with other dishes such as chips, was actually popularised by Chinese takeaways, not Indian restaurants, and relies heavily on ground ginger for its flavouring.

British curries are often served in Indian restaurants. Until the early 1970s, more than three quarters of Indian restaurants in Britain were identified as being owned and run by those of Pakistani origin. Most of these were run by migrants from East Pakistan, which became Bangladesh in 1971. Bangladeshi Restaurateurs overwhelmingly come from the northern city of Sylhet. Until 1998, as many as 85% of curry restaurants in the UK were Bangladeshi restaurants [2] but in 2003, this figure declined to just over 65%.[3] At present, the dominance of Bangladeshi restaurants is generally declining in some parts of London and the further north one travels. The majority in Bradford and Manchester being Pakistani, Kashmiri and North Indian. In Glasgow, there are more restaurants of Punjabi origin than any other. [4]

Whatever the ethnic origin of a restaurant's ownership the menu will nearly always be influenced by the wider Indian subcontinent (sometimes including Nepalese dishes), and sometimes cuisines from further afield (such as Persian dishes). There have also been British influences; two of the most familiar dishes served in British restaurants, Chicken Tikka Masala and Balti (which is a curry designed to be eaten with a large naan), were invented in the UK by Bangladeshi chefs. Some British variations on Indian food are now being exported from the UK to India. British-style curry restaurants are also popular in Canada, Australia and New Zealand.

In a relatively short space of time, curry has become an integral part of British cuisine, so much so that since the late 1990s, Chicken Tikka Masala has been commonly referred to as the "British national dish". It is now available (albeit in frozen, microwavable form) on Intercity rail trains, as a flavour for crisps, and even as a pizza topping.

The traditional British Curry House

In recent times, Indian cooking has moved upmarket, particularly in major cities such as London. There are now several Michelin-starred establishments serving excellent, truly authentic Indian food in luxurious surroundings, at correspondingly elevated prices.

There have been Indian restaurants in Britain for many years, and in areas with large Asian populations these have remained highly authentic.

In contrast, the typical provincial "curry house" serves a (to the Asian mind at any rate)curious and almost ritualised cuisine which bears little resemblance to any real Asian dishes. This type of establishment is often stereotyped as having generally absymal levels of hygiene, being deserted for most of the day and relying heavily on the custom of hordes of drunks emerging from the surrounding pubs at closing time. However this certainly not always the case, and many English people regard "going for a curry" as an inexpensive and highly satisfying outing. There are now many up-market "Indian Restaurants", which, while they still tend to eschew the more authentic cuisines, nonetheless apply the same high standards of food preparation.

This cuisine is characterised by the use of a common base for all the sauces to which spices are added when individual dishes are prepared. The standard "feedstock" is usually a sauteed mixture of onion, garlic and fresh ginger, to which various spices are added, depending on the recipe, but which may include: cloves, cinnamon, cardamom, chillies, peppercorns, cumin and mustard seeds. Ground coriander seed is widely used as a thickening agent and turmeric for colour.

A "quality" restaurant will normally make up new sauces on a daily basis, using fresh ingredients wherever possible and grinding their own spices. More modest establishments are more likley to resort to frozen or dried ingredients and packet spices.

Although the names may be similar to traditional dishes, the recipes generally are not.

• Korma/Kurma - mild, yellow in colour, with almond and coconut powder
• Curry - medium, gravy-like sauce
• Rogan Josh (from "Roghan" (oil) and "Gosht" (meat)) - medium, with tomatoes
• Bhuna - medium, thick sauce, some vegetables
• Dhansak - medium/hot, sweet and sour sauce with lentils (originally a Parsi dish)
• Madras - fairly hot curry, red in colour and with heavy use of chilli powder
• Pathia - generally similar to a Madras + lemon juice and tomato puree
• Jalfrezi - onion, green chilli and a thick sauce
• Vindaloo - this is generally regarded as the classic "hot" restaurant curry, (although a true Vindaloo doesn't specify any particular level of spiciness).
• Phaal - extremely hot.

These sauces are typically served with "lamb" (usually mutton), prawns or chicken; vegetable versions are somewhat cheaper, chicken tikka or king prawn versions more expensive. In more up-market establishments, a variety of meat options is offered, that is you can order lamb, chicken, beef (or even vegetarian) "vindaloo" for example. The meat is generally cooked separately in a casserole-type dish until it is very tender, and added to the sauce just before serving. Some establishments keep large containers of refrigerated sauces and frozen meats, which are heated in a microwave oven as required. A garnish of freshly fried onion is sometimes added to give the illusion of recent preparation.

The tandoor was introduced into Britain in the 1960s and tandoori and tikka chicken became popular dishes; Chicken Tikka Masala was said to have been invented in Glasgow when a customer demanded a sauce with a 'too dry' tikka, (legend has it that the cook then heated up a tin of Campbell's condensed tomato soup and added some spices) although it is also seen as a variant on the traditional Punjabi dish of butter chicken.

Other dishes may be featured with varying strengths, with those of north Indian origin, such as Butter Chicken, tending to be mild, and recipes from the south of India tending to be hotter.

Balti Curries

Further information: Balti (food)

A style of curry developed in Birmingham, England which has spread to other western countries.

South East Asian cuisines

Thai cuisine

Further information: Cuisine of Thailand

In Thai cuisine, curries are meat, fish or vegetable dishes in a spiced sauce. They use local ingredients such as chilli peppers, Kaffir lime leaves and coconut milk, and tend to be more aromatic than Indian curries as a result. Curries are often described by colour; red curries use red chillis while green curries use green chillis. Yellow curries are more similar to Indian curries, with their use of turmeric and cumin. Yellow currys normally contain potatoes. Yellow curry is also called gaeng curry (by various spellings), of which a word-for-word translation would be "curry curry". This is because it is the one category of Thai curry that really is curry, and is adapted from Indian cuisine.

Malaysian cuisine

Further information: Cuisine of Malaysia

Malaysian curries typically use coconut milk and a paste of turmeric, shallots, ginger, belacan (shrimp paste), chilis, and garlic. Tamarind is also often used. All sorts of things are curried in Malaysia, including goat, chicken, shrimp, cuttlefish, fish, fish head, aubergine, eggs, and mixed vegetables.

Rendang is a Malaysian dish that uses curry spices, although it is less watery than a conventional Malaysian curry.

East Asian cuisines

Chinese cuisine

Further information: Chinese Cuisine

Chinese curries (咖哩, gā lǐ) typically consist of green peppers, chicken, beef, fish, lamb, or other meats, onions, large chunks of potatoes, and a variety of other ingredients and spices in a mildly spicy yellow curry sauce, and topped over steamed rice. White pepper, soy sauce, hot sauce, and/or hot chili oil may be applied to the sauce to enhance the flavour of the curry. Chinese curry is popular in North America, and there are many different varieties of Chinese curry, depending on each restaurant.

Japanese cuisine

Main article: Japanese curry

Japanese curry (カレー, karē in Japanese) is one of the most popular dishes in Japan, eaten twice or three times a week per person according to some surveys. It is usually thicker, sweeter and not as hot as its Indian equivalent. It is usually eaten as karē raisu - curry, rice and often pickles, served on the same plate and eaten with a spoon, a common lunchtime canteen dish.

Curry was introduced to Japan by the British in the Meiji era (1869 - 1913) after Japan ended its policy of national self-isolation (Sakoku), and curry in Japan is categorised as a Western dish. Its spread across the country is commonly attributed to its use in the Japanese Army and Navy which adopted it extensively as convenient field and naval canteen cooking, allowing even conscripts from the remotest countryside to experience the dish. The Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force still traditionally have curry every Friday for lunch.

The standard Japanese curry contains onions, carrots, potatoes and a meat. Sometimes grated apples or honey are added for additional sweetness, and other vegetables are sometimes used instead. For the meat, beef, pork and chicken are the most popular, in order of decreasing popularity. In the north and eastern Japan including Tokyo, pork is the most popular meat for curry by far; beef is more common in western Japan, and in Okinawa, chicken. ([5] in Japanese)

Sometimes the curry-rice is topped with breaded pork cutlet (tonkatsu); this is called Katsu-karē (カツカレー).

Apart from with rice, karē udon (thick noodles in curry flavoured soup) and karē-pan ("curry bread" - deep fried battered bread with curry in the middle) are also popular.

Elsewhere

Other countries have their own varieties of curry, well known examples include:

• Sri Lanka: Rice and curry meals
• Indonesia: Rendangs, meat or chicken curries with thick brown coconut sauce.
• South Africa: Cape malay curries
• Caribbean: Curried goat
• Philippines: Kare-kare

Cambodia, Hawaii, the United States, Myanmar, China and Singapore also have their own versions of curry.

Curry powder is used as an incidental ingredient in other cuisines, including for example a "curry sauce" (sauce au curry, sometimes even au cari) variation of the classic French béchamel.

In Iranian cuisine, a mix called "advieh" is used in many stews and rice dishes. It is similar to some curries. Ingredients in the mix vary, but may include cinnamon, cardamom,cumin, coriander, tumeric, black pepper, cloves, allspice, dried rose petals, and ground ginger. It is usually mellow and mild, not hot.

In Trinidad and Tobago and Guyana curry is a very popular dish among the Indo-Caribbean communities. The indentured servants that were brought over from India by the British, brought this dish, as well as their culture, to the West Indies.

Curry addiction

A number of studies have claimed that the reaction of pain receptors to the hotter ingredients in curries, even a Korma, leads to the body's release of endorphins and combined with the complex sensory reaction to the variety of spices and flavours, a natural high is achieved that causes subsequent cravings, often followed by a desire to move on to hotter curries. Some refer to this as addiction, but other researchers contest the use of the word "addiction" in this instance.[6] Additionally, curry addiction is an example of a colloquial use of the word "addiction" as the medical definition of the word requires continued use despite harmful effects.

Ingredients

Thickeners

• Besan (chickpea/garbanzo flour)
• onions/shallots
• cream
• coconut milk
• yogurt
• nuts

Spices

• allspice
• anise seed
• asafoetida (Hing)
• black cumin (Kala jeera)
• black pepper (Kala mirch)
• cardamom (Elaichi)
• chile peppers (dried red) (Lal Mirch or Falfal)
• cinnamon
• cloves
• coriander (Dhaniya)
• cumin seeds (Jeera)
• fennel
• fenugreek seeds (Methi)
• garam masala
• mace
• mustard seeds
• nigella (kalonji)
• nutmeg
• poppy seeds
• saffron
• turmeric (Haldi)

Sour ingredients

• vinegar
• tamarind (imbli)
• lime (nimbu)
• amchoor (dried mango powder, also spelled 'amchur'.)

Fresh herbs and spices

• garlic
• ginger
• coriander (cilantro) leaves
• curry leaves
• bay leaves
• kaffir lime leaves
• chillies
• onion

Other

• ghee (clarified butter)

Curry powder

Curry powder, also known as masala powder, is a spice mixture of widely varying composition developed by the British during the Raj as a means of approximating the taste of Indian cuisine at home. Masala refers to spices, and this is the name given to the thick pasty liquid sauce of combined spices and ghee (clarified butter), butter, palm oil or coconut milk.

Curry leaves

Curry leaves are the young leaves of the curry tree (Chalcas koenigii), a member of the Rutaceae family that grows wild and in gardens all over India. Fresh curry leaves are oval in shape and best used at about 1 inch in length. They have a pungent and bitter smell much like the leaves of a citrus tree. Leaves are typically fried until browned, then cooked with the dish. Before serving, the leaves are removed. Leaves are most powerful when fresh, but can be dried and used to less effect.

See also

• List of ethnic slurs, Curry or Curry Muncher as ethnic slurs
• Rice and curry

References & Further Reading

• K.T. Achaya A Historical Dictionary of Indian Food (Delhi: Oxford University Press) 1998
• Indian Food: A Historical Companion (Delhi: Oxford University Press) 1994
• David Burton The Raj at Table (London: Faber & Faber) 1993
• E.M. Collingham Curry: A biography (London: Chatto & Windus) 2005
• Madhur Jaffrey An Invitation to Indian Cooking (London: Penguin) 1975

External links

• Green Curry Recipe
• Thai Green Chicken Curry Recipe
• Chicken Curry Recipe - Australian Style
• Curried Chicken Recipe Good all-round curry recipe