What is Curry?

Question

I see alot of people from England say they ate curry, to me curry is a spice, and I couln't eat a plate of curry as I know it, so what exactly is Curry as the English refer to it......explain in detail, I am not that bright....thanks....

Answer 1

Curry (from Tamil: கறி) is the English description of any of a general variety of spicy dishes, best-known in Indian, Bangladeshi, Sri Lankan, Nepali, Indonesian, Malaysian, Pakistani, Thai, and other South Asian and Southeast Asian cuisines, though curry has been adopted into all of the mainstream cuisines of the Asia-Pacific region. Along with tea, curry is one of the few dishes or drinks that is truly "Pan-Asian", but specifically, its roots come from India. The concept of curry was later brought to the West by British colonialists in India from the 18th century. Dishes that are often classified as curries in Europe and America are rarely considered curries in their native countries.

In British cuisine, the word curry was primarily used to denote a sauce-based dish flavoured with curry powder or a paste made from the powder and oils. However, the resurgence of interest in 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 for convenience.

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".

Answer 2

Curry is NOT a spice. Curry is a generic name for a variety of dishes from India (veggie, meat or eggs). This can be as simple as a stir fry (although Indian stir fries involve longer cooking times than Chinese ones) or a complicated baked dish that you might find in a typical Indian restaurant. The combination of spices used depends on the dish and even the preferences of the chef.

What you're thinking of is curry powder, which is a British blend of Indian spices. Of course, this isn't authentic in the true sense because it gives the same flavor to any dish it's added to. The choice of spices in a proper curry depends on the starting ingredient. But you can still use curry powder, keeping in mind that it tastes better with certain vegetables than others, and that it can overpower other flavors.

Think of curry as 'Dominos pizza'. An Italian would tell you that it is not real pizza as it is too generic.

Answer 3

Curry is a sauce that is usually associated with Indian or Thai food (possibly others). Curry is usually a mixture of many different spices (cumin, corriander, tumeric, chili powder). Curries vary according to which spices are used. There is no one "curry" sauce. They can be sweeter or hotter. They also often have coconut milk or yogurt as a base. Vegetables or meat are served in the curry sauce. Hope that helps.

You said as the English are referring to curry. I believe that they are approaching curry from the Indian way I described above. The English dominated India for many years and many Indians live in England so I think they have gotten used to a lot of Indian food. Just like Americans have gotten used to Chinese food.

Answer 4

Curry is the generic name for a combination of spices used in Indian cooking. Indians migrated to England and make up a significant portion of the minority population. London has hundreds of Indian restaurants which use curry in many of their dishes. You can make your own curry using teh following ingredients.

1 tsp. ground cumin
2 Tbsp. ground coriander
1 tsp. turmeric
1/4 tsp. salt 1/4 ground cloves
1 tsp. cardamom
1 tsp. cayenne, more or less to taste
1/2 tsp. cinnamon

These spices can be combined in any variety depending on your taste.
Hope this helps.

Answer 5

curry is something hot and spicy and adds flavor and aroma to the indian food. its a combination of tropical spices which is sometimes know to have medicinal value , but mainly opens up pores on your skin to regulate body temperature and keep the body cool