Curry

Curry is a variety of dishes originating in the Indian subcontinent that use a complex combination of spices or herbs. Turmeric is known as the main spice in curry, which has a warm, bitter taste and is frequently used to flavor or color curry powders, mustards, butters, and cheeses. Curries may be either ‘dry’ or ‘wet’; dry curries are cooked with very little liquid which is allowed to evaporate, leaving the other ingredients coated with the spice mixture.

About Curry in brief

Summary Curry Curry is a variety of dishes originating in the Indian subcontinent that use a complex combination of spices or herbs. The precise selection of spices for each dish is a matter of national or regional cultural tradition, religious practice, and, to some extent, family preference. Turmeric is known as the main spice in curry, which has a warm, bitter taste and is frequently used to flavor or color curry powders, mustards, butters, and cheeses. Curry powder, a commercially prepared mixture of spices, is largely a Western creation, dating to the 18th century. The word cury appears in the 1390s English cookbook, The Forme of Cury, but is unrelated and comes from the Middle French word cuire, meaning ‘to cook’Archaeological evidence dating to 2600 BCE from Mohenjo-daro suggests the use of mortar and pestle to pound spices including mustard, fennel, cumin, and tamarind pods with which they flavoured food. Black pepper is native to the IndianSubcontinent and Southeast Asia and has been known to Indian cooking since at least 2000 BCE. Curry was introduced to Anglo-Indian cooking in the 17th century as spicy sauces were added to plain boiled meats. Since the mid-20th century, many national styles of curries have become popular from their origins and become part of international cuisine. During the 19th century curry was also carried to the Caribbean by Indian indentured workers in the British sugar industry.

It has been increasingly popular in Great Britain in the 1940s and the 1970s, with major jumps in the 1950s and 1960s. Curry is an anglicised form of the Tamil word kaṟi meaning’sauce’ or’relish for rice’ that uses the leaves of the curry tree. It is also used in other Dravidian languages, namely in Malayalam, Kannada and Kodava with the meaning of \”vegetables of any kind, curry\”. The word kari is described in a mid-17th century Portuguese cookbook by members of the British East India Company, who were trading with Tamil merchants along the Coromandel Coast of southeast India, becoming known as a ‘spice blend… called kari podi or curry powder’ The first known appearance in its anglicisation appears in a 1747 book of recipes published by Hannah Glasse. The 1758 edition of The Art of Cookery contains a recipe for a curry called ‘To make the India Way’, which contains a curry recipe for ‘Curry’ and ‘Currey’. Curries may be either ‘dry’ or ‘wet’; dry curries are cooked with very little liquid which is allowed to evaporate, leaving the other ingredients coated with the spice mixture. Wet curries contain significant amounts of sauce or gravy based on broth, coconut cream or coconut milk, dairy cream or yogurt, or legume purée, sautéed crushed onion, or tomato purée.