Curry

Curryis a dish with a sauce orgravyseasoned with spices, mainly derived from the interchange ofIndian cuisinewith European taste in food, starting with the Portuguese, followed by the Dutch and British, and then thoroughly internationalised. Many dishes that would be described as curries in English are found in the native cuisines of countries inSoutheast AsiaandEast Asia. The English word is derived indirectly from some combination of Dravidian words such as theTamilkaṟi(கறி) meaning 'sauce' or 'relish for rice'.
A first step in the creation of curry was the arrival in India of spicy hotchili peppers, along with other ingredients such as tomatoes and potatoes, part of theColumbian exchangeof plants between theOld Worldand theNew World. During theBritish Raj,Anglo-Indian cuisinedeveloped, leading toHannah Glasse's 18th century recipe for "currey the India way" in England. Curry was then spread in the 19th century by indentured Indian sugar workers to the Caribbean, and by British traders to Japan. Further exchanges around the world made curry a fully international dish.
Many types of curry exist in different countries. In Southeast Asia, curry often contains a spice paste and coconut milk. In India, the spices are fried in oil or ghee to create a paste; this may be combined with a water-basedbroth, or sometimes with milk or coconut milk. In China and Korea, curries are based on a commercial curry powder. Curry restaurants outside their native countries often adapt their cuisine to suit local tastes; for instance, Thai restaurants in the West sell red, yellow, and green curries with chili peppers of those colours, often combined with additional spices of the same colours. In Britain, curry has become a national dish, with some types adopted from India, others modified or wholly invented, as withchicken tikka masala, created by British Bangladeshi restaurants in the 20th century.
'Curry' is "ultimately derived"from some combination of Dravidian words of south Indian languages.One of those words is theMiddle Tamilkaṟi(கறி) meaning 'black' or 'burnt' and hence spiced food.The Oxford Dictionaries suggest an origin specifically from Tamil.OtherDravidian languages, namelyMalayalam(കറിkari, "hot condiments; meats, vegetables"),Middle KannadaandKodava, have similar words.Kaṟiis described in a 17th centuryPortuguese cookbookwho were trading with Tamil merchants along theCoromandel Coastof southeast India, becoming known as a "spice blend ... calledkari podior curry powder".The first appearance in itsanglicisedform (speltcurrey) was inHannah Glasse's 1747 bookThe Art of Cookery Made Plain and Easy.
The term "curry" is not derived from the name of thecurry tree, although some curries do include curry leaves among many other spices.It is not related, either, to the wordcuryinThe Forme of Cury,a 1390s English cookbook;that term comes from the Middle French wordcuire, meaning 'to cook'.
Austronesian merchants in South East Asiatraded spicesalong marine trade routes between South Asia (primarily the ports on the south eastern coast of India and Sri Lanka) and East Asia as far back at 5000 BCE.Archaeological evidence dating to 2600 BCE fromMohenjo-darosuggests the use ofmortar and pestleto pound spices includingmustard,fennel,cumin, andtamarindpods with which they flavoured food.Black pepperis native to theIndian subcontinentand Southeast Asia and has been known toIndian cookingsince at least 2000 BCE.The three basic ingredients of the spicy stew wereginger,garlic, andturmeric. Using starch grain analysis, archaeologists identified the residue of these spices in both skeletons and pottery shards from excavations in India, finding thatturmericandgingerwere present.Sauces in India before Columbus could contain black pepper orlong pepperto provide a little heat, but not chili, so they were notspicy hotby modern standards.
The establishment of theMughal Empire, in the early 16th century, influenced some curries, especially in the north. Another influence was the establishment of thePortuguese trading centreinGoain 1510, resulting in the introduction ofchili peppers, tomatoes and potatoes to India from the Americas, as a byproduct of theColumbian Exchange.The scholar of food cultureLizzie Collinghamsuggests that the Portuguese inGoa(in West India) heard and adopted words adopted into a local  language from the Dravidian words from South India, becomingcarilorcarreeas transcribed by British travellers of the time. This adoption resulting eventually in curry's modern meaning of a dish, often spiced, in a sauce or gravy.In 1598, an English translation of a Dutch book about travel in the East Indies mentioned a "somewhat sour" broth calledCarriel, eaten with rice.The later Dutch wordkariewas used in theDutch East Indiesfrom the 19th century; many Indians had by then migrated to Southeast Asia.
Curry was introduced toEnglish cuisinefromAnglo-Indian cookingin the 17th century, as spicy sauces were added to plain boiled and cooked meats.That cuisine was created in theBritish Rajwhen British wives or memsahibs instructed Indian cooks on the food they wanted, transforming many dishes in the process.Further, in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, when there were few British women in India, British men often lived with Indian mistresses, acquiring the local customs, language, and food.Curry was first served in coffee houses in Britain from 1809.
Indian cooks in the 19th century prepared curries for their British masters simplified and adjusted to Anglo-Indian taste. For instance, aquaramafromLucknowcontained (among other ingredients) ghee, yoghurt, cream, crushed almonds, cloves, cardamom, and saffron; whereas an 1869 Anglo-Indianquoremaorkorma, "different in substance as well as name",had no cream, almonds, or saffron, but it added the then-standard British curry spices, namely coriander, ginger, and black peppercorns.Curry, initially understood as "an unfamiliar set of Indian stews and ragouts",had become "a dish in its own right, created for the British in India".Collingham describes the resulting Anglo-Indian cuisine as "eclectic", "pan-Indian", "lacking sophistication", embodying a "passion for garnishes", and forming a "coherent repertoire"; but it was eaten only by the British.Collingham writes that "The idea of a curry is, in fact, a concept that the Europeans imposed on India's food culture. Indians referred to their different dishes by specific names... But the British lumped all these together under the heading of curry.
Elsewhere in the 19th century, curry was carried to the Caribbean by Indianindenturedworkers in the Britishsugar industry.
Since the mid-20th century, curries of many national styles have become popular far from their origins, and increasingly become part of internationalfusion cuisine.Alan Davidsonwrites that curry's worldwide extension is a result of theIndian diasporaandglobalisation, starting within the British Empire, and followed by economic migrants who brought Indian cuisine to many countries.In 1886, 咖喱 (Gālí) (Chinese pronunciation of "curry") appeared among the Chinese in Singapore.Malay Chinese peoplethen most likely brought curry to China.
In India, spices are always freshly prepared for use in sauces.Derived from such mixtures (but not containing curry leaves),curry powderis a ready-prepared spice blend first sold by Indian merchants to European colonial traders. This was commercially available from the late 18th century,with brands such asCrosse & BlackwellandSharwood'spersisting to the present.British traders introduced the powder toMeiji eraJapan, in the mid-19th century, where it became known asJapanese curry.
There are many varieties of curry. The choice of spices for each dish in traditional cuisine depends on regional cultural traditions and personal preferences.Such dishes have names such as dopiaza and rogan josh that refer to their ingredients, spicing, and cooking methods.Outside the Indian subcontinent, a curry is a dish from Southeast Asia which usescoconut milkand spice pastes, and is commonly eaten over rice.Curries may contain fish, meat, poultry, or shellfish, either alone or in combination with vegetables. Others are vegetarian. Amasalamixture is a combination of dried or dry-roasted spices commonly homemade for some curries.
Dry curries are cooked using small amounts of 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 onbroth,coconut creamorcoconut milk, dairycreamoryogurt, orlegumepurée,sautéedcrushed onion, ortomato purée.Curry powder, a commercially prepared mixture of spices marketed in the West, was first exported to Britain in the 18th century when Indian merchants sold aconcoctionof spices, similar togaram masala, to the BritishEast India Companyreturning to Britain.
Curry is very popular in theUnited Kingdom, with a curry house in nearly every town.Such is its popularity that it has frequently been called its "adopted national dish".It was estimated that in 2016 there were 12,000 curry houses, employing 100,000 people and with annual combined sales of approximately £4.2 billion.The food offered is cooked to British taste, but with increasing demand for authentic Indian styles.In 2001,chicken tikka masalawas described by the Britishforeign secretaryRobin Cookas "a true British national dish, not only because it is the most popular, but because it is a perfect illustration of the way Britain absorbs and adapts external influences."Its origin is not certain, but many sources attribute it toBritish Asians; some citeGlasgowas the city of origin.It may derive frombutter chicken, popular in the north of India.
Curries in Britain are derived partly from India and partly from invention in local Indian restaurants. They vary from mildly-spiced to extremely hot, with names that are to an extent standardised across the country, but are often unknown in India.
ManyIndian dishesare spicy. The spices chosen for a dish are freshly ground and then fried in hot oil or ghee to create a paste.The content of the dish and style of preparation vary by region.The sauces are made with spices including black pepper, cardamom, chili peppers, cinnamon, cloves, coriander, cumin, fennel seed, mustard seed, and turmeric.As many as 15 spices may be used for a meat curry.The spices are sometimes fried whole, sometimes roasted, sometimes ground and mixed into a paste.The sauces are eaten with steamed rice oridlirice cakes in south India,and breads such aschapatis,roti, andnaanin the north.The popularrogan josh, for example, fromKashmiri cuisine, is a wet dish of lamb with a red gravy coloured by Kashmiri chillies and an extract of the red flowers of thecockscomb plant(mawal).Rice and curry is the staple dish of Sri Lanka.
Japanese curryis usually eaten askarē raisu– curry, rice, and often pickled vegetables, served on the same plate and eaten with a spoon, a common lunchtime canteen dish. It is less spicy and seasoned than Indian and Southeast Asian curries, being more of a thick stew than a curry. British people brought curry from theIndian colonyback to Britainand introduced it to Japan during theMeiji period(1868 to 1912), after Japan ended its policy of national self-isolation (sakoku), and curry in Japan was categorised as aWestern dish.Its spread across the country is attributed to its use in theJapanese ArmyandNavywhich adopted it extensively as convenient field and naval canteen cooking, allowing even conscripts from the remotest countryside to experience the dish. TheJapan Maritime Self-Defense Forcetraditionally have curry every Friday for lunch and many ships have their own recipes.The standard Japanese curry contains onions, carrots, potatoes, and sometimescelery, and a meat that is cooked in a large pot. Sometimes grated apples orhoneyare added for additional sweetness and other vegetables are sometimes used instead.
Curry spread to other regions of Asia. Curry powder is added to some dishes in the southern part of China. The curry powder sold in Chinese grocery stores is similar to Madras curry powder, but with the addition ofstar aniseand cinnamon.The former Portuguese colony of Macau has itsown culinary traditionsand curry dishes, includingGalinha à portuguesa("Portuguese-style chicken") and curry crab.Portuguese sauceis a sauce flavoured with curry and thickened withcoconut milk.
Curry was popularized inKorean cuisinewhenOttogientered the Korean food industry with an imported curry powder in 1969.Korean curry powder contains spices including cardamom, chili, cinnamon, and turmeric.Currytteokbokkiis made oftteok(rice cakes),eomuk(fish cakes), eggs, vegetables, andgochujang, fermented red chili paste. As in India, chilis were brought to Korea by European traders. Spicy chili sauce then replaced the soy sauce formerly used intteokbokki.
InBurmese cuisine, curries are broadly calledhin.Burmese curriescontains meat simmered in a curry paste containing onion, garlic, shrimp paste, tomato, and turmeric. Burmese curries are often mild, without chili, and somewhat oily.
Thai curriesare calledgaeng, and usually consist of meat, fish or vegetables in a sauce based on a paste made from chilies, onions or shallots, garlic, andshrimp paste.A few stir-fried Thai dishes usephong kari, an Indian style curry powder.In the West, Thai curries are often colour-coded green, yellow, and red, with green usually the mildest, red the hottest. Green curry is flavoured with green chili, coriander,kaffir lime, and basil; yellow, with yellow chili and turmeric; and red, with red chili.
Malaysian Indian cuisineadapted curries (such asgulai, with coconut milk) via the region's Indian population,but it has become a staple among the Malay and Chinese populations there. Malaysian curries have many varieties, but are often flavoured with cumin, cinnamon, turmeric, coconut milk, shallots, chili peppers, and garlic.
Indian Indonesian cuisineconsists of adaptations of authentic dishes fromIndia, as well as original creations inspired by the diverse food culture ofIndonesia. Curry inIndonesianiskariand inJavanese,kare. InIndonesian cuisineespecially inBandung, there is a dish calledlontong kari, a combined oflontongand beef yellow curry soup.InJavanese cuisine,kare rajungan,blue swimmer crabcurry has become a delicacy ofTuban Regency,East Java.
InVietnamese cuisine, influenced by both Thai and Indian cooking, curry is known ascà ri. It is made with coconut milk, Madras curry powder with plenty of turmeric, and a variety of fresh ingredients such as coriander, lemongrass, and ginger.
In the Philippines, a dish that may have been directly inspired by Indian curries is theoxtailstewkare-kare, possibly influenced bySepoyexpatriates during the briefBritish occupation of Manila(1762–1764), or indirectly via Southeast Asian spicy dishes.Ginataanare native dishes usingcoconut milk,which as in the case ofFilipino chicken currycan be called 'curries' whencurry powderis added.
Curry spread toSouth Africawith the migration of people from the Indian subcontinent to the region in the colonial era.Africancurries,Cape Malaycurries andNatalcurries include the traditional Natal curry, the Durban curry,Bunny chow, and roti rolls. South African curries appear to have been created in bothKwaZulu-Nataland theWestern Cape, while others developed across the country over the late 20th and early 21st centuries to include ekasi, coloured, andAfrikanervarieties.Durbanhas the largest population of Indians outside of India in the world.Bunny chow or a "set", a South African standard, consists of either lamb, chicken or bean curry poured into a tunnelled-out loaf of bread to be eaten with one's fingers by dipping pieces of the bread into it.'Bunny chow' means 'Indian food', fromBanian, an Indian. The method of serving the curry was created becauseapartheidforbade black people from eating in Indian restaurants; the loaves could speedily be taken away and eaten in the street.