Curry

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== About Curry ==
Is a dish that comes from the Indian subcontinent. It can be found in Indian, Pakistani, Bangladeshi, Nepali and Sri Lankan cuisines. To an extent, this is true because the ideas of curries have largely come from the subcontinent. The reason why curries are automatically associated with India is because of the spices that have been used over the years in curries. However curries can be found outside the subcontinent like in Malaysian and Thai cuisines. The taste of curry is automatically assumed to be spicy. To an extent, this is true too. However, not all curries are spicy, as many of them do have several spices in them, but these are to achieve a particular taste.
One can say that the idea of spices in a curry originates from Pakistan, and this cannot be denied because of the fact that there are a number of dishes that may be cooked fiery hot with peppers of various kinds. Indeed, the red and green peppers (chilies) are very common in India, and generally, you may make curries from these two kinds of peppers or a mixture could even be made.
In addition to the use of red and green peppers, there re a number of other ingredients may be required in the making of curries. Some ingredients might include salt, cumin seed or zeera (whole or powdered), saffron or turmeric, coriander, black pepper, cloves, cardamom, ginger, garlic, onions, tomatoes, etc. In addition to these, there are a number of other ingredients that may be included to make a curry taste delicious.
In some curries, coconut is common. These recipes that use coconut are normally ones that are used to cook fish curries. Indeed, there are different kinds of fish curries that may be cooked with the wide range of spices or masala in India.
In curries, you may have a wide range of foods cooked. You can cook meats of any kind, fish, lentils and vegetables. Indeed, there is a wide variety of curries that can be made in order to make meats and vegetables taste even more delicious. For this, you need to know the methods for cooking and have an understanding of the strengths of each spice and ingredient used in curries. If you do not know what strengths lie in each spice, you may end up making a curry that is out of the ordinary or you may leave the worst taste in a person’s mouth.
== Production of Curry ==
Curries are very popular in India, and now have also been experimented with in many other parts of the world. This is perhaps because of the fact that these dishes are so delicious and also because of the fact that there are many Asians that have traveled far and wide. These people are responsible for passing on how curries are produced exactly.
Curries are produced in different ways. It depends on what kinds of dishes you would like to make. Let’s assume we want to make a beef curry. Now in a dish like this, you would first of all chop onions or even garlic into small pieces. In a vessel with some measured quantity of oil on low flame, you would add the onions, and stir them around till they are golden brown. The darker you let the onions brown, the darker your curry will turn out.
Once the onions have browned sufficiently, you may add in the beef or any other meat you want to cook. You should fry the meat in the browned onions and oil until the meat changes color. Then you may add in tomatoes and other ingredients like ginger and garlic, and allow the mixture to cook well. As the meat softens, you can add in more spices such as the red chili peppers. Now red chili peppers can be of two kinds. One type is the powdered form that is available in the market, and the other kind is the big red whole chilies and the round red chilies that you crush and grind. You normally will need to mix these in a little vinegar in order to make a paste. This makes a good delicious red curry.
Alternatively, if you want to make a green curry, you need to take big green chilies and grind them. What you get is a delicious green curry with a greenish to yellow color. You could make a green curry paste to add in the same way that you make a red one.
Adding in additional ingredients is up to you, but normally in a curry you most commonly find potatoes added. In addition to these, you may have cardamom, clove peppercorns, etc. You need to watch out for the salt, and keep tasting the curry frequently so that you know if you have added enough salt. Some curries need to be garnished, and it is very common to have an Indian curry garnished with fresh coriander leaves.
== Buying Curry ==
There are several types of curries that can be made. However, not everyone is an expert in making curries. This is the reason why you will find many people going out to buy them. For example, in order to cook a Goan style fish curry it takes some expertise to get the right taste. So, for those people who cannot cook up such dishes on their own the best option is to go out and buy it.
Now, when you buy curries, you will be presented with such an immense variety, especially at restaurants, that it becomes difficult to choose. You may get so many different kinds of curries that are all great. Therefore, you need to make up your mind thoroughly before deciding on traveling out to get a good curry.
Outside India as well, people buy curries rather than make them at home. There are particular Asian dishes such as Nihari for example that people find hard to make at home. So, they go out to get some. However, you need to be aware of particular issues regarding consuming curries made outside your home. Hygiene is a number one issue, and especially if you are a tourist you need to be extra careful because you immunity may not be able to resist the environment and curries cooked outside. One reason you might find that your tummy might be upset easily is due to the fiery content. However, in spite of the risks, you might still be prepared to venture out to buy yourself a delicious dish.
Curries are not expensive to purchase. Indeed, many people who cannot cook everyday at home find themselves consuming these foods outside. Therefore, it can be said that the curries consumed in India or in other parts of South Asia are a common man’s food. However, the more elaborate dishes would be a little expensive.
Depending on what you want and are willing to pay for, you can certainly get a wide variety of curries to choose from. If you are a vegetarian, there are also wide varieties of curries for vegetarians. This is because there are so many people in India who survive of vegetarian diets. These are healthy ones, and indeed they have evolved from different vegetarian cuisines in India. These are truly healthy and delicious foods in spite of them containing a significant number of spices. However, you need to see what suits your taste buds better.
=== Curry Variations ===
There are several variations of curries available in Asia. These are ones that are cooked under different cuisines, in addition to those that are independently made. These curries depend on what their influences are, and each of them has its special attributes. For example in Assamese cuisine, you will find that there are several tasty dishes you can try out. Many of them are made of fish, curry, vegetables, dal, and have salads too. Curries in this cuisine need not be spicy. They may use green and red chili peppers, but they are added in limited quantities in order to produce mild effects. However, you might have the more fiery side of curries.
Cuisines such as the Goan cuisine would have a wide array of ingredients and spices added in to its curries. Some of these are as follows: peppers, cloves garlic, cloves, cinnamon, ginger, peppercorns, cumin seeds, red dried chilies, vinegar, oil, coconut feni, green chilies, peppers, onion and salt.
With the amount of spices available to be used in just one cuisine, it is obvious that there are would be a great deal of variety of curries available. Indeed, you can have curries in the form of a dal or a vegetable too. This means that the range for making curries is further enhanced.
It also must be pointed out that there is a big difference between curry (saalan) and a qorma. A qorma tends to be thicker or viscous while a saalan is more watery. The spice in these differs too with qormas normally being hotter. This is why qormas are normally consumed with a salad or a raita. The curd in the raita acts a neutralizer right through your meal. It allows you enjoy the spice and at the same time cools your palate down.
Curries (saalan are normally consumed with rice but can also be eaten with chapatti. On the other hand we have qormas that are hardly ever consumed with rice because of the richness of the qorma masala. Also, qormas won’t have particular things that saalans have, and this refers to the presence of potatoes for instance. In saalans you will have potatoes almost always.
Indeed, one can see from the description of curries above that there are several variations and styles in which curries are cooked, and it is up to you what you like best.
== Preparing Curry ==
Preparing a curry is a matter of practice for people who do it regularly enough. Indeed, that is how a person becomes an expert in cooking. If you want to be an expert at preparing curries, you need to prepare them regularly and also prepare a wide variety of them.
In order to prepare a curry, there are several things that you need to do. If you are cooking meats, vegetables or fish, you need to have certain things in mind. This is because of the fact that there are particular important preparation steps to consider. Indeed, these steps must be followed carefully if you want the outcome to be good.
In making a curry, you first of all need to know whether the meat being used is supposed to be marinated or seasoned. If it does require marinating, you need to set it aside first before preparing the main curry portion.
After marinating the meat, you need to set to peeling ingredients like onions and potatoes. Once potatoes and onions are peeled they are placed in bowls of water separately. The potatoes remain more turgid this way until it is time for their use. The onions on the other hand reduce their fumes when soaked in water. The onions are taken and chopped finely. These chopped onions are dropped into a vessel that has a measured quantity of oil heating inside it. The onions begin to brown and you need to keep stirring the lot until they are sufficiently golden brown.
While the onions are browning, you need to make sure that the other ingredients are prepared, such as the tomatoes that are very important for making the curry material. Without tomatoes you would not be able to develop a curry effectively. Also, onions are integral as well to the process though garlic is an alternative.
However, once the onions are browned, you can drop in your marinated meat along with the required number of sliced tomatoes. Alternatively, tomatoes may be put through a blender and made into a paste along with other ingredients before pouring them into the cooking meat.
Preparing a curry for any dish is a matter of being familiar with the dish because it is the timing involved that is very important. If your timing I not correct when you add in ingredients the taste of your curry might not turn out as it should.
== Cooking Curry ==
Cooking curries can be an interesting experience. It is one that can lead you in to creating your kinds of curries based on what kind of taste you would like to develop. However, for the time being you can tryout cooking a curry. Yes, this is a simple dish and it is something you could even experiment with at home. The recipe tat we will look at here is Chicken Curry. This is one of the favorites in Asia, and it easy to cook, as there are no complicated steps involved. The following includes the ingredients required for cooking chicken curry as well as the methods involved.
== Storing Curry ==
Curries are like other cooked foods. If they are not stored properly, they will go bad. Therefore, you need to know exactly how to store them. Curries tend to last several days when kept in a refrigerator. However, the cooling has to be sufficient as well. Curries may go bad even if they are refrigerated, and can only last for a few days. This is because of the contents in it that can easily start rotting. However, if curries are kept in a freezer and are frozen rock solid, you can keep them for several days.
In order to keep them in a freezer or even in the refrigerator, you need to store the curry in an appropriate container. Usually, glass is thought to be the best material to store them in. However, stainless steel will do just fine as well. This is because it is almost a non-reactive substance with curries, and so is glass. In contrast to using glass or stainless steel, many people tend to use plastic. Plastic is good too. However, plastic may leave a particular order in a curry. Therefore glass should be chosen over plastic for storing food substances.
In order to store curries in a fridge, you may be able to keep them there without them going bad quickly if they are acidic. This is because the acidic properties prevent this from happening. Another point that you need to focus on here is that different foods last for different lengths of time in a refrigerator.
Also, it has been noted that there are foods that do not go bad as a whole. Some curries stay fresh but some parts of them do not really taste that good after a few days. Therefore, if you need to store a curry for a few days, it is better to freeze it solid. This will help to retain its taste when it is warmed up again.
One point to note is that when curries have been warmed up again after being frozen for a significant period, you should not try and store it gain. This is because it is almost certain to go bad, and you might as well get rid of it.
Storing curries also needs to be done in an airtight container so that it does not get to it and also so that it does not leak out. After all curries are quite fluid.
== Curry Nutrition ==
Nutrition is always a significant point that comes about at some point no matter what food you eat. Many questions have been asked regarding the nutrition curries. Why is it nutritious and how is nutritious? Some believe that it is not nutritious. However, it can be argued: how is it possible for it not to be nutritious when it uses the same food substances we eat in other meals except that it has more spices in it. Perhaps people disregard the capability of spices and peppers.
It must be realized that according to recent research, peppers of different kinds of spices have been found to have different kinds of properties that you find surprising. Some of these are thought to prevent deadly diseases. However, with what confirmed research answers we do have in our hands, we can at least say that at the very least, healthy food substances are included in curries. Foods like potatoes and meats are certainly healthy, and they form a major part of such curries cooked in Asia. Also, the oils that have been used in recipes presented are also for health conscious people. Indeed, the use of vegetable oil is encouraged tremendously.
The spices used are thought to have particular effects on the body. If cloves have been used you could say that it would help in strengthening your teeth of removing toothaches. Also cardamom is another spice that is thought t have medicinal properties. Indeed, people suffering for respiratory tract and stomach infections have been relieved after using cardamom.
In addition to the above research findings and beliefs into what these spices can do for us, there is more work still being carried out. However, it can be asserted that with the different spices, fruits and vegetables that are used in curries, nutrition still enters your body. Perhaps it is a difficult task to prove which food does what, but it can be argued that nutritious food substances do not lose their food value and nutrition just because they are cooked with chili peppers.
Finally, on the part of Asians and all those that consume curries, you are most likely to get arguments from them in total support of the nutrition that curries provide. Indeed, it is fair to say that there is a significant amount of nutrition in curries, and the amount of food that is present can only reveal the nutrition level.
=== Curry Nutritional Research ===
Regarding the food value of curries, it can be said that research over a period of time has revealed significant results in favor of curries. It is thought that there are significant food substances being used in curries, which means that the nutrition from those foods are retained and are not burned away. Though it has been publicly said tat curries are hot spicy foods with much nutrition it is not true.
In addition to this, if it were not true, there is one important thing that has been given importance in recent times, and that is the consideration for the effects of using hot peppers and spices in curries. It has not been premised that hot chili peppers and spices in curries are thought to prevent several forms of cancer. However, the accuracy of these arguments cannot really be proven until more detailed research is conducted.
Certainly with such views regarding the possibility of cancer prevention and cures for other diseases, curries might really be good. However, there is more time needed for research to be conducted.
Indeed, it would be exciting to learn some day soon that curries are of significant importance in the world not because of its taste but because of its ingredients that have the ability to cure people of deadly diseases.
== Curry Recipes ==
Category:Indian Food Glossary
Category:Pakistani Food Glossary