Curry is a distinctively spiced dish which is common in Indian cuisine but is found in the cuisine of many countries.
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It originates from the Tamil word curry meaning various kinds of dishes common in South India made with vegetables or meat and usually eaten with rice. To most people in the west, however, curry is what you might eat in a Indian restaurant or curry house. Well-known dishes include Korma, Madras, Vindaloo, Butter Chicken and Rogan Josh. Curry is often acompanied by breads like naan, roti or popadums.
In Indian cuisine, curry is a sauce - sometimes considered a soup - made by stirring yoghurt into a roux of ghee (clarified butter) and besan (chick pea flour). The spices added vary, but usually include turmeric and black mustard seed.
In English cuisine, the word curry denotes a dish flavored with curry powder, usually roasted until it turns fairly dark. This is especially true for non-vegetarian dishes. There is Lamb Curry, Chicken Curry, Beef Curry and so on.
English Indian restaurants have developed the Curry to such a level that it has become an integral part of English Cuisine. Some Indian food is actually exported from the United Kingdom to India and there was an instance of an Englishman asking for a local curry to be sent to Australia (which has also taken to the curry with enthusiasm).
English curries are generally arranged by strengths that roughly follow the order below in terms of strength (going from mild to very hot indeed):
Curries around the world
Also England has been the home of two Indian dishes that are now becoming more familiar worldwide, namely Chicken Tikka Massala and the Balti (which is a curry designed to be eaten with a large naan bread).
In the late 1990s, chicken tikka masala was commonly referred to as the "English national dish", being apparently the single commonest dish in the country, available (albeit in frozen, microwavable form) on intercity rail trains, and even used as a pizza topping.
Curries are not confined to India and the United Kingdom, English style curry restaurants are common and increasingly popular in Australia and New Zealand. Other countries have their own varietys of curry, well know examples include:
Thickeners
Spices
Sour ingredients
Fresh Herbs and Spices
Curry powder aka Massala Powder is a spice mixture of widely varying composition developed by the British during their colonial rule of India as a means of approximating the taste of Indian cuisine at home. Massala means Sauce, 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.
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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. They must be used fresh, as they lose their delicate flavor when dried.