Curry

Curry is a dish with a sauce or gravy seasoned with spices, mainly derived from the interchange of Indian cuisine with European taste in food, starting with the Portuguese, followed by the Dutch and British, and then thoroughly internationalised.

During the British Raj, Anglo-Indian cuisine developed, leading to Hannah Glasse's 18th century recipe for "currey the India way" in England.

In Britain, curry has become a national dish, with some types adopted from India, others modified or wholly invented, as with chicken tikka masala, created by British Bangladeshi restaurants in the 20th century.

[3] Other Dravidian languages, namely Malayalam (കറി kari, "hot condiments; meats, vegetables"[4]), Middle Kannada and Kodava, have similar words.

[5] Kaṟi is described in a 17th century Portuguese cookbook[6] 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".

[7] The first appearance in its anglicised form (spelt currey) was in Hannah Glasse's 1747 book The Art of Cookery Made Plain and Easy.

[11][12] 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.

Using starch grain analysis, archaeologists identified the residue of these spices in both skeletons and pottery shards from excavations in India, finding that turmeric and ginger were present.

Another influence was the establishment of the Portuguese trading centre in Goa in 1510, resulting in the introduction of chili peppers, tomatoes and potatoes to India from the Americas, as a byproduct of the Columbian Exchange.

[23] In 1598, an English translation of a Dutch book about travel in the East Indies mentioned a "somewhat sour" broth called Carriel, eaten with rice.

For instance, a quarama from Lucknow contained (among other ingredients) ghee, yoghurt, cream, crushed almonds, cloves, cardamom, and saffron; whereas an 1869 Anglo-Indian quorema or korma, "different in substance as well as name",[29] had no cream, almonds, or saffron, but it added the then-standard British curry spices, namely coriander, ginger, and black peppercorns.

[29][30] Curry, initially understood as "an unfamiliar set of Indian stews and ragouts",[31] had become "a dish in its own right, created for the British in India".

[31] 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.

[25] Outside the Indian subcontinent, a curry is a dish from Southeast Asia which uses coconut milk and spice pastes, and is commonly eaten over rice.

[37] Dry curries are cooked using small amounts of liquid, which is allowed to evaporate, leaving the other ingredients coated with the spice mixture.

The spices chosen for a dish are freshly ground and then fried in hot oil or ghee to create a paste.

[56] Its spread across the country is attributed to its use in the Japanese Army and Navy which adopted it extensively as convenient field and naval canteen cooking, allowing even conscripts from the remotest countryside to experience the dish.

[57] The standard Japanese curry contains onions, carrots, potatoes, and sometimes celery, and a meat that is cooked in a large pot.

Malaysian curries have many varieties, but are often flavoured with cumin, cinnamon, turmeric, coconut milk, shallots, chili peppers, and garlic.

[71] Indian Indonesian cuisine consists of adaptations of authentic dishes from India, as well as original creations inspired by the diverse food culture of Indonesia.

[72] In Javanese cuisine, kare rajungan, blue swimmer crab curry has become a delicacy of Tuban Regency, East Java.

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.

South African curries appear to have been created in both KwaZulu-Natal and the Western Cape, while others developed across the country over the late 20th and early 21st centuries to include ekasi, coloured, and Afrikaner varieties.

The method of serving the curry was created because apartheid forbade black people from eating in Indian restaurants; the loaves could speedily be taken away and eaten in the street.

Lamb Madras curry
Hannah Glasse 's recipe for "currey the India way", first published in her 1747 book The Art of Cookery Made Plain and Easy . It is the first known use of the word in English. (The recipe uses the long s, "ſ" ).
Origin and spread of curry around the world. Mild spices were traded between India and East Asia from 5000 BCE. [ 11 ] The Columbian Exchange brought chili peppers to India. [ 18 ] Anglo-Indian food came to Britain in the 17th century. [ 17 ] The word "curry" was first recorded in print in Hannah Glasse 's 1747 English cookery book. [ 1 ] In the 19th century, curry spread to the Caribbean [ 19 ] and to Japan, [ 20 ] and from there to Chinese people, starting in Singapore. [ 21 ] Further migration and globalisation (not shown) made curry a fully international dish. [ 22 ]
Anglo-Indian cooks created what they called curry by selecting regional ingredients from all over British India using them in Indian dishes from other regions. Lizzie Collingham describes their taste as "eclectic", "pan-Indian", "lacking sophistication", embodying a "passion for garnishes", and forming a "coherent repertoire"; but it was eaten only by the British. Among their creations were kedgeree , and Madras curry , which were served with chutneys , pickles , Bombay duck , and poppadoms . [ 24 ]
Chicken tikka masala has been called Britain's national dish. [ 40 ]
Traditional karahi (left) and handi (right) serving dishes
Bunny chow , South Africa