John's introduction to CURRY
Curry devotees may find much of this old hat; it is aimed more at those who wish to make a new adventure into Indian cuisine.
Interestingly, most "Indian" restaurants do not have the word "Indian" in their name.
The culinary area covered is Indo-Pakistan, which can be taken to include Bangladesh (and the staff of an "Indian" restaurant are quite likely to be Bangladeshi).
This is not just one small region, but the whole sub-continent of India, stretching from the steaming heat of the south extending northwards to the snowline in the foothills of the Himalayas. It's not surprising there is a wide range of dishes to be found. For example, in coastal areas, fish would play a large part of the diet, but in central and northern areas, sea-food would be practically unknown.
Dishes available in Western countries tend to be rather a small sub-set; selected on the basis of what ingredients are available locally, what dishes can be presented to table in an acceptably short time, and an arbitrary concept of what dishes will be found edible by Westerners! There are also significant regional variations within the UK as to interpretation of these dishes.
How incendiary are curries?
It is a popular myth that Indian curries are devastatingly hot, but this is not necessarily so. To be sure, some of them certainly are; but there are yet others which are the very opposite: mild, creamy, and even slightly sweet.
I've attempted to graphically depict a range of curries in the "Curry Map" below: increasing hotness upward, and mildness downwards. Moving to the right signifies increasing spiceyness; but several dishes have a taste which I associate more with herbs than spices, and these are shown on the left (and the eagle-eyed will spot that a couple have lots of both herbs and spices!)
Note that there is a great variation of the spelling of many words:-- there is no one standard way of transliterating them in to the Roman alphabet. I've tried to use an "average" spelling; this includes several cases of a silent 'h'.
To start in the middle: "Madras" is probably the most well-known dish; this (depending on the chef) may be anywhere between "medium-hot" to "definitely hot". A similar dish is "Ceylon": lemon juice and coconut powder give a slightly sharper taste than the rather ordinary Madras. Another dish in the "medium hot" league is "Pathia": this has many more spices in than Madras or Ceylon, with some of the hot capsicum omitted to leave room for all these extra flavours (thoroughly recommended IMHO).
If you've galvanized your stomach-lining against Madras/Ceylon, you will be interested in the next two: "Vindaloo" and "Pall" (or Phall). Vindaloo with strong pepper and red cloves is gingery-hot and includes potatoes (the "aloo" part of its name); the ridiculously-hot Pall is available in most restaurants, but often deliberately left off the menu to reduce the risk of a curry-novice ordering it by mistake! If you are new to hot curries, don't start with a Vindaloo, and don't allow "friends" to order one for you! If you're being adventurous with a hotter-than-your-usual curry, and want to play safe, order some "Raitha" which is chilled yoghurt containing shredded cucumber (or onion), and is the perfect (and only known) antidote to a mouth on fire!
"Korma" is another well-known dish: utterly mild, creamy with a hint of almonds, and not much else; absolutely safe for a total novice. But the next time, do try something a little less bland: "Jeera" is flavoured with cumin, and "Makhon" uses chicken Tikka (marinated in spices before cooking) and ginger. For a sweeter and fruitier flavour to these creamy dishes, try "Kashmir" (with bananas), "Malayan" (pineapple), "Dildar" (pineapple and coconut), "Reshmi" (mango and lychee), or "Muglai" (bananas and lychees).
In between those last two groups are those with tasty spices, but not much hotness: "Rogon" with tomatoes, black pepper, and garlic, and "Bhuna" which is very spicy like Pathia but even less hot.
There are then a group where the flavour strikes me as being due more to herbs than spices:
"Dupiaza" with lashings of fried onions, "Sagwalla" with spinach, and "Methi" flavoured with fenugreek. "Dansak", with lentils, could also come in this category, but it's got a few nice spices too (so it appears twice in the "Curry Map"); its taste is difficult to describe -- some menus say it's "sweet and sour", and I've also seen it described as both "mild" and "hot" in the same menu! So it's a "try it and see" job!
There are further ones in this "herby" group which are not strictly "curries" in that they are not cooked in their sauce, but in a special dish which gives them their name, such as "Korai" (and the similar "Ada") where Tikka (marinated) chicken (or meat) comes with onion and green peppers and herbs in a sauce. A variant is "Jalfrezy" or "Mirch" which has slightly less of the onions and peppers, but adds some rather dangerous pieces of neat green chillies!
A dish gaining in popularity is "Balti": this is really the name for a shallow metal dish. In some cases, you merely get one of the regular curries, but served differently; but in the better examples they have everything a Korai has got, plus loads of spices as well, which lift it up to the "hot" bracket.
Not all dishes are curries
Rice and Biriani
The natural accompaniment to a curry is some rice: you can have plain boiled rice, Basmoti Pilau rice, fried rice, or various offerings of "special" rice (usually fried or pilau, with extras added such as peas or mushrooms).
As an alternative to a modest curry with fancy rice, you can have a "Biriani" where the main ingredients (meat or chicken etc and the spices and rosewater to give a delicate flavour) are cooked along with the rice, and that dish is served accompanied by a simple (and mild) vegetable curry sauce.
Tandoori
A "tandoor" is a high-temperature oven, traditionally clay-lined and charcoal-fired. This seals in the flavour of the chicken or meat that has already been marinated in yoghurt and spices. The basic (and popular) tandoori dish is "Tikka", but there are others such as "Shaslik" (with onions and peppers on a kebab-skewer); and also those with a sauce added afterwards, such as the creamy sweet and spicy "Masala", and the cream and wine "Passanda", and "Hasina".
The natural accompaniment to a Tandoori or Tikka is a Naan bread, available as plain, or fancy:
"Stuffed" with vegetables, or "Keema" (minced meat), "Peshwari" (nuts) or "Kashmiri" (fruit).
Side dishes
Many of these are called "Bhaji", which actually only means "fried".
They may be given their indigenous names, such as: Aloo (potatoes), Bhindi (okra, ladies' fingers), Brinjal (aubergine), Dall (lentils), Ghobi (cauliflower), Kumbi (mushrooms), Matar (peas), Saag (spinach); "Shobzi Bahar" means mixed vegetables, and "Bombay Aloo" is distinctly spicy-hot potatoes.
More funny words
Batak (duck), Bater (quail), Boal (a strange fish), Chingri (shrimps), Gosht (meat; invariably lamb), Jingha (prawn), Khari (sauce; and the origin of the word "curry"), Kofta (meat balls), Mass (Trout), Murgh (chicken), Nargis (boiled egg), Paneer (cheese), Pomfret (another strange fish), Shahi (special).
Variations
In a small number of cases, it is feasible to ask for a curry to be made hotter or milder than usual: this is particularly true for the sauce accompanying a Biriani, which is usually very mild, but can be supplied in varying degrees of hotness if you ask. But most dishes can not easily be made milder or hotter than they would normally be.
There's no point in asking for "a hot Korma" because the cream in it will neutralise any added pepper or chilli; but there are plenty of alternatives to Korma to choose from. Similarly, "a mild Vindaloo" is a contradiction in terms; but if it's the combination of meat and potatoes that you're really after, see if the menu includes "Aloo Gosht" which is just that, or try a simpler curry accompanied by a side dish of Bombay Potatoes.
Vegetarians
Since many of the dishes actually eaten in the Indian sub-continent will frequently contain little or no meat, it is not surprising that there will always be many meatless dishes on a restaurant's menu. All the curries described will be available as "Vegetable" as well as "Chicken" or "Meat". Some restaurants specialise in vegetarian dishes; and some will offer "main-course" variants of their vegetable side dishes, or make one up from two or more. Most curry-type dishes are cooked either in "Ghee" (clarified butter) or vegetable oil; a Vegan might wish to ascertain which.
What to drink
If you want some wine, a simple dish or a mild Biriani might go well with whatever wine your palate likes. But the wine list is unlikely to include anything full-bodied enough to stand up to the hotter dishes!
Beer is therefore a popular choice; but even then, I doubt the wisdom of pouring half a gallon of cold lager into a stomach that isn't too sure about the unusual spices just eaten!
You could "go native" and just have water; those who abhor alcohol-free dining could always have an aperitif before or a liqueur after (and the sweetness of the latter is very good at stabilising the tastebuds after a hot curry).
Footnotes
All of the above is inevitably subjective. There are bound to be lots of things I've missed out, for example I've said nothing about starters or sweets, and very little about breads; and many dishes will vary depending on the chef.
If you spot any potentially life-threatening errors, please email me at john@protovale.co.uk.
Much of the diligent research for this Scientific Paper was painstakingly carried out at the
Zubeida Tandoori Restaurant, Oxford Rd, Cowley, Oxford, England: 01865 777402/718300
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19th Feb 1999