Curry

A curry is a dish of meat, fish, vegetables or legumes cooked with spices, usually in a sauce. The word was spread by the British and covers a huge range of dishes from India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Japan, the Caribbean and more. Each has its own spices, fats and liquids, so no single recipe is "the" curry.

How to do it

Most South Asian style curries follow the same base steps.

1. Heat oil or ghee and fry whole spices, such as cumin seeds or cardamom pods, for 30 seconds. This blooms them.
2. Add chopped onion and cook slowly until deep golden, 10 to 15 minutes. This sets the base flavor.
3. Add garlic, ginger and chili, and cook until fragrant, about 1 minute.
4. Add ground spices with a splash of water so they do not burn. Cook for 1 to 2 minutes.
5. Add tomatoes and cook until the oil starts to separate from the paste at the edges.
6. Add the main ingredient and liquid such as water, stock, coconut milk or yogurt. Simmer until cooked through.
7. Finish with garam masala, fresh herbs, or a squeeze of lemon.

Thai curries start differently: a curry paste is fried in coconut cream, then the rest of the coconut milk goes in.

Common mistakes

• Rushing the onions. Pale onions give a thin, sharp sauce.
• Burning ground spices. They turn bitter in seconds in hot dry oil.
• Boiling yogurt. It splits. Stir it in off the heat or with the heat low.
• Adding garam masala at the start. Its aroma fades with long cooking.

In recipes

"Curry powder" is a ready-made spice blend, mostly a British and Western invention. "Curry leaves" are a separate herb used in South Indian cooking and have nothing to do with the powder. Many recipe titles use "curry" for any spiced stew. Dal is often served with it, along with rice or flatbread.