15 Facts You Probably Didn’t Know About Curry

Who doesn’t like a good curry? It is the most popular Indian dish outside of India, but calling it a dish would actually be a huge understatement. Curry is a sauce prepared with a mixture of spices (usually including chillies), with addition of fish, veggies, meat, paneer, and really anything you can come up with. Because curries are so versatile specific curry dishes or types of curry have their own names. Hey, curries can even be sweet! If you think that’s awesome, wait till you read these 15 facts about curry.

There are up to 60 ingredients curries are made from, all of which vary according region, state, and tradition. A typical curry usually includes cardamom, coriander, fennel, cloves, nutmeg, cinnamon, and of course chili pepper.

In Indian menus you’ll usually find the world ‘masala’, which simply means ‘spices’. Similarly, in Western menus the word ‘curry’ is used to signify a dish prepared with a variety of spices.

Black cardamom, also known as the Queen of Spices, is a necessary ingredient in all Indian curries.

The word curry comes from ‘kari’, which means ‘sauce’ in Tamil language. The term became largely used outside of India after the East India Company came in contact with the Tamil people in Chennai.

The word ‘curry’ can actually mean a few things: a mix of spices, the saucy dish we all love so much, or simply curry leaves, which are vastly used in Indian cuisine as well.