Indian Food Myths

In India, there is no such thing as a curry. The word is of English origin, based on the Tamil word ‘kari’ meaning black pepper, and is a term used to denote all kinds of Indian dishes, particularly those in a sauce. Dishes in India are named either for the combination of spices used (rogan josh), for the cooking method (korma, biryani, do piaza), or for their main ingredients (saag, aloo gobi). Curry powder does not exist within India, the closest equivalent being masala (spice mix). There are hundreds of masala combinations. In northern India, they tend to be dry mixtures using ground spices such as garam masala and in the southern areas, wet ones, such as coconut masala, using fresh spices. Indian food is not universally hot. Some dishes contain lots of chillies, others none at all.