There’s a kind of spice mix we call “curry powder” and it’s yellow. Curry powder is the flavor Americans associate with the word “curry.” For example, “chicken curry” would be chicken in a sauce flavored mainly by this spice mix. A lot of people don’t care for it. I have no idea what, if any, relation it has to spice mixes used in India.
The ingredients are: CORIANDER, FENUGREEK, TURMERIC, CUMIN, BLACK PEPPER, BAY LEAVES, CELERY SEED, NUTMEG, CLOVES, ONION, RED PEPPER, AND GINGER.
I completely disagree with this. Any American who has been to an Indian restaurant knows there are various types of curries. You’re making it sound (to me) like there is only one curry in America. This is not at all true. Where do you even get this prototypical curry? There is a dish that is generically referred to as, say, “chicken curry” on an Indian menu, but, depending on where you’re at, it has a range of interpretations. Some use hardly any turmeric; some use a lot so they’re glowing yellow/orange; some are quite soupy; others are drier, more pasty; some are more fragrant using more garam masala and spices like cardamom; others are more earthy. And so on and so forth.
When I hear an American say “I don’t like curry,” they generally mean they don’t like the various dishes that come under the catch-all term “curry.” Somebody who doesn’t like curry is probably not going to like makhani, korma, vindaloo, etc., because there is a certain spice profile in Indian food (mainly, the cumin and coriander) that is common between many types of curry. Now, not all of them contain cumin and coriander, but those are the two spices most associated with the flavor of “curry.”
ETA: I see you responded, and I have addressed some of the same points you have.
Right, and I’m saying YOU’RE wrong, “curry” as a general term for variously flavored sauces is a Britishism. Americans don’t know there are various types of curries because “curry” means one specific thing (barring modifying adjectives). They do know of course that there are many different kinds of Indian foods and that many are in a sauce.
See how the label says “curry powder”? As if it’s the only kind? Its understood that that specific spice mix is the flavor of “curry.” And lots of people don’t like “curry” (the flavor of the curry powder) but do like tikka masala, mahkni, chana masala, and many other Indian foods that taste completely different.
It’s not a specific spice mix. Look at the various curry powders in your store. They all have a different ingredient list. And my experience is quite different than yours. Folks that I know who don’t like the flavor of what they describe as “curry” don’t like tikka masala and chana masala and the such, because they still have that base flavor they associate with “curry.”
Edit. This is the menu of The Jackson Diner, a popular Indian restaurant located in an Indian neighborhood in New York City. Note how the menu does not use the term “curry” except to mean the same yellow-looking curry I’m talking about:
http://www.jacksondiner.com/menu.htm
NO. there is only one powder americans call “Curry powder.” There may be other indian spice mixes but they are NOT labeled “curry powder.” Curry powder is always the same, and not very popular.
Also, the point is this guy is complaining he doesn’t like curries in the US. Like I said, there is no generic American curry. If the guy is eating curry, he presumably is at an Indian restaurant, which is going to serve a wide range of dishes.
You are absolutely wrong.
For example, do you agree this is curry powder?
Ingredients: Cumin, Coriander, Fenugreek, Ginger, Turmeric, Dill Seed, Black Pepper, Red Pepper, Mace, Cardamom, Cloves
Seriously, go to a well-stocked store and see the various types of curry powder. I’m not even talking imported powders, just stuff that is made in America and labeled “curry.” It is most assuredly not a single standard ingredient list.
Penzey’s disagrees with you, as do I. While I would agree that uninformed cooks think the yellow “curry powder” found in supermarkets is what curry is all about, saying that ALL Americans believe this is painting with a very large brush.
It is, but it’s not only that. McCormick’s isn’t the only spice brand out there at supermarkets. As I linked to above, there’s also Spice Islands (which is an upmarket version), plus you have your cheapie brands like Spice It! and Centrella (I assume there are fairly regional) and other generic-type or store brands. They usually have something called “Curry Powder” or “Curry.” Their ingredients will be different than McCormick’s. Or look at Alton Brown’s recipe for “curry powder”. Different yet again. But, still, that coriander and cumin are a common thread, and those are the flavors I find people who don’t like curry seem to react most to (or some of the more fragrant ones like cardamom, but cardamom isn’t quite as common.)
Regardless, as I said above, it shouldn’t matter, as the guy from the UK who spent 12 years here is probably not exclusively having “chicken curry” made with McCormick’s curry powder. I wouldn’t even know where to get such a chicken curry. Presumably, that guy is going to South Asian restaurants and is noticing some difference between their curries and the curries back home in the UK.
No, I am not saying ALL Americans think there is only one kind of indian food, I am saying MOST Americans think that “curry” refers to something specific. Most of those people also don’t know what the hell 80% of what Penzey’s sells, is.
And I have never heard an American use “curry” as a catchall for all sauced Indian food, except someone very exposed to British culture. I could provide countless links to the menus of Indian restaurants, none use “curry” in the British way. It just isn’t an Americanism.
That’s the Curry Powder found lined up with the other “American” spices. In the South, it’s often used for Chicken Curry–essentially, chicken in a creamy sauce, served over rice. This was a mainstay before any “real” Indians moved down here & can be quite tasty. Or add a pinch to chicken salad, made with white meat, a mayo-based sauce and, maybe, pecans.
But we’ve diversified! Even mainstream grocery stores will have some specialized spice mixes–different curry powders & those handy preparations in packets. And we’ve got specialized shops run by the different ethnicities. Who also run restaurants if we don’t feel like cooking…
Let’s hear it for big cities!
Yellow or golden curry is traditionally sold as just ‘curry powder’ here in the US by spice brands like McCormick. It’s certainly not the only form of curry available or known here. In England all Indian food is called ‘curry’. Going out for ‘curry’ or ‘currys’ would mean going out for Indian food in the UK. Other than that, in cooking terms, curry is any mix of seasonings traditionally used in Asian cooking and called curry. It could be almost anything.
Most may, but I’m saying that there are a wide variety of foods and spice preparations that fall generically under “curry” in the US or get labeled on menus as “curry,” when they are, in fact, quite different. There is no one generic American “curry” (well, except maybe the Southern prep Bridget Burke mentioned–somehow, I doubt the UKer was talking about that.)
Put it this way: I’ve tried to get people who don’t like Indian food to try things like korma, makhani, palak paneer, rogan josh, etc. They all have complained to me about the curry taste, or simply said “I don’t like curry.” They may not use it in the sense of “going out for a curry,” but there is a generic flavor profile that Americans identify with Indian food that tends to be labeled as “curry,” whether they know how different the dishes are or not. As I posited above, I believe it’s the cumin and coriander and possibly fragrant spices that lead to this labeling.
Thanks for starting this thread. Indian restaurants are great and all, but it would be fun to try it at home sometime.
It is hard to get the same exact flavoring as Indian restaurants. In fact, the closest I’ve come is using stuff like Patak’s pastes. I find that restaurant Indian tends to be a lot heavier/fattier than home-cooked Indian, whether I make it myself, or have a meal at an Indian friend or acquaintance’s home. That said, I tend to prefer the somewhat lighter aspect of a homemade Indian meal, in addition to its more intense fragrance (from freshly toasted and ground spices.)
But don’t expect to cook something that is exactly like what you get from the local Indian restaurant.
Curry is a British dish and not an Indian dish, and I don’t particularly like curry.
As to recipe books, I like Madhur Jaffrey myself, though there are a lot of British Indian terms. I had to look up what an “aubergine” was, amongst other things. And the measurements are all in metric. No biggie, just FYI.
The problem with home-cooked Indian food, as pulykamell, is at home you will use low fat cream or healthier alternatives, less oil, and it just won’t come out as delicious. Still, that doesn’t mean it’s not good food and you can’t make it enjoyable. Lamb especially cooks wonderfully and you can pick your own cuts unlike the restaurant which is usually very fatty.
I keep hearing this, and I don’t know exactly what it is supposed to mean. “Curry” represents a panoply of Indian stews in the UK. Yes, there are some that originated there (like Madras curry, phall, tindaloo, balti, and tikka masala–although there is some argument about the origins of these, with possibly having actual South Asian roots) but there are others that are clearly named after dishes from the subcontinent. Yes, there is usually an item on the menu called plain ol’ “curry,” but I haven’t seen any consistency as to what exactly it is, and it seems to vary a lot based on whoever’s making it and where they’re from.
Well, there you have it. 
Seriously, I don’t know exactly what it means either. All I know is the dish called “curry” in America is not a good dish. It’s not authentic, which I don’t normally care about, but it’s not good.
And the thing in Hindi called “Kadi” is different too.
Maybe Ascenray knows better. He’s all smart and stuff.
Americans don’t use the term “a curry” to mean some generic Indian dish in the way that Brits do. Brits mean by the term “going out for a curry” that they are going to get Indian food. Americans don’t say this. No American talks about Indian food in that way. It may be true, as Lust4Life’s friend said, that on the average Indian food in the U.K. is better than that in the U.S. That certainly wouldn’t be surprising, given that in proportion to the population there are more Indian restaurants in the U.K. than in the U.S. Nobody in the U.S. would talk about comparing “curries” between the U.S. and the U.K. Most Americans know little or nothing about Indian food. Those that do know about it tend to think of it as a large group of specific dishes with specific names. This is why calling some random Indian dish just “a curry” will confuse an American.