# What makes a dish "a curry"? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [April 6, 2019, 8:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-makes-a-dish-a-curry/832143 "2019-04-06T20:55:03Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2019, 11:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-makes-a-dish-a-curry/832143/61 "2019-04-08T11:29:13Z")
> [@Acsenray](#): > > It depends on what you mean by “scoop.” Using proper Indian form, you don’t scoop from below like you’re using a spoon, you use the piece of bread in a pincer motion from above. Yes, like that. Not sure it would really work from below. Perhaps “pinch” would be a better word. ---
**Author:** ![bordelond](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bordelond/32/150_2.png) [@bordelond](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bordelond)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2019, 2:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-makes-a-dish-a-curry/832143/62 "2019-04-08T14:52:06Z")
Reading through this thread, and the various mentions of curry dishes from India and curry dishes from SE Asian nations like Thailand … it makes me wonder if Burmese cuisine – presumably being at a crossroads between India and Thailand – is not a potential sleeping giant among world cuisines. ---
**Author:** ![Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e19adc/32.png) [@Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2019, 3:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-makes-a-dish-a-curry/832143/63 "2019-04-08T15:11:57Z")
> [@Ukulele\_Ike](#): > > … I am ONLY SERVING BASMATI RICE… THERE. ARE. FOUR. RICE! Basmati and Arborio and wild and the kind you don’t eat. [/picard] ---
**Author:** ![CairoCarol](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cairocarol/32/3825_2.png) [@CairoCarol](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CairoCarol)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2019, 3:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-makes-a-dish-a-curry/832143/64 "2019-04-08T15:24:12Z")
> [@Barbarian](#): > > THERE. ARE. FOUR. RICE! > Basmati and Arborio and wild and the kind you don’t eat. > > [/picard] Hurray, a chance to nitpick and demonstrate that I’m really a Doper! Wild rice isn’t actually rice: [Wild rice is not actually rice – true or false? If you said ‘true’, you would be correct! Because of the various names, people think it is a type of rice. Wild rice is neither rice nor a grain, even though it is called rice and is most often consumed the same way as both rice and grains. It is actually a grass, from the aquatic grass seed Zizania.](http://cathyormon.com/food-focus-blogs-about-specific-foods/wild-rice-is-not-actually-rice-true-or-false/) ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2019, 3:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-makes-a-dish-a-curry/832143/65 "2019-04-08T15:37:35Z")
Jasmine rice is the one you were looking for ---
**Author:** ![Sangahyando](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f14d63/32.png) [@Sangahyando](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sangahyando)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2019, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-makes-a-dish-a-curry/832143/66 "2019-04-08T16:34:14Z")
> [@bordelond](#): > > Reading through this thread, and the various mentions of curry dishes from India and curry dishes from SE Asian nations like Thailand … it makes me wonder if Burmese cuisine – presumably being at a crossroads between India and Thailand – is not a potential sleeping giant among world cuisines. From the fairly few recipes from Burma which I’ve seen: it would appear that prominent in the national cuisine, are spicy soups / broths (fish, and chicken, varieties) – reckoned worthy of appearing in curry-devoted cookbooks. Also, idiosyncratic pork curries (sometimes, pork plus sour mango). And Burmese cuisine seems to be big on the “robust” local shrimp paste (balachaung). I’m looking at a brief visit to Burma this coming December – interest, in anticipation, re how local food might be found to be. ---
**Author:** ![DSYoungEsq](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/c6cbf5/32.png) [@DSYoungEsq](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSYoungEsq)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2019, 5:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-makes-a-dish-a-curry/832143/67 "2019-04-08T17:03:35Z")
> [@Telemark](#): > > To curry favor, favor curry. P. D. Q. Bach, “The Seasonings” 😃 ---
**Author:** ![wolfman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/a8b319/32.png) [@wolfman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfman)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2019, 11:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-makes-a-dish-a-curry/832143/68 "2019-04-09T23:48:11Z")
> [@CairoCarol](#): > > Wild rice is not actually rice… It is actually a grass, from the aquatic grass seed Zizania. That is phrased kind of weird on that site, since rice, along with the other cereal grains, _is_ a grass too. So that’s not exactly a decisive counterpoint. ---
**Author:** ![Melbourne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b5e925/32.png) [@Melbourne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Melbourne)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2019, 1:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-makes-a-dish-a-curry/832143/69 "2019-04-10T01:44:53Z")
> [@Ukulele\_Ike](#): > > Yeah, just keep flaunting your superior bread skills in my face. One of my old books suggested that learning to use bread properly was like learning to use cutlery (silverware) properly. Both because of the sticky fingers, and because of the social implications. > [@Johanna](#): > > As for curry powder, that’s a British invention. There’s a Brit TV doco / reality TV show where they are recreating life from history, and they are cooking from original recipes, using original techniques. And they’ve made up a curry dish, using spices. And the result is a curry that tastes like it’s made with curry powder 🙂 The English had settled on what kind of flavours they liked in their curry before it became available as a pre-mix. ---
**Author:** ![Pardel-Lux](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pardel-lux/32/20182_2.png) [@Pardel-Lux](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pardel-Lux)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2019, 6:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-makes-a-dish-a-curry/832143/70 "2019-04-10T18:00:43Z")
> [@Barbarian](#): > > THERE. ARE. FOUR. RICE! > Basmati and Arborio and wild and the kind you don’t eat. > > [/picard] Paella is made with none of those. Paella is edible and yummy. Therefore your statement is erroneous. Sushi rice is also great and not included in your list. Paella is preferably made with bomba, J. Sendra, Bahía, Sénia or calasparro rice. Only when abroad (as seen from Spain, of course) and unable to find those you resort to using vialone nano, carnaroli or arborio. [Cite](http://blog.paellerosypaelleras.com/arroz-para-paella/tipos-de-arroz-receta-paella/). When in utter desperation you may even make paella with sushi rice. If your guests are not Spanish and have little clue and you do **not stir** at all, they may not notice. ---
**Author:** ![ashtayk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e68b1a/32.png) [@ashtayk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ashtayk)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2019, 4:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-makes-a-dish-a-curry/832143/71 "2019-04-12T16:07:55Z")
> [@Johanna](#): > > Curry leaves (_Murraya koenegii_) are a completely different thing, as **TriPolar** noted. That word comes from Hindi कढ़ी _kaṛhī_, which is a type of yogurt sauce based on a roux of ghee and chickpea flour, in which fried chickpea dumplings are fricasseed. > > The resemblance between Tamil _kari_ and Hindi _kaṛhī_ is accidental. The leaves are called कढ़ी पत्ते _kaṛhī patte_ (_patte_ means ‘leaves’). > > To confuse things a bit, I have seen dried _Murraya koenegii_ (“curry”) leaves for sale in Indian groceries labeled करी पत्ते _karī patte_, which may represent a loan from the above-mentioned Tamil word. I guess. > > I got 34,000 Google hits for “कढ़ी पत्ते” and 85,900 for “करी पत्ते,” both referring to _Murraya koenegii_. I am not so sure that “कढ़ी पत्ते” is from the North Indian yogurt based dish called “कढ़ी”. Because the full Tamil name for these leaves is “kari-vepu-elai” translated as kari-neem-leaves. This is certainly logical given that the kari leaf plant is a type of neem plant. BTW -I always love your really detailed and well researched responses. ---
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2019, 6:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-makes-a-dish-a-curry/832143/72 "2019-04-13T06:24:53Z")
I’m not sure about the Hindi naming of the leaves at all. Why they use two different names that almost sound alike, one of which is a North Indian yogurt-based dish. In Hindustani the name for a curry dish is सालन سالن _sālan_. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-makes-a-dish-a-curry/832143.md?page=3)