FUNDRAISER for BRIANA RAFFLE PRIZES WHO'S BIDDING FOR WHAT

May

22

The Alchemy of Curry

May 22, 2008 |

This is a guest post by acclaimed cookbook author, chef and instructor Raghavan Iyer.

His latest book 660 Curries: The Gateway to Indian Cooking is an encyclopedia of recipes garnered from home kitchens in the Indian subcontinent and across the Indian diaspora. In it he explores “curry”, its components and variations.

We were delighted when he agreed to write this post for us despite his very hectic work and travel schedules.

THE ALCHEMY OF CURRY

by Raghavan Iyer

My 21 years in India and 26 years in the United States (yes, if you are adding, I am 47 – isn’t this the new 30’s?) along with my experiences as a teacher, cookbook author, caterer, and tour leader have prepared me for authoring a book as significant as 660 Curries. This book encompasses India’s love affair with curry – It defines who we are!

Read review HERE.

The book traces the origin and evolution of this beloved dish through the various immigrant populations that settled in the Indian subcontinent. It presents recipes handed down through generations, many of them printed for the first time ever. It highlights the British Empire’s enthrallment with its flavors, carefully tracing the evolution of the anglicized “curry powder”. It clarifies rumors and myths that surround this often misconstrued word. It leads both, the casual and the vocational cook, through what constitutes a curry, its ingredients, techniques, spices, and herbs.

To find a true curry, especially one from my southern Indian roots, I didn’t have to look beyond my mother’s and grandmother’s kitchen. But to research India’s multi-regional offerings, I had to expand my horizons a bit—an expansion that took years to achieve, and that was punctuated with a degree in hotel and restaurant management and a stint as a chef at an Indian restaurant in the United States.

My growing curiosity of regional Indian cuisine led to a career as a cooking teacher and as a food writer, which provided a strong reason to delve into that multi-region research. I traveled extensively in India, knocking on doors of friends, extended family, acquaintances, and even total strangers.

I interviewed numerous folks (was even bitten by a stray dog) and invited myself, without an iota of shame, to their homes for meals. I pored through books, studied hundreds of sources, and put on eight pounds (which may not seem a lot to you, but on my wispy-thin body, it’s serious) – all in the name of research.

It’s a nasty job, but I was glad to be your sacrificial lamb. I sliced, stir-fried, stewed, steamed, and spiced hundreds of meals for over a year to arrive at this juncture in my curried expedition.

What Is a Curry?

Before I try to define that word, let me create an image for you from my college days in India, when I was pursuing a degree in chemistry. As I busied myself in the laboratory, I happened to knock a mercury thermometer onto the tile floor. Microscopic pieces of glass and droplets of liquid mercury dispersed, and I tried to pick up the pieces. The glass was easy, but not the mercury. The shining, silvery liquid was elusive (not to mention dangerous) and defied containment and form (we had no mercury spill kits back then). It moved freely with even the slightest nudge and affected everything it touched. Which brings me back to the task at hand: Defining curry is like trying to grasp liquid mercury and gather it into a neat pile.

It should come as no surprise to you (or maybe it does) that the word “curry” itself is unknown in the Indian vocabulary. It doesn’t appear in any of India’s twenty-three officially recognized languages and sixteen hundred dialects. Words like kari and kadhi refer to sauce-based or gravy-laden dishes that existed in India well before the Aryans got there – and with a civilization that spans 6,000 years, you can well imagine their longevity.

In England and the rest of the world, “curry” is the catchall word for anything Indian that is mottled with hot spices, with or without a sauce, and “curry powder” is the blend that delivers it. In keeping with my culture, I define a curry as any dish that consists of either meat, fish, poultry, legumes, vegetables, or fruits, simmered in or covered with a sauce, gravy, or other liquid that is redolent with spices and/or herbs.

In my India, curry is never added – it just is!

To make it easier to comprehend the constitution of curries, I stripped it down into the seven Asian taste elements of sour, salty, sweet, hot, umami, bitter, and astringent and added an aromatic component to comprise a flavor profile (chef mumbo jumbo).

To put it into perspective, all the ingredients we use (spices, legumes, meats, vegetables, dairy, herbs) to compose a curry falls neatly into one of those categories – but that neatness loses its clarity when you apply cooking techniques to them, changing their up-front quality to one that jumps taste boundaries.

In other words, curries and their flavors are dynamic. Here is a simple chart that empowers you to create your own curry.

ON THE MOVE: STREET FOOD IN INDIA

Assorted vegetable and paneer sandwich fritters on a street vendor’s cart in Old Delhi

Roasted peanuts and brown garbanzos await to be tossed at a Jaipur vendor’s stall with cilantro, onions, thin chickpea flour noodles (sev) and fresh squeezed lime

A confectioner piping out jalebis (akin to funnel cakes) at an open air market in Trichi

(Pictures by Raghavan Iyer, reproduced with his permission)

Raghavan Iyer majored in chemistry at Bombay University before moving to the U.S. 26 years ago. He went on to get a masters in Hotel, and Restaurant Management (Michigan State University) and has achieved acclaim as a cookbook author, culinary educator, and a co-founder of the Asian Culinary Arts Institutes.

In addition to 660 Curries, he has two critically acclaimed cookbooks, Betty Crocker’s Indian Home Cooking and The Turmeric Trail: Recipes and Memories from an Indian Childhood. As a culinary educator, he received the coveted 2004 International Association of Culinary Professionals’ Award of Excellence for Cooking Teacher of the Year, and was a Finalist for a 2005 James Beard Journalism Award. His work has featured in several leading publications like EatingWell Magazine, Fine Cooking, Cooking Light, Gastronomica, Weight Watchers Magazine, and Cooking Pleasures.

He lives in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

Raghavan Iyer’s Website
His blog

Related posts

, , , , , ,

PRINT THIS POST PRINT THIS POST

EMAIL THIS POST EMAIL THIS POST

India Counts

rss email rss email

SPEAK YOUR MIND

19 Comments so far

  1. rachel silver tapley dot com » A collection of links on May 22, 2008 7:40 am

    […] The Alchemy of Curry is a great post by cookbook author Raghavan Iyer at jugalbandi that makes me excited to go to India and try new food there.  Look at those photos, and that chart! […]

  2. sra on May 22, 2008 7:43 am

    Very nice piece! I especially liked the comparison to mercury.

  3. Nicole on May 22, 2008 8:09 am

    Wonderful posts and pics-I am going to buy the book. It would have been great of he had expanded to the curries of the Indian diaspora eg in Trinidad, Mauritius etc. which have developed in their own fashion

  4. Sangeeth on May 22, 2008 8:33 am

    Wow! very informative and wonderful post. I wud luv to buy the book asap.

  5. Cham on May 22, 2008 8:40 am

    Wow wonderful post and picture especially the second one!

  6. Purnima on May 22, 2008 9:38 am

    Wonderful!!! THANKS JB!! Loved RI’s article!!

  7. sunita on May 22, 2008 9:44 am

    Thanks for this wonderful post :-)

  8. Lakshmi on May 22, 2008 9:52 am

    “Defining curry is like trying to grasp liquid mercury and gather it into a neat pile.” - loved the analogy.

    This post has been my best food related read in quite a while.

  9. Hetal on May 22, 2008 11:04 am

    This is a very nice write up…and the pics are too good!!

  10. Kumudha on May 22, 2008 1:22 pm

    I’m so excited about this book. I’m sure there will be numerous vegan curries!

  11. dee on May 22, 2008 3:24 pm

    very nice post , chemistry and cooking?? That was a nice comparison!

  12. Meera on May 22, 2008 8:03 pm

    Wonderful article and pictures. I have added this book on my wishlist now. I have tried his recipes from Cooking Light. They are awesome.

  13. Suganya on May 22, 2008 10:20 pm

    All I want to say is ‘Excellent work’. I simply love this book. Thanks to Raghavan.

  14. Srivalli on May 22, 2008 11:03 pm

    wonderful and very informative!..thank you jungalbandits and Raghavan!

  15. Pelicano on May 23, 2008 1:16 am

    How delightful!

  16. Asha on May 23, 2008 4:02 am

    Great post!
    I just don’t like the generic word of “Curry” to everything we cook, which most western people associate with Indian cooking and people in general with a snicker to go along with it, but sigh…what can you do? It’s the most popular one too!:)
    Once a French colleague of Arvind asked me “How do you deal with the smell of curry (in the kitchen/house)?” at a party!:P
    Happy Friday to ya Jugs and Raghavan! Yeah! 40s are new 30s indeed! HeHe!!

  17. Arundathi on May 23, 2008 6:46 am

    That’s cool - he wrote such a great guest post…

  18. Jyothsna on May 23, 2008 8:01 am

    Good post! I absolutely dislike the western concept of adding ” curry powder” to their “curry”….. they just don’t know what they are talking!

  19. Latha on May 23, 2008 3:27 pm

    Wonderful post Mr.Iyer! Love the way you describe curry and the analogy! Very nice breakup of flavors and ingredients - have not seen anything like that. And absolutely delicious looking pictures of street food! Love the big mound of peanuts and chole with the big yellow ’swastika’! Keep up the good work!
    And Jai and Bee - u guys rock for bringing us such wonderful articles to read - makes me feel wonderful and proud of being a foodie! ;-)

Back to the BLOG.

Name

Email
(Not mandatory)

Website
(Not mandatory)


    Thank you for taking the time to visit our site, read our posts, and offer your feedback. While we may not be able to acknowledge and respond to all comments, we do read and appreciate each one. We will answer all questions to the best of our knowledge, however, if we do not respond to a question then most likely it has already been addressed in the post.

    We are grateful for your input. Hope you visit us again...and happy surfing.

    Jai and Bee.


Find older posts at ARCHIVE