CURRY

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CURRY SPICEThe Soul Of Indian Cooking

• Presentation By T. Arora

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What is Curry?

• Its the Indian word for gravy or sauce. Its
  generally a mix of certain spices known as
  masala, usually having turmeric, cumin,
  fenugreek, chili, paprika, coriander, cardamom,
  mustard seeds, peppers, and often including
  cinnamon and cayenne. The heat in certain curries
  comes from chili and peppers but isnt always
  necessary. Turmeric seems to be the one essential
  element, and has been isolated as the healthy
  component of the mix its the reason why
  Alzheimers rate are so low in rural India. There
  is also growing evidence that cumin has many
  medical benefits.

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INGRADIENTS

• Just about anything can be a curry if it has
  a sauce. The sauce begins with butter or cooking
  oil or olive oil heated to fry onions, ginger and
  garlic. Then you add all the other spices I
  love turmeric and cumin. In this you can cook
  chopped potatoes, carrots, and other vegetables,
  meats, chicken, beans, lentils, with tomatoes
  going in last. In addition to vegetables and
  meats there is an endless variety of what you can
  cook with the Indian Spices - and of course,
  rice.
• Everyone has their favorite spice mix and
  their own ingradients experiment and start your
  curry tradition.

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TURMERIC

• Originating from the South Asia, Turmeric is
  a member of the ginger family. It grows
  underground in hot, moist climates. Once
  harvested it is boiled and sun-dried. The outer
  skin is removed and it is ground to a powder.
• Dried turmeric has a rich and woody aroma,
  it tends to be somewhat musky and is pungent. It
  is one of the essential spices in Indian cuisine
  and forms the basis of most masalas and curry
  pastes. This is what gives the golden colour
  associated with many Indian dishes. In Indian
  cuisine, turmeric is used as a natural colour
  just as much as it is used as a flavouring.
  Turmeric binds and harmonises the spices.
  Turmeric is now being analysed in the west for
  its proven healing properties.

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Paprika

• Paprika tends to be made from a variety of
  peppers and thus no one pepper creates a certain
  paprika powder. I prefer the variety that comes
  from Kashmir a province of India. It is ground to
  a fine bright red powder and used in cooking but
  can be used whole for tampering. Although related
  to the hot chilli peppers, the cultivation of
  this plant in the Northern Hemisphere has
  eliminated the capsaicin content which provides
  chillies with their heat. Paprika tends to have a
  subtle and delicate aroma with a slight fruitful
  yet smoky trace. Paprika has a dominant deep red
  colour when used in cooking. It can also be used
  to form spice blends, but care must be taken not
  to overcook it as it becomes hotter.

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Coriander

• Coriander is both a herb and a spice - the
  leaves are a herbs and the seeds a spice. It is
  undoubtedly the most widely used plant in both
  these forms and thus it is no surprise that
  coriander is the most important spice in Indian
  cuisine.
• Ripe seeds have a sweet, woody, spicy aroma
  with a subtle undertone of pine and pepper. Due
  to its mild flavour, coriander is often used in
  larger amounts than other spices. The flavour of
  the seeds is enhanced if they are dry roasted
  before being ground. It is a base of many curry
  powders and masalas. Coriander is used just as
  much in sweet dishes as in savoury ones. Besides
  flavouring the curries, ground coriander also
  helps to thicken them. Although they smell and
  taste quite different, coriander seeds and leaves
  complement each other very well in dishes.

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Cumin

• Cumin is the second most important spice in
  Indian cuisine (after coriander).
• Cumin has a very distinctive, strong and
  spicy aroma and a rich, earthy and warm taste
  with slightly bitter and pungent notes. In Indian
  cuisine, cumin is an important ingredient in most
  curries, pilau rice and certain breads. When
  mixed with ground coriander, it forms the basis
  of most curry powders and masalas. Cumin is a
  spice that can be used whole just as it can be
  used ground and often a mixture of both forms is
  required in several recipes. Cumin has also been
  used by herbal practitioners to make a tea, which
  helps manage type II diabetes.

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Cardamom

• Cardamom is one of the world's very ancient
  spice. Known as "the Queen of Spices", it is the
  fruit of a large perennial bush. Cardamom is an
  expensive spice. Cardamom seeds come in hard
  green pods, containing 15-20 tiny dark brown or
  black seeds - the stickier the better. The aroma
  of cardamom is strong and penetrating yet fruity
  and mellow. Cardamom is a very versatile spice
  with many uses in Indian cuisine from tea
  flavouring to an essential ingredient in many
  curries, as the main constituent of garam masala,
  and in sweetmeats and Indian Kulfi (ice cream).
  It aids digestion and is used as a mouth freshner.

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Curry leaves

• Curry leaves come from a plant of Indian origin
  that grows wild in the Himalayan foothills as
  well as in many other parts of India. Mostly used
  as dried leaves but when available they should be
  used fresh. Dried curry leaves are extremely
  aromatic. The leaves give off an intense spicy
  aroma with a citrus note and have a warm,
  pleasant and lemony taste that is faintly bitter.
  
• They form the basis of most masalas. In the
  majority of India they are also used as a
  tempering in the last few minutes of cooking.The
  use of the curry leaf tree to treat diabetes has
  attracted a great deal of interest. Special
  compounds have been found in the leaf which might
  make it an effective new medicine for diabetes
  sufferers.

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Black pepper

• To this day, pepper remains the most
  important spice in the world in terms of volume
  and value and has thus inherited the name "the
  King of Spices". The unripe green fruits of
  pepper is fermented for a short time, then
  sun-dried during which time, they become hard,
  and adopt a dark brown to black colour. The
  flavour of black peppers depends on the essential
  oil content. Black pepper both emits a woody,
  fresh aroma and has pungency. The essential oil
  content of peppers vary with their origin so this
  is also the main difference between black and
  white pepper. When ground black peppers will
  quickly lose its flavour and aroma, so it is best
  to store it in a pepper mill so that it can be
  grounded only when being used. It is essential to
  the garam masala spice blend and is often used in
  other masalas as it enhances the flavour of other
  spices whilst never losing its own flavour or
  dominating others. As such, it is a spice that is
  truly invaluable in Indian cuisine.

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mace

• The nutmeg tree gives us two spices - nutmeg
  and mace. The seed of this tree is known as a
  nutmeg and comes encased in a red, web-like seed
  membrane which is sold as the spice mace. The
  intense aroma of mace is developed during its
  curing process, where it is left to dry in the
  sun for 10-14 days and is similar to a
  combination of pepper and cinnamon. It is during
  this time that its colour fades from a bright red
  to a rusty orange. The flavour of mace is warm
  and spicy, similar to but cleaner and more
  savoury than that of nutmeg.
• It is used in some masala mixes and is an
  ingredient that is added to garam masala to
  produce another variation of it.

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nutmeg

• The nutmeg fruit is the approximate size and
  shape of a small peach. Once dry the fruit
  membrane splits to reveal a net-like, bright red
  covering over the seed which is collected, dried
  and sold as the spice mace. Under the membrane is
  the oval shaped seed which is the nutmeg. Each
  nutmeg seed is about 25 mm (1 in) in length,
  lightly wrinkled and dark brown on the outside,
  lighter brown on the inside. Nutmeg is sold whole
  or ground. It has a sweet, aromatic and nutty
  bouquet and a nutty, warm and slightly sweet
  flavour.

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cloves

• Cloves are the unopened flower buds of the clove
  tree. After picking they are sun dried on woven
  mats. They loose their moisture, become hard and
  reddish-brown in colour. Cloves have an extremely
  strong and pungent aroma, with notes of pepper
  and camphor. The taste is rich and warm, aromatic
  and fruity but also sharp, hot and bitter,
  creating a numbing sensation on the tongue. This
  characteristic taste is dominated by the the
  essential oil and is the reason why cloves must
  be used sparingly as they can easily overpower
  other spices used in dishes.
• As with chillies, cloves have found uses in all
  parts of the world, from an ingredient in stews,
  cheese and apple pies to a flavouring for ham in
  America to the five spice powder from China. In
  Indian cuisine, cloves are particularly used in
  masalas, pilau rice and various cooking sauces.
• Cloves have many medicinal uses. It is commanly
  used as a cure for tooth aces.

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cinnamon

• Cinnamon is the inner bark of a tropical
  evergreen tree from the laurel family. Cinnamon
  bark is collected and dried and looks like hollow
  pencils. The paler the colour of the cinnamon
  the finer the quality. It is mostly ground to a
  fine powder and used as a common spice.
• Cinnamon has a warm, sweet and amiable aroma that
  is delicate yet intense. The taste is also
  aromatic, warm and sweet with hints of clove and
  citrus. The bark holds the flavour till ground
  when it immediately realeses its aromatic
  flavour. According to some studies, cinnamon may
  improve blood glucose and cholesterol levels in
  people suffering from these ailments

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Curry is good