Henry Yule and A.C Burnell, in Hobson-Jobson (1886) explained that ‘curry’ was a savory dish made up of ‘meat, fish, fruit or vegetables cooked with a quantity of bruised spices and turmeric’ served to flavor the two staple foods of the east – bread and rice.
The Tamil word ‘kari’ means a spiced sauce, one of the sorts of dressing taken in South India with rice and soupy in consistency.
The traditional South Indian ‘kari’ does not have a fixed set of ingredients, but a typical mixture was: curry leaf, coriander, cumin and mustard seeds; red and black pepper; fenugreek; turmeric; and less certainly cinnamon, cloves, cardamom.
Curries are an integral part of the cuisine of South-East Asia and Indonesia. As early as the third century BC, Indian traders and Buddhist missionaries brought tamarind, garlic, shallots, ginger, turmeric and pepper to the region.
The oldest indication of Indian curry was cited by Athenaeus from Megasthenes:
Among the Indians, at a banquet, a table is set before each individual and on the table is placed a golden dish on which they throw, first of all boiled rice and then they add many sorts of meat dressed after the India fashion.
According to the historians curry powder was invented in the 17th century as an export commodity for East India Company employees to take or send back to England. Normally curry dish mixture always freshly prepared in India. The British becoming accustomed to it and wishing to have it available in Britain, created commercial ready-mixed curry powder.
History of curry dish in India
