Curry powder is a
spice mix for
curry originating from the
Indian subcontinent
The Indian subcontinent is a physiographic region of Asia below the Himalayas which projects into the Indian Ocean between the Bay of Bengal to the east and the Arabian Sea to the west. It is now divided between Bangladesh, India, and Pakista ...
, adapted from but not to be confused with the native spice mix of
garam masala.
History
As commercially available in Western markets, curry powder is comparable to the traditional Indian spice mixture known as
''garam masala'' ('warm spices').
Conceived as a ready-made ingredient intended to replicate the flavor of an Indian sauce,
it was first sold by Indian merchants to British traders.
Curry powder was used as an ingredient in 18th-century British recipe books,
and commercially available from the late 18th century,
with brands such as
Crosse & Blackwell and
Sharwood's persisting to the present. In Australia, a common curry spice is
Keen’s curry powder.
The ingredient "curry powder", along with instructions on how to produce it, are also seen in 19th-century US and Australian cookbooks, and advertisements.
British traders introduced the powder to
Meiji Japan, in the mid-19th century, where it became known as "
Japanese curry
Japanese curry (, ) is commonly served in three main forms: (curry over white rice), (curry over thick noodles), and (a curry-filled pastry). It is one of the most popular Japanese cuisine, dishes in Japan. The very common curry rice dish is m ...
", and evolved into a distinct dish.
Etymology
In the West, the word "curry" is a broad reference to various Indian dishes prepared with different combinations of spices in the Indian subcontinent. The sauce-like component characterized by "curry" has been derived from the
Tamil word ''kaṟi'' meaning literally '
sauce
In cooking, a sauce is a liquid, cream, or semi- solid food, served on or used in preparing other foods. Most sauces are not normally consumed by themselves; they add flavour, texture, and visual appeal to a dish. ''Sauce'' is a French wor ...
' or '
relish
A relish (a pickle-based condiment) is a cooking, cooked and pickling, pickled culinary dish made of chopped vegetables, fruits or herbs, typically used as a condiment to enhance a staple. Examples are chutneys and the North American relish, a p ...
for
rice
Rice is a cereal grain and in its Domestication, domesticated form is the staple food of over half of the world's population, particularly in Asia and Africa. Rice is the seed of the grass species ''Oryza sativa'' (Asian rice)—or, much l ...
', and finds synonyms with other regional references to local dishes evolving over thousands of years in the Indian subcontinent, such as ''jhol'', ''shorba'' and ''kalia''.
Ingredients
A number of standards on curry powder have been defined. Most outline analytical requirements such as moisture, ash content, and oil content as well as permissible additives. Some also define a number of expected ingredients.
In the United States, curry powder is expected to contain at least these ingredients:
turmeric,
coriander
Coriander (), whose leaves are known as cilantro () in the U.S. and parts of Canada, and dhania in parts of South Asia and Africa, is an annual plant, annual herb (''Coriandrum sativum'') in the family Apiaceae.
Most people perceive the ...
,
fenugreek,
cinnamon
Cinnamon is a spice obtained from the inner bark of several tree species from the genus ''Cinnamomum''. Cinnamon is used mainly as an aromatic condiment and flavouring additive in a wide variety of cuisines, sweet and savoury dishes, biscuits, b ...
,
cumin,
black pepper
Black pepper (''Piper nigrum'') is a flowering vine in the family Piperaceae, cultivated for its fruit (the peppercorn), which is usually dried and used as a spice and seasoning. The fruit is a drupe (stonefruit) which is about in diameter ...
,
ginger
Ginger (''Zingiber officinale'') is a flowering plant whose rhizome, ginger root or ginger, is widely used as a spice and a folk medicine. It is an herbaceous perennial that grows annual pseudostems (false stems made of the rolled bases of l ...
, and
cardamom
Cardamom (), sometimes cardamon or cardamum, is a spice made from the seeds of several plants in the genus (biology), genera ''Elettaria'' and ''Amomum'' in the family Zingiberaceae. Both genera are native to the Indian subcontinent and Indon ...
.
The 1999 East African Standard (EAS 98:1999) does not define an ingredient baseline. A newer 2017 draft from Uganda does require turmeric, coriander, cumin, fenugreek and mustard.
The Indian (FSSAI), Pakistani (PS:1741–1997), and international (ISO 2253:1999) standards do not define a baseline of essential ingredients.
Nutritional information
One tablespoon (6.3 g) of typical curry powder contains the following nutrients according to the USDA:
* Food energy:
* Fat: 0.883 g
* Carbohydrates: 3.52 g
* Fibers: 3.35 g
* Protein: 0.9 g
See also
*
List of culinary herbs and spices
*
Seasoning
References
{{Authority control
*
Pakistani cuisine
Anglo-Indian cuisine
Herb and spice mixtures
Indian cuisine in the United Kingdom
Food powders
Indo-Caribbean cuisine