是你誤會咖哩與印度人了 It is you misunderstood curry and Indians 破解印度人天天吃咖哩的迷思
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2019-05-14
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咖哩之於印度人=義大利麵之於義大利人
Curry for Indians = Pasta for Italians
很多人覺得印度人怎麼可以每天吃咖哩，怎麼吃也吃不膩，那是因為在這些人的想法裡咖哩是黃色加馬鈴薯配飯的料理，僅此而已。而對印度人來說，這個問題；根本不是問題，就像是，有人問我，每天吃中式飯菜不會吃膩嗎？一樣的道理。
Many people question how Indians can eat curry every day and not feel tired about it. That is because, in these people’s minds, the curry is the yellow sauce with potato and which eat with rice, nothing more. For Indians, this problem is not a problem at all. It is like, someone asked me, wouldn’t it be irritating to eat Chinese food and rice every day?
咖哩到底是什麼？
What is curry?
在印度旅行的時候；
我問印度朋友：哪裡可以買咖哩粉？
他問我：什麼咖哩？
我說：黃色的粉。
他說：我不知道你說的是哪一種黃色的粉。
When I was travelling in India,
I asked an Indian friend: Where can I buy curry powder?
He asked me: What curry?
I said: the yellow powder!
He said: I don’t know which kind of yellow powder you are talking about.
（照片是朋友家廚房裡最基本的幾種調味料，像是我們的醬油和鹽。 The picture is the typical spices that my friend’s family use in dishes. It is just like in our kitchen we have soy sauce and salt.）
咖哩的概念其實是英國人的主意，在18世紀後出現在英國的食譜中，英國人將在印度以香料調味烹煮的料理歸類為咖哩，對於當時食品材料製造商；是一些香料的綜合體，事先混合好的盒裝香料，將之命名為咖哩粉，最一開始廣泛被用在與蔬菜或其他材料煮成配飯的濃醬汁。
咖哩這個名稱的來源有很多種，有一說法是取自南印塔米爾語的Kari，意思為醬汁。
咖哩不等於黃色加馬鈴薯的料理，黃色加馬鈴薯的料理可以是咖哩的一種。
對印度人來說各種不同的蔬菜、豆類等食材；會搭配不同的香料，相對於我們概念中的咖哩，只是其中一種將固定幾種香料混合後的味道，印度人的咖哩是多種香料混合使用做成的料理，因為香料互相搭配的食譜多到數不清，當我們說咖哩的時候，對印度人來說便無法定義到底是哪一種食譜配方。
除了印度以外的地方，常見的咖哩（我說的就是黃色的那個咖哩粉）配方是碎香菜、小茴香、薑黃、生薑、芥末、黑胡椒粉、肉桂粉、荳蔻及辣椒粉等香料的混合物，根據不同家庭的習慣和各地區的料理方式，各種香料的使用量也會有所不同。
The concept of curry is actually invented by the British. It appeared in the British recipes after the 18th century. The British people classified all the savoury, spiced Indian dishes into one category called curries. For the manufacturers at that time; they produced pre-mixed boxed spices, named as curry powder. It was first widely used to cook a kind of gravy with vegetables or other ingredients.
There are several possibilities for the word “curry” comes from, one possibility is that it was from the South Indian Tamil word Kari.
Curry is not equal to yellow sauce and potato dishes, however, yellow and potato dishes can be a kind of curry.
For Indians, a variety of different vegetables, beans and other ingredients; will be matched with different spices, and there are thousands of different curries. In contrast, the curry in our concept is only one certain flavour. Because of the huge variety of recipes, when we say curry, it is impossible for Indians to define which recipe that we are talking about.
Outside o India, the common curry that we buy in the market (I am talking about that yellow curry powder) is a mixture of spices such as coriander, cumin, turmeric, ginger, mustard, black pepper, cinnamon, cardamom and chilli powder. According to the habits of different families and regions, the way of cooking and how Indians use the species is different.
咖哩不一定要和飯一起吃 Curry does not have to eat with rice
知道印度人心中的咖哩之後，也就不難理解咖哩不止是和米食搭配的這件事了，若將咖哩看成是香料與蔬菜一起煮的料理，理所當然可以搭配各種主食，印度北方主要是以麵食為主，如：烤餅、麵包類等，而南方則是以米食為主，跟中國南北的差異很像。
Knowing the definition of curry for Indians, it is not difficult to understand that curry is not necessary to eat with rice. If you think of curry as a dish made by spices and vegetables, you can, of course, eat with a variety of staple foods. North India is flour-based, such as roti, naan, chapati, etc., while the South is mainly eating rice. Similar to the difference between North and South China.
咖哩樹不是咖哩粉的直接原料 Curry powder is not made of curry tree
（照片為我的咖哩樹 It is my curry in the picture.）
如上面提過的，咖哩是多種香料一起料理的食物總稱，原本也以為咖哩是單一香料的我；有一天去花市買了一棵咖哩樹，以為可以像肉桂樹一樣；把樹皮或是葉子磨成粉就變成香料，後來才知道是誤會一場，咖哩樹的葉子本身也用來做香料，因為聞起來有綜合香料的那種咖哩味道，被取名為咖哩樹，而咖哩樹並不可以單單拿來做成想像中的咖哩，咖哩樹原名Murraya koenigii，中文又稱為調料九里香。
As mentioned above, curry is a general term for a variety of mixed spices. I originally thought that curry was a single spice. One day I went to the flower market to buy a curry tree, which I thought it could be like a cinnamon tree; use the leaves or bark to produce the spice, and later it was known to be a misunderstanding. The leaves of the curry tree were also used as a spicy. Because it smelled like curry, it was named as a curry tree, and the curry tree could not be used alone to make curry. The curry tree was originally called Murraya Koenigii, and Chinese is also known as seasoning Jiulixiang.
香料在飲食、歷史與文化上佔有重要的角色
Spices play an important role in diet, history and culture
印度有很大一部分的人吃素，一位印度的叔叔告訴我，我們不需要肉的美味，因為香料已經帶給我們最棒的味道了。在阿育吠陀的概念裡，香料可以是藥，對身體有許多不同的功效。印度因為氣候的關係，有許多的原產香料，被人們應用在飲食與藥理上。這些豐富吸引人的香料粉，更是歐洲人航海時代在亞洲互相爭奪的寶物。
A large part of the India population is vegetarian. An Indian uncle told me that we don’t need the delicious meat because the spices have brought us the best taste. In the concept of Ayurveda, spices can be medicines that have many different effects on the body. Because of the climate, India has many original spices that are used in diet and pharmacology. These rich and fragrant spices are the treasures that Europeans were seizing in Asia during the maritime era.
不要再叫咖哩，咖哩了！ Don't call curry as curry anymore!
根據印度人看待咖哩只是多種香料的混合體概念，與外人看印度咖哩為單一料理的概念實在是差太多，而每一個單一香料都有自己深邃特殊的味道和特性，不如就像印度人一樣以香料的總稱Masala來稱呼咖哩，對於個別的香料以個別名稱呼吧。
According to Indians, curry is just a mixture of various spices. The concept of looking at Indian curry as a single dish is far worse than that of an outsider. Every single spice has its own special taste and characteristics. Next time, why not call the curry in the name of Masala, the general name for spices like how Indians call it. And specify individual names for individual spices.
圖片是新德里香料市集的一家商店 A store in New Delhi spice market
Source
“The Mystery of Curry”. Slate magazine. https://slate.com/
“Why Shouldn’t You Ask an Indian for Curry? And a Recipe for Garam Masala” https://indiaphile.info/
“So THAT’S What Curry Is: The Difference Between The Spice, The Leaves And the Dish” https://www.huffpost.com/life/
https://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia
Book, 餐桌上的香料百科：廚房裡的玩香實驗！從初學到進階，料理、做醬、調香、文化的全食材事典
Many Thanks, Photo by Paolo Bendandi on Unsplash
