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

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.