I have come to accept that everyone has their own personal expectations of curry, whether it's a dish in a standard British curry house or a blanket term for the cooking of an entire sub continent. Although authenticity might be an illusion ,however, what is vital is the role that spices have to play.
When I was cooking earlier in my career, speak around 1996, I was rather offended to be told that guests expected the food to b.e hotter. In revenge, I kept increasing the amount of chillies in each dish until they started begging for milder food! The thing ones does as a young man.... It didn't occur to me then that this would been an ideal opportunity to introduce those guest to sophisticated, balanced and well rounder Indian cooking, rather than just playing up to their prejudices. Indian food is about far more than chilli heat. There is a huge repertoire of spices to explore, not for their heat but for other qualities too: coriander for cooling, clove for flavour and heat of a different kind, saffron for fragrance, mace and cardamom for aroma . It's the combination of spices that makes each curry unique.
The art of spicing in India is arguable the most sophisticated and complex in the world. In other cuisine, spices tend to be used in isolation or in simple combination. Indian cooking relies on an intimate knowledge of the way spices work together- not just flavours but also texture, the sequence in which they are added to a dish and how long they are cooked. It's an exciting and challenging way of cooking, and one in which there is always something new to learn. This brings me on to the subject of ready-made curry powder. The very idea of an all purpose seasoning blend that can be added to curry is simply outrageous. Most dishes don't need all the spices they contain anyways, and it is always best to grind what you need when you need it rather than buying ready-grounded spices, which lose much of their flavour, appearance and aroma within two weeks.
Historically, spices were used in India for a variety of reasons. Foremost among these, of course, was flavour, but they were just important for preservation. In the days before refrigeration, spices helped to prolong the shelf life of fresh ingredients, and we're used to tenderise meat. Traditional Ayurvedic medicine relies on spices for certain health benefits. Beside using spices to treat various ailments, an Ayurvedic practitioner will assess a person's body type and advise which spices other foods are beneficial for them to consume and which best avoided. It's common knowledge in india that cumin aids digestion, while coriander is an antipyretic which has a cooling effect on the body and is often used to reduce fever in children. Fennel seeds also aids digestion and are used as a mouth freshener. Turmeric is an effective antiseptic and is frequently used to treat minor cuts, burns and wounds.
Although Indian spicing can be highly complex, the cooking technique for curry are generally very simple. One of the most common is braising, a slow cooking method that allows spices added at various stages, resulting in well rounded, layered flavours. Some curries rely on a combination of cooking technique, such as marinating, frying, and then roasting. None of these stages is difficult and often some of them can be done in advance, making life easier for cooking. This ease of preparation and versatility partly account for the success of curry throughout the world, while the magic and intrigue of its spicing mean that one need never get bored. There are hundreds of variations for each dish- a minor
