Referencing a post on curry leaves and ginger, member GimpyBee asked a question about the differences between "curry leaves" and "curry powder". This question reminded me of the not too distant past when I was trying to figure out some basic concepts in Indian cooking. I've been learning about Indian cooking (i.e., techniques, regions, ingredients, recipes) for about a year now and the concept of a curry was confusing at first and there's a lot of contradictory and misinformation out there about "curry". Therefore, I thought it might be useful to make a separate post of my response to GimpyBee's question about curry for those interested in Indian cooking.
Here it is, not quite in its entirety and edited in a few places....
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About Curry Leaves
Curry leaves don't actually define the full flavor or ingredients of a curry. Curry leaves come from what is commonly known as the Curry Tree (botanical name: Murraya Koenigil). Both the tree and the leaves are called "curry" because the leaves are often used in making curry dishes, but their flavor and aroma is quite unique and in my opinion are not similar at all to what Westerners typically know as "that curry smell". If you've ever heard people at work or in an apartment building complain about what they perceive as a powerful curry odor, it's really not just the curry they're smelling or the odor of curry leaves at all, but rather Indian cooking's complex ingredients and their aromas at different stages of the cooking process. I wonder if those complainers ever think that some of their Western cooking has to smell just as horrible to Indians? One exception: The Indian spice Asafoetida, or Hing, stinks to high heaven, kind of like rotten eggs; however, it does not taste like rotten eggs at all. I refer to it as India's umami spice because it is very unique to Indian cooking and has a strong savory component when cooked.
But your [GimpyBee] question brings up something that is confusing about the terms "curry", "curry leaves" and "curry powder". I'm not Indian so I'm no expert, but here's what I know from learning about Indian cooking so far from various resources and Indian folks with whom I've connected. Just as a side note, I find that the best way to learn about another culture's food is to make contact with that culture's people, express your interest and ask questions. Reminds me of something I heard Quincy Jones say in an interview once. He said that whenever he travels to an unfamiliar country/culture and has limited time to learn about it, he does two things: Experiences their music and their food.
Confusion of Curry
The term "curry" is often misunderstood as meaning some sort of sauce. For example, you go to an Indian restaurant in the states and you order a vindaloo curry and it is served as a sauce form. While a spicy gravy may be vindaloo's end result and many people and even chefs refer to the gravy as the "curry", technically the spice blend created at the beginning of the dish is the actual curry. In the case of vindaloo, the curry consists of several dry spices and one type of dry, mild chili pepper which is marinated in a liquid (Feni or Coconut Milk) and then ground into a paste. I love this technique of marinating dry spices. Another interesting note on vindaloo is that it is not originally an Indian recipe; it was adopted/adapted by Indians in the Goa region from the Portugese. The term "curry" as meaning a sauce is really a Western concept or invention.
Curry/Curry Powder Defined
The term "curry" / "curry powder" is really a blend of spices that you add to an Indian recipe at the beginning of the cooking process. This blend varies in Indian cooking based on the recipe's region and a family's practices and blends. The curry blends that I've been using include cumin, coriander seeds (usually ground), turmeric, chili powder***, dried chilies, cinnamon, cardamom, powdered coconut, mustard seeds, mace, cloves, etc. I don't buy the mixes, but rather I buy the spices, whole whenever I can, and grind them as needed to make my curries. Sometimes curry blends are finely ground, sometimes certain ingredients of a curry of finely ground while others aren't, sometimes some or all of the curry's spices are dry roasted, sometimes wet roasted, etc. There are many variations, often region- and family-specific.
***Note on Chili Powder: Be careful, there are basically 4 types available in stores: 1) Regular (medium heat), 2) Kashmiri (mild & smoky, used for certain recipes), 3) Reshampatti (hot) 4) Extra Hot, which will light your tongue on fire. And there is a 5th one made from Ghost peppers that you don't wanna even mess with!
Connection Between a Curry and a Garam Masala
I have to mention the term "garam masala" when talking about curry because it is also a blend of spices, but usually added towards the end or at the end to finish the cooking process. In Hindi, "garam" means hot and "masala" means blend of spices. Like curries, garam masalas are regional. The garam masala blend you typically buy in the store is a common North Indian blend. I sometimes use that blend when I want that specific flavor profile, but I also make my own garam masalas to match the recipe. For instance, this week I made a Rajastani recipe so I made a Rajasthani garam masala.
A Final Note
Curry (and Indian Cooking in general) is all about creating complex flavors through spice blends and learning the stages at when and how (i.e., techniques) to incorporate them in the cooking process. Often times the end result of a recipe is indeed a complex sauce, which is commonly known as a curry to Westerners, and sometimes the result is a dry curry. The term "curry" has evolved a lot to the point where many Westerners and Indian Chefs refer to their sauces as curries. Again, the sauce may contain the flavor profile and intensity of the curry blend created and used at the beginning of the recipe, but the sauce itself is not technically a curry.