In praise of the curry

Yesterday night was Saturday night and in my book that means curry and X factor, a winning combination if you ask me. I do love a good curry. Spiciness is key though. I mean, I would rather it didn't put tears in my eyes, but if it has a bit of a  kick, then I am happy. Saying that, I usually go for the totally non-spicy korma, but I'm also partial to a good old tikka masala. I recently discovered a dhansak, which I would highly recommend. And when I'm in one of my random ' Eating-meat-contributes-to-climate change-I'm-such-an-eco-warrior-I want-to-be-a-vegetarian' moods, I go for a  vegetable biriani. The mixture of rice and roasted vegetables with a hint of spicy sauce is just... divine.

Another thing I LOVE about curry are all the things that go with it. Onion bahjis, popadoms, cucumber raita, plain naan, peshwari naan, daal, saag, Bombay alhoo, pilau rice, yellow rice, white rice, and most of all, samosas. But not mango chutney. This seems far too like jam to me. I just don't understand why you would mix sticky sweet with lovely creamy sauce. My sister, on the other hand, could and would eat it out of the jar.

I did a quick bit of research (sad, I know) on curry and I found out that recipes for curry date back to 1700 B.C. when it was used as an offering to the gods of Mesopotamia, or modern-day Iraq. So curry is not really Indian at all! The word 'curry' comes from the Tamil language, which is spoken in India though. Curry came to Britan in 1780 with the invention of curry powder, and was even served by Queen Victoria's chef in 1846. However, curry as we know it would be totally alien to people in India. According to one chef, 95% of Indians would not recognise vindaloo, jhal farezi or a madras. People coming to Britain from all areas India gradually began to open restaurants, and the oldest surviving one, Veersaswamy in London, was opened in 1926. So I guess it is thanks to immirgration that we have curry. How's about that, B.N.P! Always glad to inform and educate :) Next time you have your curry, you can bust out a few fun facts and be the envy of all your friends...and you'll have me to thank for looking COOL.
This makes me seem like a bit of an obsessive and someone who frequents the local takeaway far too much, but all of this talk of food has made me mega-hungry. Bon appetit!