Madras curry

Madras curry or Madras sauce is a fairly hot curry sauce, red in colour and with heavy use of chilli powder. It originates in the south of India and gets its name from the city of Madras now known as Chennai.

This curry can be vegetarian or of meat. It has its origins in Hindu culture and being vegetarian is common.

Their are many variations on Madras curry and cooking in India is more a domestic practice than a cuisine governed by the conventions of chefs, restaurants, or texts. Availability of local or locally available ingredients is central to regional Indian foods. The end result can be achieved through different means; the result often being red colour, toasty spices, and the smoothness of coconut (or yoghurt), and the flavours of salt, sweet, and sour. The redness is achieved with chilli or chilli and paprica, the orange or turmeric and a possible variation is also the redness and fruity-savoury flavours of tomato. The sourness is from the lemon or lime or vinegar and tamarind. The sweet fruitiness is from tamarind which is both sweet and sour. The spices are complimentary to the fruit and the savoury flavours. The savoury ingredients include garlic (and possibly onion). The oil may be ghee or coconut oil. Garam masala is a spice mixture which may be used with others spices including coriander, and black peppercorns.

The commonest signatures of Madras curries are the local ingredient of coconut (coconut milk and often also coconut meat) and the redness and heat of of chilli or chilli and paprica.

Common ingredients include fresh curry leaves, and the final addition of fresh coriander.

The variations include the roasting of many of the spices including dried chillis, coriander seed, aniseed, cummin, and cinnamon. This can be done in an oven for 10minutes at 180o C, or in a frying pan with no oil at low heat. A basic spice mix for Madras curry can be made when these dried roasted ingredients are ground in a mortar and pestle or coffee grinder and mixed with turmeric and stored in readiness for use.

Coommon accompaniments to Madras curry include raita and fresh coriander. The food of Southern India is more likely to have rice as the main carbohydrate than any breads eg naan. Individual households will express their own traditions.

Other common variations will include brown mustard seeds which are fried till they pop, black pepper corns (a local tropical product), and vinegar as the acidulant instead of or with the acid fruits.

The dried roasted spices may be cooked in ghee or coconut oil and then other major fresh ingredients such as garlic, ginger are added with the vegetables and or meat. The sweet and sour ingredients such as tamarind and lemon juice or vinegar are added with the coconut milk. Finally the fresh coriander is added immediately prior to serving.

yoghurt is also a common variation - it adds sweetness, sourness and a smooth thickness which are all signatures of this curry.

Other variations may include the use of cloves, bay leaves, fenugreek, and allspice.

Variations are also related to means of storage. The primary ingredients can be stored as; roasted dried ground powder; a paste of dried ingredients with vinegar; an oil spice infusion.

The meat may be kid goat, lamb, beef, or chicken. When made of kid or lamb it is called Gosht (or Ghoust) Madras.