"Curry", explained
There is no dish called "curry" in India. The word is a British-era catch-all, and it flattens several hundred quite different sauces into one syllable — which is exactly why it's unhelpful when you're choosing.
Where the word came from
Most accounts trace it to the Tamil kari, roughly "sauce" or "relish", picked up by Portuguese and then British traders and applied to almost anything served in gravy. By the nineteenth century "curry powder" was being sold in London as a single spice blend — a product that has no equivalent in an Indian kitchen, where spices are combined differently for each dish and often toasted or fried at a specific moment.
In South Asian languages a dish is named by its main ingredient and treatment — rajma, chana masala, sambar, rogan josh, korma, saag paneer. "Curry" appears mainly on menus written for English-speaking customers, and in some regional Englishes where it's simply been adopted back. Nobody will mind you using it; it just won't narrow anything down.
The gravy families, which is what you actually want to know
| Base | Tastes like | Examples |
|---|---|---|
| Onion–tomato masala | The default. Savoury, medium body, adjustable heat | Chana masala, chicken masala, kadai dishes |
| Cream / cashew / butter | Mild, rich, slightly sweet | Butter chicken, korma, malai kofta, shahi paneer |
| Yoghurt-based | Tangy, lighter than it looks | Rogan josh, kadhi, dahi-based Hyderabadi dishes |
| Coconut-based | Sweet-savoury, common in coastal and southern cooking | Kerala stew, Goan fish curry, chicken chettinad variants |
| Tamarind / sour | Sharp and sour-forward | Sambar, vindaloo, achari dishes |
| Lentil | Earthy, comforting, the everyday one | Dal tadka, dal makhani, sambar |
Choose by base, not by protein, and a table of four dishes will actually taste like four dishes. The spice guide covers what goes into them, and dals explained covers the lentil end in detail.
Restaurants differ enormously — by region, by owner and by country. This describes what is common enough to expect, not a rule every kitchen follows.
See also: desi spice guide: what each spice actually does · dals explained: five lentils and what each is for · indian restaurant menu, decoded · why "indian food" isn't one thing
Last updated: 2026-08-12
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