Indian Curry and Wine Pairings

ABOUT INDIAN CURRY:
The most important fact about Indian curry is that there is not one spice named "curry" in India, though we find "curry powder" on our grocery shelves. Curry is actually a mixture of spices, usually cardamom, cinnamon, cloves, coriander, cumin, curry powder, fennel, fenugreek, mace, and peppercorns, in different amounts and combined with other spices, depending on the region of the country and the cook. In India these spice mixtures are called "garam masala".

In researching curry recipes, one finds that India being such a vast and diverse country, the range of curry recipes are quite extensive. In the broadest terms, one could say that the northern curries tend to be like the ones we commonly find in restaurants in this country--quite a bit of dairy used, in the form of ghee (clarified butter), cheese (especially paneer--a soft cheese usually in cube form), and yoghurt. The familiar samosas, Tandoori meats and korma curries come from the north.

The south has more stew-like curries called rasams, kootus and sambars. A good source for recipes is the book "Dakshin Vegetarian Cuisine From South India" by Chandra Padmanabhan. I suppose southern Indian cooking is less familiar because there has been less immigration from that region--similar to how we are more familiar with southern Italian cooking with the emphasis on tomato based sauces, then we are to the more delicate Northern Italian cuisine, since out of the 4.5 million Italians that immigrated to the United States between the years 1880 and 1930, one out of every four was a Sicilian. Anyway, this is just my theory, if any readers can shed light on this, please add your comment to the blog.

WINE PAIRING:
What to drink with Indian curry? With such variety in the mixture of spices and the "heat", it's nearly impossible to generalize. But, one can make the case for the full mouth feel and coolness of a Chardonnay (such as this week's special 2006 Saddlerock Chardonnay) or a crisp Pinot Grigio. Mellow (not tannic) red wines like Merlot and Syrah can also pair well when the wines are fruit forward. Since each curry will pair differently, why not have fun and experiment? Pass around two or three wines to taste with your curry and take notes. We'd love it if you would share your findings on the blog!