Hello, I’m traveling in orissa right now and I’m looking for premixed curries i can buy to throw in a pot with water and make dinner with.

I’ve met plenty of locals and asked a few about instant or pre-mixed curries, but they all say that there’s no such thing as premixed curries in india.

The strikes me as odd since instant curry is very common in every country with any sort of curry tradition I’ve been to and it seems like some company would have taken advantage of the market.

am I asking the wrong question?

I’m either not recognizing or haven’t found any curry mixes yet.

are they not called curry?

should I be looking for something else?

thanks

  • odium
    2·
    2 months ago

    Btw, curries are more of a special occasion thing in India. You don’t really cook them at home everyday. I don’t know much about Orissan cuisine, but let me walk you through typical everyday south Indian home cooked food.

    Breakfast:

    Typically Dosa, idli, and some region specific variants served with a chutney or sambar. Dosa can be served with some dry vegetable stir fries as well.

    Upma.

    Vermecilli noodles.

    A few rice dish breakfasts also exist like pongal and vangibath.

    Lunch and dinner:

    Rice with sambar, rasam, or any type of dal.

    Palaus.

    Chapati with a stir fried vegetable dish.

    There are some regional specialties for both chapati and rice. Example: https://aahaaramonline.com/ulava-charu-kollu-rasam-recipe/.

    There are also regional substitutes for rice/chapati. Example: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ragi_mudde.

    • Varyk@sh.itjust.worksOP
      2·
      2 months ago

      they also have it with the"curries are more of a special occasion thing in India"

      got it, thanks, i had no idea! i like to travel without a plan and just talk to the people here, but I didn’t know the language with which to ask about curries, which apparently is my obsession today.

      that meal-plan sounds about the same here in Orissa.

      love vada and idli, they give a brown bowl of curry with the idli here. or dal? because that soup I think is curry tastes fantastic but I only see it in the morning with the vada/idli.

      they also have it with the dahivada in these pots:

      is chapati another word for roti?

      or are they different flatbreads?

      thanks

      • odium
        2·
        2 months ago

        That brown soup is probably one of those regional specialties I mentioned. I’ve never had it, but now I want to try making it. I don’t think I’ll be able to find it around where I am. Regional specialties are super hard to find in Indian restaurants in other countries.

        • Varyk@sh.itjust.worksOP
          2·
          2 months ago

          I believe it. Even one seller to the next, that brown morning curry soup tastes very different, like their spice mixtures are completely personalized.

          • odium
            2·
            2 months ago

            Yeah, most things like that in India aren’t made from mixes, but rather each cook individually adding each spice.

            • Varyk@sh.itjust.worksOP
              2·
              2 months ago

              got it. thanks

              experiment 1:

              chili paneer.

              pretty good!

              but all the restaurants are so good, I’m probably just going to keep going to them haha

                • Varyk@sh.itjust.worksOP
                  1·
                  2 months ago

                  thank you, i liked it!

                  I’ve been making a lot of paneer stir fry lately, so I’m glad I finally tried a curry.