Plantain Flower Curry

Curry is an anglicised form of the Tamil word Ka?i meaning ‘sauce’ or gravy that uses the leaves of the curry tree (Murraya koenigii). As you will see below, there are numerous varieties of curries described in the Bhaga Shastra. Ka?i is described in a mid-17th century Portuguese cookbook by members of the British East India Company, who were trading with Tamil merchants along the Coromandel Coast of southeast India. Curry uses a complex combination of spices or herbs, that is ground to a powder or paste. A basic curry will contain turmeric, cumin, coriander, fresh or dried chilies. Curry is generally prepared into a sauce or gravy. Curry dishes prepared in the southern states of India, end with a
seasoning of curry leaves, mustard, cumin, and asafetida (where required). The mention of chillies in the many recipes of the Bhaga Shastra is a clear indication that this spice has existed in India for atleast 60,000 years, much before the invading Europeans came to plunder India. And therefore, was not introduced into the sub- continent by the Portuguese, as is widely claimed.

There are many varieties of curries. For example, in traditional cuisines, the precise selection of spices for each dish varies as per regional and cultural tradition, religious practice, and, also sometimes, family preferences. These dishes are called by specific names that refer to their ingredients, spicing, and cooking methods. Spices in curries are used both whole and ground, cooked or raw, and they are added at different times during the cooking process to produce different results. The main spices found in most curry powders of the Indian subcontinent are coriander, cumin, and turmeric. A wide range of additional spices are included depending on the geographic region and the foods being included.

Curries can be dry or wet. Dry curries are cooked with very little liquid which is allowed to evaporate, leaving the other ingredients coated with the spice mixture. Wet curries are sauce or gravy based where the spices are ground to a paste with coconut, tamarind and the like or thickened with coconut milk, legume purée, yogurt/curd, etc. used as a relish for rice. The well known Madras Curry Powder, consumed hugely in the West, is an invention of the British who became enamored by the spicy, tangy dishes of South India, during the rule of the East India Company. This curry powder is a diluted version of the kari powder, made to suit the bland palate of the West. The curry powders are thought to have first been prepared by Indian merchants for sale to members of the British Colonial government and army returning to Great Britain.

Curry originally referred to vegetarian gravy dishes in India. But today the word has a wide application, across vegetarian and non-vegetarian gravy dishes in most of Asia, and the dishes invented (fusing in local recipes, herbs and spices) and consumed by the Indian diaspora spread across Africa, the Caribbean islands, Australia, US and Europe.

1. Take the plantain flower and remove the outer red skin . Now inside the flower there will be a thick stem like thing, remove that also. Cut the remaining flower into small pieces and soak it in either butter milk or water used for washing rice for half an hour.

2. Then squeeze the water with both hands. Take the water and toor dal along with cut plantain flower in a lead coated vessel and heat it. In another small lead coated vessel take the tamarind and some water and squeeze the tamarind without any seed or residue.

3. Then add it to the plantain flower which is cooking with the dal. After the flower gets cooked, take it out from the fire, cool it and squeeze it and keep it in a separate vessel. Add salt, roasted chilli powder, dried coconut kernel to the plantain flower and mix it.

4. Cut the fresh coriander leaves into small pieces and add it to the flower mixture. Take the ghee or oil in a vessel which has not become sticky by frequent cooking and temper with mustard seed and black gram, turmeric powder and asafoetida as described in recipe no. 22 (seasoning recipe).

5. Remove the asafoetida after it has tempered. Now take the plantain flower mixture and add it to the tempered mixture and give a nice stir. Finally add the karima powder, mix it and serve.

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