Curries

[scooby1962]

Can anyone give me a list of Indian curries, from the mildest to the 'hottest'?

[chijiki]

In India, curry is traditionally cooked in a deep pot with straight sides called a degchi. Curry is, simply speaking, a dish with a sauce, made with several ingredients like spices, herbs and aromatics and bulk ingredients like fish, meat or vegetables, with a liquid making the sauce.
Curries differ widely between the regions of Asia because of differences in, for example, the climate, the terrain and historical influences. In the north, for instance, yoghurt and cream are used in the sauces whereas in the south the cook will more often use coconut milk. Some sauces may contain one solitary spice where others contain a blend of as many as twenty.
Most curries can be made hotter or milder by adding or omitting ingredients. Some of the mildest, and creamy curries will never be made hotter because that would spoil them. There are hundreds of differently named curries and also many variations in the spelling of many, because the Asian restaurant owner (or his printer) has translated from the Asian names and written what he thought was the best spelling.
In the following answers I will list some that I know and will categorise them as they are most popularly served. Please bear in mind that this will not always be precise.

[chijiki]

MILD CURRIES
Masala, Gosht, Pasanda, Korma, Bangalore, Balti, Moglai, Karahi, Birmiz,
SWEET & SOUR
Danchak

[Quizmonster]

Just about the only thing I can think of adding to Chijiki's excellent responses would be to tuck 'Tindaloo' between 'Vindaloo' and 'Phall' among the very hots.

[darth vader]

also Ceylon which is another very hot one. I ate Patak's Vindaloo last night, thanks to Quizmonster's recommendation (somewhere else on this site) and it was like manna from nirvana so thoroughly recommended from me too. (thanks QM) - not desperately hot actually either....

[Quizmonster]

I'm glad to have recommended something you enjoyed, Darth. People have obviously known of these products for ages, so why did I - and seemingly, you - know nothing about them until recently, given that we are both clearly curry fanatics? I'm in for one of their Chicken Tandooris - only the third of their pastes for me - on Friday...yum-yum! Cheers

[darth vader]

i dunno QM. i think perhaps i used to be a bit of a purist in that i did the curry from scratch (having been through all the vesta curry, supermarket curry, and cheapo (yeuch) curry from really bad curryshops in my teen years - is it just me or have indian takeaways got their acts together over the last 15 years and now serve us with decent, authentic curries and no longer the "chicken stew with chilli powder" varieties we used to get?). Recently though i don't have the time for the whole perlarva of cooking from scratch and so sometimes go for the supermarket jars - it was only when you mentioned Pataks that i tried a jar and WOW! top stuff, now i'm converted and if not making from scratch ( i still do on occasion, it's good fun!) will reach for Pataks every time

[Phantaxus]

What has happened to the rest of Chijiki's post? There used to be several posts detailing the different types of curry. Now there is just Mild & sweet and sour what happened to the hots and very hots? I could have used this list yesterday when I went out for a curry. Can somebody repost it?

[gilf]

QM, DV you have to try Sheer Kahn jars. They are by far the best around so much better than enything else.