Our Comprehensive Guide To The Most Traditional Curries In The World

The best way to know a country’s culture is through their food. Curry is a popular dish prominently for many countries. Learn the best places to enjoy its many variations.

Curry is an easy-to-follow recipe, and most of the time, you might have all the ingredients on your pantry and fridge.

Traveling from Japan, passing in India all the way to Europe, get ready to discover the ten best places to indulge yourself with delicious variations of curry.

India

Curry originated in India. The traditional recipe dates back to thousands of years ago when only three basic ingredients were used to prepare curry: ginger, garlic, and turmeric.

Most Indian dishes are usually curry-based, made with different ingredients, such as vegetables, animal protein, herbs, and sauce. Indians mostly eat their curries along with rice and Indian bread.

Japan

The most traditional Japanese curry is kare raisu, and it’s one of the most famous comfort food in the country. The recipe is composed of chicken, carrot, sweet peas, and silky chunks of potato. Japanese have the option to buy frozen and boxed curry from the grocery store or prepare a fresh one at home.

Thailand

In Thai cuisine, curries are called kaeng, and Thais have many variations of curry. Most curries in Thailand consist of meat and vegetables in a spicy sauce bed made of chili, shallots, garlic, and curry and/or shrimp paste. What differentiates the recipes are the herbs and spices.

Philippines

In the Philippines, we find two curries as the most predominant in the country. The Filipino chicken curry is most common in the northern parts, chicken cooked in coconut milk. In the south, the southern Filipinos are most familiar with various older curry recipes.

UK

Curry traveled to Europe and made its way to Britain. The popularity is so strong that curry is called the “adopted national dish.” There are more than 12,000 curry houses along the country serving traditional Indian curry.

Malaysia

Malaysian cuisine is marked with many traditional dishes from its neighbors. Curry, of course, being one of the most popular staples. Curries in Malaysia vary from state to state as the recipe suffers many influences such as religion, economy, and culture.

Pakistan

Northern India influences curry in Pakistan. Pakistanis eat curry at lunch or dinner with steamed rice or bread (roti or naan). Interestingly, in Pakistan, they rarely use the word ‘curry’ to refer to the dish. Instead, they say salan or shorba.

Korea

Korean cuisine is one of my favorites. Even though curry made its way to the country only in the 1940s, it became popular decades later. Korean curry is typically served with golden rice (because of turmeric), rice cakes, fish cakes, eggs, vegetables, and curry sauce.

Indonesia

In Indonesia curry is called kari or kare. Kari ayam (chicken curry) is the most common variant of curry served in the country as well as rendang. The Indonesian cook their curries with whichever vegetables and meat are available on the market.

Myanmar

Burmese cuisine includes different curry recipes. The three main ingredients to all Burmese curries are Indian spices, red chili, and fresh onion, usually cooked with some sort of animal protein such as red meat or chicken.