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local question for Indians, where are all the premixed curries in the supermarket? (sh.itjust.works)
submitted 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) by [email protected] to c/[email protected]
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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

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[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (1 children)

They are right, kind of. There is no such thing as "pre-mixed curries". I would recommend finding some food using grocery delivery apps like BigBasket or Blinkit. You will find lots of options for food which you can throw in a pot with water and cook. Give me a short while, and I'll see if I can share any links.

Edit - Rajma (kidney beans) ready to cook. Yellow dal and rice, ready to cook.

You can also show the shopkeepers these items and ask them for any similar product.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 month ago

thanks, I'm coming to the same conclusion, that they consider every sauce a curry and asking for a curry mix is like redundantly asking for rice-food or an apple-food, since most foods here come with some form of "curry".

I don't know the differentiating words yet.

shopkeepers also say they don't have any curries, but they have the dal tadka and beans and other ready to cook meals you've mentioned.

thanks for muddling through this with me.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (1 children)

You are looking for the wrong thing. I've been traveling with British in India and they love indian "curry", but there is no such thing in (South) India. In restaurants they call fluid side dishes "gravy" sometimes.

Look for Dal, Butter Massala, palak paneer. MTR brand has them, but beware they are not nearly as tasty as fresh made in the most cheap restaurants. And check if you can find a pot of chutney.

Some interesting food will never be available in ReadyToEat in a reasonable quality: vadai, idly, dosai with coconut chutney tomatochutney and mint.

My advise: RtE is mediocre at best. Just enjoy Orissa, take (parcel) food from restaurants and enjoy it while you are there.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 month ago

got it, thanks.

i eat dal and butter masala in the restaurants, I was mistakenly figuring the instant stuff would be ubiquitous.

it's no problem, I like all the restaurants near me anyway.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 month ago (1 children)

search for "ready to eat" packages. those are the ones which are pre-prepared and just need to be zapped in the microwave before serving. someone's mentioned MTR as a brand, but there are others too.

pre-mixed ingredients with which to combine and build a meal, as such, isn't a thing here.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

no problem, thanks. I've tried the ready to eat meals.

I assumed curries would be separately sold as well.

are Indian curries quick to make from scratch?

okay, just looked it up. I might just try making the curries like this.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jwyge5daKUQ

Japan and Thailand have tons of instant curry products on sale because it takes so long for them to make their traditional curries.

[–] odium 2 points 1 month ago (2 children)

Not in India, but I looked it up, and these seem to exist over there: https://www.jiomart.com/p/groceries/mtr-ready-to-eat-mix-vegetable-curry-300-g/490081395.

Maybe try looking for these MTR ready to eat curries in a reliance supermarket if there are some around.

Also, ordering from a restaurant - even with delivery - is really cheap in India. To the point that getting fresh food delivered to your door can be more economical than buying a premixed curry. I would check the Zomato or Swiggy delivery apps.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 month ago

okay, thanks, I'll look at those apps.

I guess the apps would know which restaurants have curry, I've been to a lot of restaurants but none of them seem to have curry so far.

curry seems to be a morning thing here exclusively.

that link you posted gives me a page not found error, but I image searched the brand and description in the url so I'll keep an eye out for those.

thanks.

I feel like I must have walked past some curry pouches in the supermarket five times or something, they must exist.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 month ago

Exactly. Although I personally really hate how oily Indian restaurants make stuff. Indian home food n restaurant food truly are completely different things altogether.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 month ago (1 children)

I never heard of the term "premixed curry" before. You'll get premixed curry powders everywhere. No premixed curry though. I really doubt their taste would be remotely close to that of non-dehydrated tomato, onion, ginger, garlic, and curry leaves.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (1 children)

thanks, I must be using the wrong term.

in most curry countries I've been to countries, they have premixed curry blocks or sauce pouches that you can put directly into water that become curry.

you're saying in India they only have powders?

so if i got a curry powder, i would just put that in water and then it would become a curry?

and it isn't labeled curry, right?

what kind of curry powders should I be looking for, how are they labeled?

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (1 children)

so if i got a curry powder, i would just put that in water and then it would become a curry?

Nononononono. I was referring to premixed spices and stuff. Stuff like rajma masala, pavbhaji masala, chole masala and stuff. It's just common spices mixed in different proportions that you can buy in packets from the store.

What you are looking for is something that I've never seen in Indian supermarkets. But again, as the other commentators suggested, big basket or some online grocer could work for you.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

okay, got it, thanks for the clarification.

I have a few different masalas, but I understand them to be seasoning powders rather than soup or curry mixes.

That's pretty interesting, I wonder why packaged curries aren't that popular here.

I will continue my hunt.

maybe curry isn't as popular in orissa itself, because all the restaurants I go to here have stir fry and fried food, biryani, but I don't see any curry options.

[–] odium 2 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (1 children)

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.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 month ago (2 children)

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 points 1 month ago (1 children)

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.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 month ago (1 children)

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 points 1 month ago (1 children)

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

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 month ago (1 children)

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

[–] odium 2 points 1 month ago (1 children)

That looks great!

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 month 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.

[–] odium 2 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (1 children)

Chapatis are a subcategory of roti. Like baguettes are a subcategory of bread.

Roti is a very broad term, its closest translation is just "bread".

https://foodsguy.com/chapati-vs-roti/

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 month ago

okay cool, thanks for the link