My estranged wife was born in Hyderabad, so I learned a lot living with her.
Everything here loses a bit of authenticity.
Before i met her, I bought some 'Curry Powder' and soon found it was pretty useless and I needed to either dump the whole box in the curry or use the individual spices. Mostly just Chili Powder, Turmeric and Cayenne were in most of the curries but her grandmother sent a curry powder she made from India and I have no idea what was in it. Maybe the curry leaves, make curry?
They called pretty much any main dish curry regardless of what it was flavored with. All the spices had a reason more than just flavoring though, a lot has to do with Ayurveda.
Sounds delicious. I love a great stew with a spicy curry and next a chilled glass of beer on the side. Usually I'd go with a glass of wine but not with a spicy curry dish. Cheers. :-)
Being lazy. ... I'll pick the easy one. . The obvious one .. NaCl ... sodium chloride .. Salt .... and one ingredient that Always makes food taste immeasurably better is sharing with a loved one ... and yes, love is an ingredient. .. If you have never tasted food prepared with love then you have my sympathy ..