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February 20, 2006

Vishy's Indian English Dictionary: gravy

gravy./GRAY·vee/. Sauce that forms the 'background' of an Indian entree. Indians tend to refer to it as gravy rather than sauce (which is occasionally used to refer to tomato ketchup). Note that gravy can be vegetarian or not--unlike Western gravy, it need not be formed from juices that drip from cooking meat. Vegetarian gravies can be made of just about anything that blends together to form a sauce, such as tomatoes, onions, cream, nuts or coconut. Neither does gravy have to served alongside, say, mashed potatoes; the gravy forms an integral part of the meal.

When trying to figure out a entree they haven't heard of, many Indians tend to ask, "Is it dry or does it have a gravy"? A 'dry' entree would consist of vegetables mildly sauteed or tossed together with spices. A gravy entree would be like the stereotypical image of an Indian meal in most American minds: heavy, creamy and saucy.

Posted by Vishy at February 20, 2006 11:18 AM

Comments

Posted by: Dhruv Agrawal at March 2, 2006 06:43 AM