Non-Vegetarian Curries

Four kitchens on one list, and the difference between them is mostly the spice and the fat.

Chettinad is the most aggressive — black pepper, star anise, stone flower and fennel, dry-roasted and ground before they go in the pot — and it comes in chicken and goat. Hyderabad contributes the goat curry and talawa gosht, boneless mutton fried and then simmered. Chennai chicken varuval is a dry-edged fry that sits between a curry and a roast.

Then the familiar ones: butter chicken, tikka masala, chicken and lamb saag. Fish curry and tava shrimp masala cover the coast.