Indian food is almost synonymous with curries, in fact the word curry seems to be derived from the Tamil word ‘kari’ which translates colloquially to ‘side-dish’. Broadly speaking Indian food is split into types of cuisine, one in the north based around wheat as a staple and one in the south based around rice as a staple.  Most of what the western world eats is north Indian with south Indian food is considerably more difficult to find outside of Asia. The most renowned north Indian dishes are tandoori and naan while the south Indian foods are recognised as they are made with more chilli and often coconut milk. This obviously is a result of differing climates with the south being tropical and the north more temperate. Interestingly is that although throughout the western world north Indian cuisine is the most common, throughout South East Asia it is South Indian which is more prevalent and which has fused with Malay, Thai and Indonesian cuisines.