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Curry Powder


sweetback

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Hi, can someone give me a good basic recipe for curry powder, I've looked around and the more I look the more confused I get.

Thanks

I'm hardly an expert, but it seems that most Indian recipes specify a customized spice mixture for each dish. You may want to check out an Indian cookbook or three and try some of the recipes. There is an excellent thread on the India and Indian Cuisine forum: Indian cooking books, a compilation of discussions.

Indian cuisine is incredibly varied and complex, so there is no shortage of opinions on the India forum. :biggrin:

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Hi, can someone give me a good basic recipe for curry powder, I've looked around and the more I look the more confused I get.

Thanks

Did you have a particular dish, or a particular type of dish, in mind? If you can try and tell us a little more about what you like to eat or the types of flavors you would like to reproduce at home, we might have a better grasp of the type of spice combinations that you would love.

See, its a bit like forensic sketches of suspects: tell us a little more, and we shall go on from there.

The Frugal Gourmet has a recipe in one of his books, but i forget which; his, like most American curry powders (McCormick etc.) contain celery seed. These add a distinctive note, that i find delicious, but create a dish not necessarily familiar to India.

Similarly, you may go to Pat Chapman and find many dishes there that evolved in Britain.

Again, Elizabeth Andoh, and japanese cookbooks in English, employ Japanese curry blocks, plus an assortment of fruity additions [mango chutney, apple etc] to come up with their own extremely sapid curries.

Vietnam and Hongkong do similar things plus coconut milk; and i shall not even move to other places beyond.

So, if you are better able to define which flavor complex, or which specific dishes [ British type vindaloo, US Southern Country Captain, Steam Table Chicken Curry, British Roghan Josh, British Balti, etc.] set off your 'curry' craving, then it will be possible to pinpoint what type of SPICES or SPICE POWDER COMBINATION might best meet your needs.

Sorry for this long-winded answer. As an Indian, feel sort of responsible that you not get lost in the wilds of the spice forest, but get the results you are actually craving. Please pm me if i can help further.

regards,

gautam

Edited by v. gautam (log)
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most curry powders contain ground cumin, coriander seeds, turmeric, and some hot chili pepper seeds such as cayenne.

I might make a basic curry powder with the following ground spices: 1T of cumin, 1T of coriander, 1tspn turmeric, 1tspn cayenne.

I grind the whole seeds in a coffee grinder reserved for spices for specific recipes and as the other posters have said, they vary by recipe.

One important step is to toast the spices. You can toast the whole seeds in a skillet until fragrant and then grind or you can toast the ground spices.

I do have some curry powder in my spice collection that I do occasionally use for non-Indian dishes such as curried chicken salad and it comes in handy.

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most curry powders contain ground cumin, coriander seeds, turmeric, and some hot chili pepper seeds such as cayenne.

Most, if not all, cury powders also contain Fenugreek which is a very important ingredient in the blend. I often think that fenugreek is the spice that is the most identifiable in the smell of cury powder. You may also want to add some cloves, garlic powder, ginger powder, a bit of cardamom.

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Why make curry powder when you can buy it?

I can see how someone might toast/grind their own garam masala to obtain the freshest taste possible, but garam masala (and other masalas) are key players in a lot of dishes. Authenticity/Subcontinental use aside, curry powder is not that major of a player. Even if you do find it to be the primary ingredient in a recipe, the recipe was mostly likely developed for commercial powder.

If you buy fresh curry powder, that's probably a good idea, but making it yourself? It's kind of silly, if you ask me. Curry powder is not a serious ingredient. At least not serious enough to grind your own. Commercial varieties are fine.

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Why make curry powder when you can buy it?

I can see how someone might toast/grind their own garam masala to obtain the freshest taste possible, but garam masala (and other masalas) are key players in a lot of dishes.  Authenticity/Subcontinental use aside, curry powder is not that major of a player.  Even if you do find it to be the primary ingredient in a recipe, the recipe was mostly likely developed for commercial powder.

If you buy fresh curry powder, that's probably a good idea, but making it yourself? It's kind of silly, if you ask me.  Curry powder is not a serious ingredient. At least not serious enough to grind your own. Commercial varieties are fine.

Yeah, I agree. I use commercial curry powder but sometimes I make my own because it tastes better and is very quick to make. It does taste fresher.

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Why make curry powder when you can buy it?

I think you can draw some parallels between curry powder and chili powder or say, dry rub -- there might be perfectily acceptable commercial varieties out there, but that doesn't make it pointless to make your own.

Also, commercial curry powders tend to vary quite a bit in taste, so if a recipe calls for some supposedly ubiquitous curry powder, the end result might be wildly different, depending on what particuarly commercial powder was used...

Besides, making your own means you get to learn what goes into the mix, and that's always a good thing.

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Why make curry powder when you can buy it?

I think you can draw some parallels between curry powder and chili powder or say, dry rub -- there might be perfectily acceptable commercial varieties out there, but that doesn't make it pointless to make your own.

Also, commercial curry powders tend to vary quite a bit in taste, so if a recipe calls for some supposedly ubiquitous curry powder, the end result might be wildly different, depending on what particuarly commercial powder was used...

Besides, making your own means you get to learn what goes into the mix, and that's always a good thing.

Hmmmmm....

Do commercial curry powders vary that much in taste?

Are there really that many recipes that request specific brands of curry powder?

Chili powder + beef + veggies = chili

Curry powder + chicken + veggies = ????

Definitely not curry.

I think most people will agree that curry powder, is a shortcut. If you browse this forum, you'll see that it's a shortcut that many on the Subcontinent proudly take, but regardless of it's ubiquitous use, it's still cutting a corner. Short order cooking. People from other countries don't come to the U.S. and go to diners to learn how to cook. Sure, some diners could be more educational/illuminating than others, and there are quite a few chefs that could learn a thing or two in a diner, but, generally speaking, to begin to grasp the intricacies of a particular nation's cuisine one doesn't deconstruct that nation's equivalent of diner food.

Curry powder/curry powder based recipes aren't for those that want/need to learn. They're for those people that want/need to put food on the table quickly. It's a mundane, very utilitarian tool, used by thousands of people every day. From a scholastic perspective, though, it's an inherently frivolous ingredient. You're deconstructing something that was never meant to be deconstructed. You're taking seriously an ingredient that plays no serious role.

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Curry powder is not a serious ingredient.

I am forced to seriously disagree with this.

Happy Feasting

Janet (a.k.a The Old Foodie)

My Blog "The Old Foodie" gives you a short food history story each weekday day, always with a historic recipe, and sometimes a historic menu.

My email address is: theoldfoodie@fastmail.fm

Anything is bearable if you can make a story out of it. N. Scott Momaday

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"Curry Powder" [in the narrow sense we know it in the US or the Western world] may indeed be utterly useless when creating traditional dishes of northern India or Bengal, for example.

However, many south Indian [specifically Tamil Brahman] vegetaian dishes do rely on a number of pre-made 'dry' powders that could include copra, often supplemented by a second fresh-ground wet paste, the whole preparation finished off with a 'tempering' or 'baghar' of whole spices and fresh curry leaves [Murraya koenigii].

The cooking of Maharashtra and the western coastal plain also takes advantage, to some extent, on pre-made powders compounded of a number of spices that are toasted and finely ground; these mixes may also include roasted and gound copra, shallots, cashew nuts, lichen, and numerous aromatics suited to the food to be prepared. As you can see, these kala masalas, goda masalas etc., are far more than 'curry' powders where one size fits all. So in that sense, curry powder could be said to not be a serious ingredient, and I think that was what Scott's intent was.

Nonetheless, authentic Jamaican curry powder is used in, say, Jamaican curry, American curry powder in egg salads, or in Western redactions of 'Indian' curries are delicious all by themselves, and here curry powder has an important role. Brands like Frontier Spice provide an excellent product. The gentleman upstream who remarked about the importance of the flavor of fenugreek in curry powder surely must have been speaking about this westernised curry powder. It is doubtful that any north Indian 'curry' [other than the aachari] truly admit the taste of fenugreek within their traditional flavor palette.

When I was growing up in India the very early 60s, we saw no spice powders;even chilies and turmeric were ground to a paste by hand each morning in our home in rural Bengal 40 miles from Calcutta. This was standard in all homes, rich or poor.

These two spices were the first to be replaced by their powdered forms and until I left in 1988, there was never ever any general use of 'curry powder' even as a convenience product in this part of Bengal. Of course, things are different in other parts of the country with educated women in busy households choosing to experiment with many available convenience foods.

There is a Lamb Vindaloo that evolved/originated in post-war British curryhouses at the hands of Sylheti cooks from Bangladesh. This has NO connection WHATSOEVER, save the name, to the dish called VINDALOO that in India is prepared with pork and comes in two redactions: the primary one, of course, is Goan, the secondary East Indian (an old community going by that name of converted Marathas settled around old Bombay).

What sense is there decrying the former which has become validated and authenticated in its own right by being extravagantly loved? So with curry powder. It may not have a serious place in cooking traditional UR-Indian foods, but it does have a role in turning out a number of derivative, and even uniquely delicious products. In that sense it is not trivial at all.

.

Edited by v. gautam (log)
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Dear v. gautam

I am fascinated. The world needs a definitive book on Curry Powder. Why dont you write it?

Janet.

Happy Feasting

Janet (a.k.a The Old Foodie)

My Blog "The Old Foodie" gives you a short food history story each weekday day, always with a historic recipe, and sometimes a historic menu.

My email address is: theoldfoodie@fastmail.fm

Anything is bearable if you can make a story out of it. N. Scott Momaday

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However, many south Indian [specifically Tamil Brahman] vegetaian dishes do rely on a number of pre-made 'dry' powders that could include copra, often supplemented by a second fresh-ground wet paste, the whole preparation finished off with a 'tempering' or 'baghar' of whole spices and fresh curry leaves [Murraya koenigii].

The cooking of Maharashtra and the western coastal plain also takes advantage, to some extent, on pre-made powders compounded of a number of spices that are toasted and finely ground; these mixes may also include roasted and gound copra, shallots, cashew nuts, lichen, and numerous aromatics suited to the food to be prepared. As you can see, these kala masalas, goda masalas etc., are far more than 'curry' powders where one size fits all. So in that sense, curry powder could be said to not be a serious ingredient, and I think that was what Scott's intent was.

.

It may be convenient to have a bottle or so of generic curry powder

in the spice shelf, but like you and most others have pointed out,

every different dish has it's own customized spice blend.

So it's not clear what's being made when "curry powder" is being

used. And some of the labels (eg Madras curry powder) are

really baffling....

So, what does the OP plan to cook? Then maybe one can suggest

a specific spice blend for that dish.....

Otherwise, if it's for a generic taste-good, vaguely North Indian

style dish, it's achievable (at least IMO) by using cumin-coriander

powder + turmeric + red chili powder + garam masala....

Milagai

ps: Indian cooks who keep pre-made spice mixes in their

kitchen tend to keep the customized blends (e.g. sambar powder

to make sambar, chana masala to make chhole, etc.) more often

than the generic "curry powder". People may keep curry powder

on hand, but it may be for emergencies, or it may be treated

as a customized ingredient and augmented with other stuff,

rather than used generically....

Edited by Milagai (log)
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If you are after Anglo-Indian curry powder recipes, the ingredients for a few 19th century ones are:

William Kitchiner, 1820

Tumeric, coriander, black pepper, mustard, ginger, allspice, cumin, cardamom.

Rundell, 1825 (58th Edition)

Coriander, cumin, cardamom, turmeric, ginger, cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg.

Meg Dods, 1829

Advises reader to mix their own curry powder and not to be taken in by a ‘one powder suits all recipes’ product. Curry powder; ginger, coriander, turmeric, cayenne.

As you can see there is a wide amount of variation.

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Reading Adam’s post reminded me of Hemant Trivedi, who writes in eGullet under the handle ‘Nichiro’. The gentleman is like an older brother to me and will pardon me for excerpting portions of his website, especially since one of his driving passions is to teach the fine points of Indian cooking to the younger generations, and especially to others who may not have ever experienced it.

He is an extraordinarily talented cook, scholar, globetrotter, polymath and much else, He will be delighted if his words serve to enlighten some aspect of Indian foodways, and I hope that the forum moderators will understand that I excerpt full recipes here as a crucial pedagogic device that heartily will be supported by the author.

I have made a few small changes in grammar and syntax to make the recipes more accessible to an International audience, but otherwise, everything from here on down is Hemant Trivedi, writing in his own wonderful style.

His views and recipes are worthy of close attention. BTW, readers will guess that he cooks with a South Indian accent, but his home base is Saurashtra, Gujarat, as well [on the western coast of India].

“CURRYS ---

CURRY...CURRY...CURRY...CURRY.

The term curry derives from kari, a Tamil word meaning sauce and

referring to various kinds of dishes common in South India made

with vegetables or meat and usually eaten with rice

In Tamil cuisine, from which the word originated,

curry refers to any dry preparation involving meat

or vegetables shallow-fried with dry spices.

Used as a word in itself, it usually means chicken curry

or mutton curry; the dishes made with vegetables are usually

referred to with the vegetable as prefix - e.g. Potato curry,

Beans curry. Curry is usually eaten with Rice and Sambar or Rasam.

-WIKIPEDIA

MADRAS CURRY POWDER[

I am not in favour of using readymade powders but in the present circumstances, using Garam Masala powder, Curry powders and Sambar &Rasam podis have become an integral part of cookery. This is due to paucity of time. So how can Hemant escape from this???.

I am posting MADRAS CURRY POWDER today. This will be followed by Garam Masala and other powders and ready to eat podis like Chutney podi, Curry leaves podi and host of others.

Madras curry powder is a fantastic blend of spices which was popularized all over the world by the Britishers. Their CHICKEN CURRY and MUTTON CURRY was too hot to handle for the uninitiated. This one curry powder has its humble origins in Madras. The fisherman community and the Pariahs were the people who according to me were the people who should be credited with this curry powder combination.

.

INGREDIENTS

Dry Red Chillies 200 gms.

Coriander seeds 150 gms.

Black peppercorns 15 gms.

Fenugreek seeds 1 tsp

Black Mustard seeds 1.5 tsp

Cumin seed 1.5 tsp

Black gram dal, split, hulled 1 table spoon [urad dal]

Pigeon pea, ditto, 1 table spoon [toor or arhar dal]

White Rice 1.5 tsp

Asafoetida 1 tsp

Turmeric powder 1/2 tsp

Curry leaves 1/2 Cup

[METHOD OF PREPARATION

As in all the powders in South, it is important that the ingredients need to be sun dried till chillies crumble when pinched and so should the coriander. But since it may not be possible for most of you, dry roast each ingredient separately in an Iron skillet just to let the moisture leave the ingredients. Only rice needs to be roasted till the grains become light pink and the curry leaves should crumble.

Use a coffee grinder and grind to powder all the ingredients properly.

Sieve the powder. The powder is to be stored in an air tight container. A Glass jar is a must. Use this powder to make Mutton curry, Fish Kozambu, Chicken Curry etc. Please do not confuse this powder with Sambar Powder. This mistake is repeatedly committed by foreigners; they think sambar powder and curry powder are same.

Another CURRY POWDER:

Roast the following ingredients in medium heat to a light golden color. . After having cooled them, grind to a fine powder.

INGREDIENTS:

20 green cardamom pods, 2 cinnamon sticks which are broken into small pieces, 5 bay leaves, ½ tsp cloves, ¼ tsp grated nutmeg, 2tbsp aniseed, 1sp peppercorns, 10 dried curry leaves, 5 red chillies, 6tbsp coriander seeds, 3tbsp cumin seeds, 3tsp turmeric, 1tbsp fenugreek seeds, 2tbsp black mustard seeds.

And now here is Sensei-san in his inimitable teaching style.illustrating a very important point : how ready-made spice powders become incorporated into variations of dishes, Indian-fusion, if you will, remembering that India is as large and considerably more diverse than Western Europe:

Brinjal (Eggplant) Kootu

I was preparing to try a different approach to kootu I had in mind but I just could not get the right combination.So yesterday evening when I went in the kitchen, I was blank and had no plan.One thing was sure that I was not adopting any standard style like Kerala Kootu or Tamilndu kootu , neither was I going to use curds or lime.

I just set about fashioning kootu powder with one after the other ingredients. For giving body to powder, I used a shortcut of using sambar powder but jeera (cumin) was the magic I wanted to retain; it had to have a hot bite so more red chillies went in and then came the question of making it totally different , so Asafoetida in a raw state went in the powder. As a soothing touch, coconut (copra) powder also went in.

The rest was elementary.You have the result in the form of recipe which got me 8.5 on a scale of 10 from a very strict daughter who gives marks as if she loses a million bucks with every mark awarded.

So go ahead folks and try this KETA KOOTU which stands for Kerala Tamilnadu Kootu. National Integration of the best kind I would say.!!

KATHIRIKKAI KOOTU (KETA KOOTU)

For a family of four 2 servings

Green/Regular Brinjals 350 gms

Tamarind Juice 1 tbsp

Salt to taste

Kootu powder

Asafetida 1/2 tsp Kadalai Parappu (channa dhall, split chickpeas) 1 tbsp

Curry leaves 1 sprig Sambar Powder (T. Nadu style) 1 tsp (heaping)

Coconut powder 2 Table sp Whole red chillies 2 to 3

Jeera 1/2 tspoon

Tempering

Mustard seeds 1/4 tspoon Black Gram Dhall (Ulutham parappu) 1 spoon

Red Chillies 2 nos (broken) Sesame Oil (Gingly) 60 ml (2 to 3 ladleful)

First prepare Kootu powder. This powder is different from the ones you might have used so far. Fry Kadalai Parappu in a little oil till just it starts changing colour. Under no circumstances, it should be even light brown or give off frying smell. Fry green curry leaves and red chillies along with parappu. Powder them after they are cold along with Sambar powder, jeera, Asafetida and copra (dry coconut ) . Do not use desiccated coconut please. Set aside.

Select green Brinjals (long ) or usual dark brinjals of long variety. If not available, use others but Brinjals should be of sweet variety and not acidic.

Cut in 1. 5 " long pieces of 4 pieces from one big piece. Immerse in water for about ten minutes. This would remove oxidating enzyme oxidase which browns it and sometimes gives funny taste.

Pat dry with a clean cloth. Take oil in a kadai (wok) , add the tempering. Set on medium flame. When the mustard seeds start popping, the black gram dhall would have turned slight brown. Now add the brinjals and sauté for four minutes at the most. Now add a spoon of Tamarind juice and salt. Mix thoroughly and cook for further two to three minutes. By now the brinjals would be 3/4 cooked. Now add the Kootu powder you made and mix thoroughly. Taste for salt. Turn the mix properly for a minute and switch off the stove. Cover the kadai and let brinjals cook in residual heat.

After 30 minutes, check. The brinjal Kootu would have cooked beautifully. Reheat and serve with rice, Rasam or sambar rice. Tastes equally great with poories, chapathis etc.

Enjoy!!!

Back to Curries

Thanks to all the ForumHubbers for making this happen

Vege Curry, Mixed (Karnataka)

MIX VEGETABLE PALAYA (KARNATAKA STYLE)

Karnataka Curries have a totally different type of taste than other southern curries. There is a very biting Chilli usage and there is a fine usage of Mustard and Coconuts in Vegetable curries. I am posting a MIX VEGETABLE CURRY in coconut milk Gravy . Remember, that if you cannot get hold of Coconut Milk in Indian Stores, try a store which sells Thai or Malay food items.If you still cant get the same , you can use plain milk or Cashew paste thinned to form Milk. This PALAYA tastes great with Rice and Parathas and Poories.

Note above how he provides the proper specific Indian name for the particular dish, before following it with the looser INDIAN-ENGLISH equivalent of XYZ CURRY.

This is a point well worth remembering, and a trend that throughout history has caused much confusion about the meaning of the word “CURRY.”

Now see how the 2 eggplant dishes given below differ, although both are from south India, indeed from the contiguous states.

ENNAI KATHTHARIKAI CURRY

Ingredients:

Peanuts, raw, 2tbsp,

White poppyseeds-1tsp,

fenugreek seeds]-1/2tsp,

White sesame seeds-1tsp,

Cumin seeds-3/4sp,

Small asian shallots- 15.

Tomato pieces-11/2 cups,

Garlic cloves-6,

Coriander powder-11/2tsp,

Red pepper powder[mild]-1 tbsp,

Turmeric powder-1tsp

eggplant-8 to 10[small round ones, substitute small Italian type?]

Unroasted sesame oil- 4tbsp,

Mustard seeds-1tsp,

Peppercorns-1tsp,

Green chillies-5,[slit them lengthwise]

Tamarind-a lime size ball

Enough salt to taste.

Method:

Dry roast peanuts, cumin seeds, poppyseed, sesame seeds, fenugreek seeds to a golden brown colour and grind them with onions, tomatoes and garlic without adding water.

Add the turmeric powder, chilli powder, and the coriander powder and mix well.

Cut each eggplant in to 8 pieces lengthwise, add enough salt and the mixed masala to this, mix well and keep them covered for 1/2 hour.

Heat the oil in a wok and add mustard seeds.

When it splutters, add the green chillies and the peppercorns and fry for two minutes. Now add the eggplant with masasla and cook on a medium fire until the oil comes on the top.

Extract a thick juice from the tamarind and add to the eggplant.

When all the water is absorbed and the oil floats on the top, put off the fire.

The gravy must be thick.

Onion (Gutti Vankaya Kura)

GUTTI VANKAYA KURA

As a general rule, almost all the curries from Andhra Pradesh are EO & ET type and are fire balls for the uninitiated. But once you get the hang of them and once you get a taste of Andhra food, you would love to have them again and again. Today I am posting first version of GUTTI VANKAYA KURA

Round small Brinjals 250 gms.

Red chillies(dry) 7 to 8 nos.

Dry coconut (Grated) 1/2 cup

Coriander seeds 1 spoon

Fried Bengal Gram dhall 3 spoons

Onion 2 nos.

Tamarind 1 medium lemon size

salt to taste

Turmeric powder 1/2 spoon

Oil 2 ladle full [60 ml?]

Cut brinjals (slit) in four but retain the stalk .Make the cuts from the top as you are going to stuff them. Take oil in a kadai and fry the brinjals till they are 1/2 cooked and are ready for stuffing. Keep them aside.

Make a powder of red chillies, salt , coriander seeds, copra (dry coconut). When the powder is ready, add onion pieces and Turmeric powder and make a paste of the whole thing in a mixi (oriental food processor).

Now take about three spoons of oil in the woki and fry the paste for about two to three minutes stirring it constantly. Remove from fire and let it cool. Now stuff the brinjals with the fried paste and when the stuffing is over, keep the brinjals covered for about 15 minutes.

Now reheat the Brinjals for about ten minutes on a low flame, taking care to see that the brinjals do not become too soft and soggy. Serve piping hot along with plain rice. This also goes very well with chapathi and parotha.

.............................................................................................................................

Now on to some non-veg options with a southern accent, also from the same author; note the same spices, used differently to give an entirely different experience:

CHICKEN MASALA:

Ingredients:

Chicken pieces- 2 kilo

Fresh curd- 8 tbsp

Ginger paste-4tsp

Garlic paste- 4 tsp

Coarsely ground black pepper -2 ½ tbsp

Lime juice- 2 tsp

Turmeric powder-1 tsp

Cumin powder-1 tsp

Red pepper powder- 1tbsp

Fennel powder- 3 tsp

Coriander powder-2 tsp

Oil-7 tbsp

Chopped onion- 3 cups

Chopped tomatoes- 2 cups

Red chillies, dry-6

Curry leaves- a handful

Salt to taste

Procedure:

Clean and wash the chicken pieces well.

Marinate these chicken pieces with the fresh curd, ginger paste 2sp, garlic paste 2sp, coarsely ground pepper -1 ½ tbsp, lime juice , cumin powder red pepper powder, fennel powder, coriander powder, salt and turmeric powder for 2 hours.

Heat a big wok and pour 6tbsp oil.

When it becomes hot, add the chopped onion and fry slowly until the color changes into golden brown.

Then add 2tsp ginger paste and 2tsp garlic paste.

Fry well for a few minutes.

Then add the crushed tomatoes with 1/2sp salt and cook well until they are well mashed and the oil floats on the top.

Then add the chicken and cook until the chicken pieces are cooked and the gravy is thickened.

Cook on medium fire and do not add any extra water.

Heat a small wok and pour 2tbsp oil.

When it becomes hot, add the dry red chillies, curry leaves and 1tbsp coarsely ground peppercorns.

Pour this on the chicken masala and mix well.

Cook for a few minutes and then put off the fire. Garnish with chopped coriander leaves.

TOMATO MUTTON (chevon) CURRY

Ingredients:

Oil- 3tbsp

Ghee- 3tbsp

Mutton pieces- ½ kilo

Turmeric powder- 1 tsp

Salt to tatse

Grind to a paste:

Chopped tomatoes- 1 cup

Small onions-8

Garlic cloves-10 (indian cloves are very small)

Ginger- 1” piece

Chopped coriander leaves- ½ cup

Shredded coconut- 2tbsp

Powder the following:

Fennel seeds- 1tsp

Red chillies-8

Cumin seeds- 1tsp

Cinnamon- 1 piece

Cardamom, green-2

Poppy seeds- 1 tsp

Fennel seeds- 2tsp

Procedure:

Add the ground paste with the mutton pieces and mix well with enough salt and the turmeric powder. .

Pressure cook this mutton for 5 or 6 whistles.

Heat a wok and pour the oil and the ghee.

Add the ground powder to the ghee and fry for a few minutes on slow fire.

Add the cooked mutton masala and cook until the gravy thickens.

Add chopped coriander and curry leaves.

Edited by v. gautam (log)
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but the OP did not mention whether it was Indian curry powder or not.

AFAIK, 'curry powder' is not used in India, the most well known curry powder, 'Madras curry powder' is all exported from Chennai.

If you use curry powder (to produce what you think is a curry) then you must be one of those people who thinks curry is a single flavour, and the only curries are 'chicken curry, lamb curry, prawn curry,' etc. which, of course, is not what this forum is about.

However, if you use it to 'spice up' a dish, then maybe you should learn a little (maybe a lot!) more about flavouring.

As has been pointed out by some up-thread, most Indian dishes are produced from individual spices, and for a very good reason. Spices need to be added at different times in the proceedings, this is to ensure extraction of the flavours, to limit burning and ensure proper mixing.

There is a growing number of packets of spices to enable the 'cook' to produce single dishes, I have seen these in Asian stoes in the UK, and in India. The variety of packets (and therefore dishes) far exceed the number of common spices a good cook would use, so what is the point, apart from convenience?

I do confess to using some mixes I've blended myself, such as sambhar and rasam, and my own garam masalas (which do not contain coriander or cumin powder), but these are for very specific dishes, and ones I use all the time. I don't use mixes for rogan josh, which I might make once a month, as the spices need to be freshly ground to give of their best.

HTH

cheers

Waaza

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Since we have not heard from Sweetback, the OP may have abandoned her (?) quest for a simple curry powder recipe owing to the growing complexity of the discussions.

If so, here is a Jamaican curry powder recipe that might fit the bill:

Proportions by weight:

Turmeric powder 5

Coriander seed whole or powder (as convenient) 4

Cayenne or sweet hungarian paprika or milder anaheim dry red pepper 3

Fenugreek seed (depending on taste) 2-3

Cumin seed 2

Peppercorns 2

Anise 2

Yellow mustard whole 2

Cloves 1

Ground ginger 1

Nutmeg 1

Allspice 1

Grind fine and store in a glass bottle in freezer.

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