Curry Recipes Online
Supplementary Recipes (Curry Powders, Curry Paste, Restaurant Spice Mixes) => Supplementary Recipes (Spice Mixes, Masalas, Pastes, Oils, Stocks, etc) => Topic started by: Salvador Dhali on March 07, 2012, 11:46 AM
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Thanks to the fantastic generosity of Michael.T (http://www.curry-recipes.co.uk/curry/index.php?topic=7896.0 (http://www.curry-recipes.co.uk/curry/index.php?topic=7896.0)) I at last have my hands on some of the coveted commercial Rajah Premium Madras powder, so thought I'd do a side by side comparison to see how it stacks up against its domestic market counterpart, Rajah Mild Madras powder.
In the picture below the Rajah Premium is on the right:
(http://www.curry-recipes.co.uk/imagehost/pics/6d45e7fc79b89f1c83924a83b5277f98.jpg) (http://www.curry-recipes.co.uk/imagehost/#6d45e7fc79b89f1c83924a83b5277f98.jpg)
As you can see, the Rajah Premium is a little darker and not so yellow as the standard powder, which could indicate less turmeric and/or a little more cumin or other darker spices in the mix.
Taste wise there's definitely a difference.
The Rajah Premium has a less harsh, more rounded, balanced and 'sweeter' taste. In fact I found it quite moreish, and went in for a fair few finger dabs.
Heat levels are identical.
It's not life changing, nor is it going to magically transform your dishes and take them to a new stratospheric level, but given the choice the Rajah Premium is the one I'd go for every time.
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The Rajah Gold has a less harsh, more rounded, balanced and 'sweeter' taste. In fact I found it quite moreish, and went in for a fair few finger dabs.
Hi SD, I'd imagine that less turmeric provides a less bitter flavour.I had toyed with the idea of getting a 10kg. They are around
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The Rajah Gold has a less harsh, more rounded, balanced and 'sweeter' taste. In fact I found it quite moreish, and went in for a fair few finger dabs.
Hi SD, I'd imagine that less turmeric provides a less bitter flavour.I had toyed with the idea of getting a 10kg. They are around
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The Rajah Gold has a less harsh, more rounded, balanced and 'sweeter' taste. In fact I found it quite moreish, and went in for a fair few finger dabs.
Hi SD, I'd imagine that less turmeric provides a less bitter flavour.I had toyed with the idea of getting a 10kg. They are around
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ALWAYS remember you get what you pay for
That statement was never meant to be taken literally, not by the seller anyway
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I didn't think of tasting both powders to compare them. Well done Salvador Dhali for making me think.
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[edit: This should read 'Raja Premium' Madras powder, not Rajah Gold.
If your're saying the thread title is wrong, would you like me to try and change it? i.e if you're over time-out to modify it yourself.
POST CHECKLIST:
Could this post be construed as negative? - yes - pass
Is it potentially helpful? - yes - pass
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[edit: This should read 'Raja Premium' Madras powder, not Rajah Gold.
If your're saying the thread title is wrong, would you like me to try and change it? i.e if you're over time-out to modify it yourself.
Thanks for the offer, George - I didn't realise I could change thread titles as well. Anyway, I've just checked and I'm still within time, so have modified it.
Cheers
Gary
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I've never seen the Rajah Gold stuff; but I can attest to the difference between Rajah Mild Madras Curry powder sold in small tins to that sold in slightly larger bags. The stuff in the bags is missing many of the ingredients found in the tinned variety: fennel seed comes to mind, but also a fair few others. In fact the bagged stuff was your bog-standard turmeric/cumin/corriander etc type mix.
Like others on here, when I make up by own mix, using the usual suspects; I oftern add a small quantity of commerical stuff, to effectively increse the variety of ingredients in it. There was no point whatever in used the baggged stuff because alll I was achieving was adding spices I'd already included!
BTW, 'my' mix is a slightly altered 'Bruce Edwards' type powder: 2 parts turmeric; 2 parts corriander; 1 part cumin; 1 part Kashmiri Mirch and 1 part Rajah Mild Madras tinned curry powder. Other stuff: mace/cinnamon/pepper corns/cardamon (black or/& green) gets fried-in at the beginning, and if I'm using star anise, one or two 'blades' of the star in at the simmer stage.
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Salvador,
well pleased on your result. there is a clear difference to me between the "better" curry powders.
what it is has got me baffled though. i've been finger tasting the mix sent by ifindforu for days (eastern star).
the only thing i've picked up on is that turmeric is a tad harsh but i can't see that being the full reason.
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Salvador,
well pleased on your result. there is a clear difference to me between the "better" curry powders.
what it is has got me baffled though. i've been finger tasting the mix sent by ifindforu for days (eastern star).
the only thing i've picked up on is that turmeric is a tad harsh but i can't see that being the full reason.
There definitely is a difference. According to Michael T, who was so generous in sending the Rajah Premium, it's more expensive than the Rajah Gold, which would indicate a higher quality. (I wasn't aware that Rajah had two grades of commercial powder, to be honest). I'm no sommelier of spices, but as said I can only describe the difference as being less harsh, more rounded, balanced and 'sweeter'.
I've not tried ifindforu's mix, but it would be unlikely that I'd be able to pick up on anything more than the usual stronger tasting suspects in there anyway, so I'm afraid I'll have to leave you in a state of bafflement... :-\
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if we could put our finger on "why" 2 commercial grades exist it would certainly help get a better understanding.
in general food a commercial difference seem to occur when there is much of a poor grade and little of best grade.
there are a lot of ingredients in curry powder but a few stick out as potential contenders - turmeric is my bet with the other contender being chiili powder.
my interest being to increase the turmeric in base and reduce the proportion in mix. this would give that smoothness without having to source the deluxe stuff. it really is finger in the air though.
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Following this, think I might give this a try instead of a mix powder in one of my curries tonight.
Phil was having good results in his interesting thread, using curry powder as a nucleus. http://www.curry-recipes.co.uk/curry/index.php?topic=7904.0 (http://www.curry-recipes.co.uk/curry/index.php?topic=7904.0)
Martin