Topic: Curry Powder

[Jal-frenzy]

Hello,

I want to make my own curry powder rather than buy some from a shop but can't find one on here, could someone point me to some recipes on this site or suggest one?

Thanks!

[George]

It's generally known as 'mix powder' here, when used for making BIR style curries.

See this section, with several recipes / blends:

http://www.curry-recipes.co.uk/curry/index.php/board,28.0.html

If you decide to make your own curry powder, rather than use Rajah packs for example, then good luck! They have decades of experience and I cant see how you could do better.

[RubyDoo]

What confuses me is why MANY of the listed / suggested / preferred ' mix ' powders also contain a percentage of commercial curry powder just such as Rajah ( generally considered a good brand ). The commercial stuff in turn contains much of the added 'basic' mix spices ( coriander, turmeric etc ) and, I suppose an amount of other things. Is this just a way of getting the other ingredients into the mix? If so why not add them as individual elements in what would follow to be, minimal amounts?
  

[Jal-frenzy]

What confuses me is why MANY of the listed / suggested / preferred ' mix ' powders also contain a percentage of commercial curry powder just such as Rajah ( generally considered a good brand ). The commercial stuff in turn contains much of the added 'basic' mix spices ( coriander, turmeric etc ) and, I suppose an amount of other things. Is this just a way of getting the other ingredients into the mix? If so why not add them as individual elements in what would follow to be, minimal amounts?
  

Thanks. That is exactly what I was thinking - if I need to make a spice mix anyway why not combine the ingredients that makes the commercial curry powder too...

[George]

What confuses me is why MANY of the listed / suggested / preferred ' mix ' powders also contain a percentage of commercial curry powder just such as Rajah ( generally considered a good brand ). The commercial stuff in turn contains much of the added 'basic' mix spices ( coriander, turmeric etc ) and, I suppose an amount of other things. Is this just a way of getting the other ingredients into the mix? If so why not add them as individual elements in what would follow to be, minimal amounts?
  

Thanks. That is exactly what I was thinking - if I need to make a spice mix anyway why not combine the ingredients that makes the commercial curry powder too...

If you think you can improve on what the BIRs do, then by all means give it a try. Good luck. You're going to need it.

[Peripatetic Phil]

What confuses me is why MANY of the listed / suggested / preferred ' mix ' powders also contain a percentage of commercial curry powder just such as Rajah ( generally considered a good brand ). The commercial stuff in turn contains much of the added 'basic' mix spices ( coriander, turmeric etc ) and, I suppose an amount of other things. Is this just a way of getting the other ingredients into the mix? If so why not add them as individual elements in what would follow to be, minimal amounts?  

I have been asking this for years, and it seems to me (as to others before me) that the answer lies in your closing phrase : " in [...] minimal amounts".  We can, with /reasonable/ accuracy, measure down to (say) 1/4 teaspoonful (certainly my calibrated spoons go that low and then stop there).  But a typical curry powder contains of the order of 12 to 16 individual spices : if the "mix powder" (the need for which I also question) contains four teaspoonsful of curry powder, then if all the 16 spices were in equal proportion we might manage to add the correct quantity of each.  But they are not : some spices predominate, some are there in only trace quantities.  And these trace quantities we simply cannot measure with the normal instruments at most people's disposal.  So we have a choice : we can either make massive quantities of mix powder, so that even the trace spices exist in quantities large enough to measure precisely (in which case our mix powder may well go stale before we finish it), or we can rely on the manufacturers of commercial curry powders to do this scaling up on our behalf and then use their finished product.  The last two curries I made had no curry powder in them, and were significantly the worse for that.

** Phil.

[RubyDoo]

Thanks. That is exactly what I was thinking - if I need to make a spice mix anyway why not combine the ingredients that makes the commercial curry powder too...

Jal Frenzy, that is not exactly what I meant but I see where you are coming from.  Ignoring the moderator's unnecessarily inane and unhelpful reply I think **Phil has eloquently expanded on what I was suggesting as maybe a reason for adding commercial powder into a mix. ie to get the minimal quantities of the other ingredients. To get an idea have a look at a bag of Basaar curry powder and see what goodies lie therein!!  be nice if it gave the ratios!

[Jal-frenzy]

OK that makes sense. From those I've used curry powders vary massively in the amount of ingredients in them, likely the better ones I've used do have a huge array of ingredients, so as you say so it makes sense to purchase the mix that rather than trying to replicate the exact mix, thanks. Time to go purchase a packet before I put my first base sauce on!

[RubyDoo]

Er am I going mad? I replied to Hannon and now you are shown as Jal Frenzy. ?    :-X

[Peripatetic Phil]

Er am I going mad? I replied to Hannon and now you are shown as Jal Frenzy. ?    :-X

You're going mad, Ruby