I have attached a PDF file that covers my current methodology to produce curry pastes !

these are fermented pastes so the Lactic acid you see on  the label of the commercial curry paste jars is a byproduct of the fermentation process !

I have many different spice blends but the process is the same as described in the attached in producing spice pastes !

The object is to get as close as possible to that perfect curry as you can from a paste and I have set Pataks pastes  as my standard !  given I can not buy these where I live

Please I am open to any comments suggestions and questions !   least it be about my spelling or grammar



Cheers 

Penned on my iPad as the image was two large to attach !

The opening chapter from a turn of the century chemist recipe book on curry powder recipes

Quote

This condiment is one of the things England gained when she concurred India , that is to say the taste or it ! Because no Indian chief worth his salt would tell how he makes his curry !

And he generally has several compositions , yet every maker of curry powder considers his own particular article the only true original condiment .

Of such we give more than a score of recipes which have come from Hindoo cooks , east India missionaries and military heroes --- men who have suffered there country in curry as well as in warfare . It should be noted that it is a mistake to have the powder a pure yellow !!!

Rather should it be brownish, with a yellow tinge . Hence it should contain not more than 25% . Of turmeric , nor must it be forgotten that flavor is important above all other requirements . This is to be obtained by using fresh condiment , freshly ground ,and  ( herein lies the secret of Ritchie flavor ) ground together ! Pungency is a matter of cayenne pepper, and can be controlled at will . Preference is given to these powders containing cardamon and cummin , but all the formulas  that are tabulated require modification of the proportion of turmeric .

For all practical purposes the first two formulas are quite suitable . The powders are well even richly - flavored and are exceptionally adapted for retailing .

Coriander ........... 6 oz
Cardamoms ........1/2 oz
Madras turmeric ..3 oz
Jamaica ginger ....3 dr
Cayenne pepper ..3 dr
Cummin ................1oz
Fenugreek .............1 1/2 oz
Cinnamon ..............2 oz
Pimento .................2 dr
Black pepper .........1 dr
Long pepper ..........1dr
Cloves ....................1 dr
Nutmeg ...................1 dr

The whole to be in a powder mixed intimately in a mortar and sifted .

I am all for growing what I can ! Actually when you live away from modern cities it's a matter of having to some times !

For me t was that the local markets did not always have it when I needed it so I had to start learning how to buy plenty when it was fresh and preserve it in a manor that was except able n flavor and aesthetics ! Freezing it is just don't go there !

So far my best solution has been ferment it in a probiotic brine ! Simple ! I wash it and pack it in a sterilized jar and cover it in salty water ! Leave it a couple of days out of the ref so the natural fermentation get under way ! Then put it in the ref it will stay full flavor and green for weeks ! Not to mention healthy natural way to preserve !



Love t hear any other methods keeping  coriander ready for the kitchen  !

This serves both for those who manage to grow more than thy can use ! And those who simply get fed up searching the supermarket for a condiment that curries simply can not substitute !


Dave

Kiwi actually !  Grate grandfather, Scottish expat in Fiji , Grandfather and father borne there , Engineers in Lautoka Sugar  mills where Indians where emigrated into Fiji to work the sugar plantations .  the Indian Cooks servants and Yayos past on to my ancestors the culture of Indian food , that I intern  picked up and ran with from a very young man ! my father then a high school student was sent to New Zealand to escape Japanese menace in the 1940s and never returned , this  did not stop him befriending every Indian green grocer in New Zealand at that time to hunt down the spices , herbs and vegetables he needed to fuel his addiction in Indian food ! and it seems as I look back at 35 years of cooking and studying spice that this  pursuit of spice has been my endless task  as well ! Living in Cebu I have to travel to Singapore ( Mustafa in little India ) several times a year just to bring back a Port  full of  spice !  today I grow my own curry leaves , Kiffer Lime , Bay leaves , Galangou . we are blessed with fresh coconut and I produce my own oil ! Living in a country that was ruled for  300 years by the Spanish , there is a surprising shortage of spice in local markets

I joined this Forum for two reasons ! one, we all share this interest in spice and two because I have taken on an interest in spice pastes !  Not being able to get Pataks or any other good brands in this region ,I have started to make my own !

I will not except those who shoot down pastes as second to fresh whole spice, as fermented paste and pickels have been part of Indian culture for a millennium and Pataks speaks for itself . Mango and lime pickles , fermented producing natural lactic acids  , and flavors  absorbed into oils in spice paste jars somehow add to the culture and have earned there Place .

I hope that as I make my way through the archives here I can open and expand this subject  beyond simply adding ground herbs and  spice into vinegar and oil into something that gets closer to what Partakes do in a jar !

I ticked the "open to anyone emailing back" box when I joined   ! and I  look forward meeting you all and to mining the Archive

Cheers

Dave