Curry Powder

[donna]

Curry Powder is the spice for this week, Jan. 10th thru 16th. Curry Powder is a blending of many spices. Durkee's Curry Powder contains some 17 spices ground together according to a secret formula that has been developed, over the years, to suit the American taste. Cumin, celery, coriander, mace, ginger and other quality spices provide its pungent flavor. Turmeric increases the yellow brown color as well as adding an unusual flavor. The use of quality spices plays an important part in the preparation of a high grade Curry Powder.

Although Curry Powder originated in India, the people of India do not usually use a blended mix. They improvise and vary their Curry blends from meal to meal, and use a much higher proportion of black pepper than would be acceptable in this country.

Creative cooks have discovered Curry in recent years as a welcome flavor in food preparation. Lamb curry, and rice was a well-known dish more than a century ago, but Curry flavor applies as well to veal, chicken, shrimp, eggs, and vegetables. Curry can be used in meats, stews, croquettes, fish, and other dishes. It adds an unexpected tang to French dressing or tomato soup.

From: "A handbook of Spices, Herbs, Seasonings and Flavorings By Durkee".

As I have mentioned before my father worked as a Chemist for Durkee Famous Foods. I grew up with Durkee spices. Always have found them the best.

 

[MRB1863]

Donna,
Curry powder is a versatile and palatable spice! Use it frequently, especially in Chicken, Tuna and Ham Salad. Praise Durkee, too. Prefer it to the McSpice. Use turmeric every day in my morning V8. It is reputed to have dozens of health benefits including reducing inflammation. By doing so, helps with sore muscles. Buy Turmeric in bulk at a local Eastern Spice Store at a fraction of the grocery store price. Tasty and works for me.

 

[diane]

Curry powder is great! We have two new east Indian restaurants here - one is Americanized Indian food and the other specializes in authentic Northern Indian cuisine. I'm not a world-wise person but their food is amazingly different - like nothing I've ever eaten before. Don't know if it's too strange for us hillbillies, but it is very good! Hope Mr Khan makes a go of it.

 

[Allie]

I never much cared for the flavor of American curry powder, but I do use a lot of the Indian equivalent, Garam Masala, which just means "spice mix." Learning which individual Indian spices to use when is an ongoing process for me, but I'm becoming more confident and adventurous! Definitely buy at an Asian or Indian market if you have one, not only is it shockingly less expensive, but the spices are much more potent than grocery-store variety.

If you want to cook delicious and authentic Indian food at home, I highly recommend the vah chef, Sanjay Thumma, at vahrehvah.com . His videos demonstrate theory and basic techniques, and he is also very cute.

When our favorite Indian restaurant closed, I had to learn to make my husband's favorite, Saag Chicken. Every recipe online seemed a little different until I remembered that the owners of the restaurant were from Hyderabad. Sanjay Thumma is also from Hyderabad and his Saag Chicken was the right one! India is a very complicated country with many different cuisines.

Here is the chicken saag recipe:

http://www.vahrehvah.com/chicken-in-silky-spinach-curry-murg-saagwala#.Urz8XLS9JwQ

For cooks new to Indian cooking, other easy (and not challenging to the palate) recipes include egg biryani (long grained rice with spicy yogurt sauce and eggs), raitha (cucumber and yogurt sauce), and dal tadka (lentils with spicy seasoning.)

Making a tadka, or tempering, is an Indian technique I've incorporated into lots of my other cooking. Basically you start with oil, butter, or ghee, cook some chopped onions and garlic, add your chosen spices, then mix the seasoned butter into your recipe. A tadka is a great last-minute way to perk up anything that turned out a little bland.

 

[diane]

That would be much different cooking style than the Khans - they are from Punjab. He said there was a lot of Arab and even Mediterranean influence in their cooking. It's fun to sort it out! Some dishes I'm going to have to adjust my palate for, though - very different indeed.

 

[donna]

Thought I bring up this thread since discussion of curry and turmeric.

 

[donna]

Another old recipe for Curry Powder is from Dr. Kitchiner's "The Cook's Oracle" which was first published in 1817. He recommended curry powder for chicken, fish, vegetables and rabbit. It was very popular in the 1800s.

Dr. Kitchiner's curry powder (recreated)

2 tablespoons turmeric
1 tablespoon ground coriander seeds
1 teaspoon ground mustard seeds
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon ground allspice
1/4 teaspoon ground cardamom
1/4 teaspoon ground cumin
1/4 teaspoon chilli powder

In a small bowl, stir all the spices together until evenly mixed. Store in the pantry in an airtight jar for up to twelve months.

 

[donna]

A delicious soup with curry powder is Cream of Curry Soup. This recipe from "The abc of spice cookery", published by the American Spice Trade Association, 1950.

Cream of Curry Soup

3 pints chicken stock
2 1/2 tablespoons flour
2 tablespoons butter, melted
salt to taste
pinch cayenne pepper
1 teaspoon curry powder
1/2 cup cream
1 egg yolk
fried croutons

Blend flour and melted butter and chicken stock, cook for 15 minutes, adding salt to taste and a pinch of cayenne pepper. Moisten curry powder with some stock and add beaten egg yolk. Blend with cream and stir into soup. Heat but do not boil. Serve at once garnished with buttered croutons.

 

[nitrofd]

I am a large fan of curry dishes but I do not know which I prefer better Indian or Thai curry.certain chinese curry ' s are also very good.tough choice.

 

[donna]

Here is another thread on Curry.

 

[1stMN]

I've really come to enjoy curry in chicken salad for sandwiches. For the longest time, I stayed away from it thinking only of the spicier dishes I'd heard of with curry but I tried it in my chicken salad and it was dynamite!

 

[nitrofd]

Most people do not realize that curry isn't hot.it does have its own flavor which works well with so many types of food.there are some curries that are exceptionally hot mostly Thai and some Indian but the majority of them are just mild.there is an Indian curry called Masala that goes with sweet potatoes that is one of the best vegan dishes that I have ever tried.

 

[ErnieMac]

Most people do not realize that curry isn't hot.it does have its own flavor which works well with so many types of food.there are some curries that are exceptionally hot mostly Thai and some Indian but the majority of them are just mild.there is an Indian curry called Masala that goes with sweet potatoes that is one of the best vegan dishes that I have ever tried.

My first experience with curry occurred during my first long term overseas business trip. I was provided with an apartment in a complex that housed numerous Asian tenants. There was one family I never met, but could tell when they were cooking a curry dish because my sinuses would clear when I walked past there door. Fortunately my business colleagues convinced me the level of spiciness could be adjusted to taste. I find I prefer a level higher than most American taste buds enjoy, but not so hot as to overpower the other ingredients in the meal. One thing I can say with certainty is there is nothing quite like the sensation of standing in a spice market and enjoying the aromas.

 

[donna]

I have never been to a spice market but do remember the wonderful smell coming from Durkee where my Dad worked.

When Durkee was in Elmhurst, N.Y, where he started with them, the neighbors would all complain of the smell. I thought it was wonderful/. Because of neighbor complaints for years they closed that plant and moved the location to Louisville, Ky. and Bethlehem, Pa.

We moved to Louisville. I still remember that smell. It was in the old German town of Louisville. They stayed for years.

 

[Allie]

Most people do not realize that curry isn't hot.it does have its own flavor which works well with so many types of food.there are some curries that are exceptionally hot mostly Thai and some Indian but the majority of them are just mild.there is an Indian curry called Masala that goes with sweet potatoes that is one of the best vegan dishes that I have ever tried.

Masala literally means "spice" and can refer to any kind of spices. Indian markets typically do not sell such a thing as curry powder. Instead, you can buy "garam masala," which means, basically, "spice mix." Most garam masala is fairly similar to what we call curry powder, but they do vary, and most have mild heat. Likewise, "Chicken tikka masala," or any other dish called masala, may be completely mild or burning hot, depending on the cook.

I've found when buying spices from our local Indian market that a good approach is to tell the owner what you are planning to make and ask for advice. Many Indian cooks make their own garam masala with a grinder, but they will definitely know which of the bewildering array of brands is good quality. "Which would you use?" is a good question.

Here is an egg masala curry which looks delicious - it has cashew and coconut.

http://indianhealthyrecipes.com/egg-masala-curry-for-biryanichapathipulao/

 

[nitrofd]

Masala literally means "spice" and can refer to any kind of spices. Indian markets typically do not sell such a thing as curry powder. Instead, you can buy "garam masala," which means, basically, "spice mix." Most garam masala is fairly similar to what we call curry powder, but they do vary, and most have mild heat. Likewise, "Chicken tikka masala," or any other dish called masala, may be completely mild or burning hot, depending on the cook.

I've found when buying spices from our local Indian market that a good approach is to tell the owner what you are planning to make and ask for advice. Many Indian cooks make their own garam masala with a grinder, but they will definitely know which of the bewildering array of brands is good quality. "Which would you use?" is a good question.

Here is an egg masala curry which looks delicious - it has cashew and coconut.

http://indianhealthyrecipes.com/egg-masala-curry-for-biryanichapathipulao/

It's funny that you mention "chicken Tikka masala" as it is not a n Indian dish at all.it was created in England in the early 60's probably from all the Indian influence that is over there but today it is actually considered the national dish of England.the British have finally added spice to their life.

 

[nitrofd]

Being in Florida we do get a large influence of Caribbean cooking in our foods.alot of the island countries use alot of curry in their food and one that I have grown very fond of comes from Jamaica and that is curried goat.at first I wasn't sure if I wanted to eat goat but I found it to an excellent meal.you do have to be careful as the island people like to use alot of Scotch Bonnet peppers in their cooking and most of us know that pepper as a habenero pepper so the food can get uncomfortably hot, but if toned down it does add great flavor.

 

[donna]

Here is thread on Curry Powder with some other recipes.

 

[donna]

Since mention of Curry Powder, thought bring this thread back up.

 

[donna]

As one can see, Curry is used in many dishes. Thought bring this thread on Curry Powder back up since Jan. 12th National Curried Chicken Day.