Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons ground coriander
- 2 tablespoons ground cumin
- 1 1/2 tablespoons ground turmeric
- 2 teaspoons ground ginger
- 1 teaspoon dry mustard
- 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cardamom
- 1/2 teaspoon chili powder (optional)
Optional, for a fuller blend
- 1 teaspoon ground fenugreek
- 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
- 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
Instructions
- Smell each jar before it goes in. Ground spice fades from the day it is milled, and a turmeric that smells of nothing but dust makes a curry powder that tastes of nothing but colour.
- Measure the coriander and cumin first, since together they are most of the blend by volume. Those two are the body of the mixture and everything after them is correction.
- Add the turmeric, ginger, mustard, pepper, cinnamon and cardamom, and the chilli if you want heat. Cardamom is the one to go carefully with — it will take over the whole jar if you are generous.
- Stir with a fork for longer than feels necessary, lifting from the bottom of the bowl. The heavier powders sink, and a blend mixed for ten seconds ends up turmeric at the bottom and pepper at the top.
- Warm a pinch in oil before you judge it. Everything in here is raw, and these spices only give their real flavour to a hot pan — tasting the dry powder tells you very little.
- Fill a small jar right to the top rather than half-filling a big one. Air in the headspace is what dulls a blend, and a half-empty jar loses its smell twice as fast.
- It holds its colour for a year and its smell for about three months. After that it is still usable, but you will need more of it to get the same result.
