Curry powder is often flavored with coriander.
Curry powder is a spice mix designed for use in Indian cooking. In India, cooks prefer to prepare their spices freshly prepared as needed, which ensures maximum flavor, but packaged curry mixes can also be purchased. In the West, curry powder mixes are very common, and many cooks use them for convenience, since preparing the powder itself can be time-consuming.
Curry powder.
Indian cuisine is famous for featuring a wide variety of spices, which vary by dish, region, and personal taste. When British colonists arrived in India, they were captivated by traditional Indian cuisine, particularly the savory khari, or “sauces” of South India. Wanting to bring a bit of India with them, settlers began creating their own curry powder concoctions, adapting them to Western tastes and often including a large amount of saffron for a distinctive yellow color.
Curry powder spice mixes often include ground coriander.
In India, these spice mixes are known as masalas, and there are hundreds of them to choose from when cooking. The ingredients for a masala are ground fresh and customized according to the food being prepared, the occasion and the time of year, and these spice mixes are kept for up to a month or more to ensure the flavor remains. cool. . Spices used in masalas can include things like: cardamom, nutmeg, mace, mustard seeds, pepper, cinnamon, cloves, coriander, turmeric, cumin, fenugreek, and various other spices.
Nutmeg is a popular addition to curry powder mixes.
Curry powder also includes many of these spices, blended into a standardized mix that is designed to be used in any type of dish. Some cooks may start with a curry base and add other seasonings to adjust the flavor a bit, while others just use plain curry. With a growing interest in traditional Indian food, various spice manufacturers have created a variety of curry powders with different flavours, offering consumers some diversity.
Cloves are often used in curry powder.
Curry powder can be mixed into sauces, soups, and stews, used in a marinade, sprinkled on various dishes, and even whipped with things like eggs to add an Indian twist to Western meals. People who buy canned or bottled curry powder should plan to store it in a cool, dry place and use it within a few months for the best flavor. It is also possible to mix your own masala, using a custom variety of spices that must be roasted before grinding for the best flavor; If you don’t want to mix seasonings each time you cook, make a small batch and store in an airtight container for up to two months.