Name: Currie Powder
Ingredients: 6 oz coriander seed, pounded and sifted; ½ oz turmeric; ½ oz cummin seed; 1 oz fenugreek seed; ¼ oz cardamoms; 6 teaspoons cayenne pepper; ½ oz cloves (optional)

Why it works: Turmeric and cardamom match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 667 recipes. Both carry eucalyptol, which smells eucalyptus, herbal. The science ↓

Currie Powder

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

Pound and sift the coriander seed, then weigh the pounded seeds after sifting.

Blend

Combine the coriander, turmeric, cumin, fenugreek, cardamom, and cayenne pepper in a bowl, adding the cloves if desired.
Mix thoroughly to combine all ingredients.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.

Turmeric + cardamomtop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together667 recipes

Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).
Turmeric + fenugreektop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together229 recipes

Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).
Coriander + cardamomtop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together872 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
Cardamom + clovetop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together1,114 recipes

Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).
Coriander + turmerictop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together2,253 recipes

Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Coriander seed: Provides the main citrusy, warm body of the blend's flavor.
Turmeric: Adds earthy flavor and the yellow colour characteristic of curry powder.
Cumin seed: Contributes warm, earthy aroma that defines the blend's savory character.
Fenugreek seed: Adds a bittersweet, maple-like aroma that deepens the blend's complexity.
Cayenne pepper: Supplies heat, which is the spice blend's main source of pungency.

Swap the clove

The recipe marks clove as optional. How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (coriander, turmeric, fenugreek, cardamom, pepper):

Cuminfits better
Fennelfits better
Gingerfits better
Clovethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against coriander, turmeric, fenugreek, cardamom, pepper. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.