Name: Curry Powder
Ingredients: 4 lbs turmeric (huldi); 5 lbs coriander seed (dhunnia); 2 lbs cumin seed (jeera); 1 lb poppy seed (khush-khush); 2 lbs fenugreek (maythi); 1 lb dry ginger (sont); ½ lb mustard seed (red); 1 lb dried chillies (sooka mirreh); 1 lb black peppercorns (kata mirreh)

Why it works: Turmeric and cumin match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,698 recipes. Both carry eucalyptol, which smells eucalyptus, herbal. The science ↓

Curry Powder

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

Weigh all ingredients carefully.
Clean the ingredients and weigh them again, including husks.

Mix and store

Mix all the ingredients together thoroughly.
Store the mixture in airtight bottles.

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 + cumintop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together1,698 recipes

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

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together3,866 recipes

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

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together229 recipes

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

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together2,776 recipes

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

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together178 recipes

Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

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

What each ingredient does

Turmeric: Gives the blend its characteristic yellow colour and earthy, bitter flavour.
Coriander seed: Provides the bulk of the citrusy, warm flavour base in the blend.
Cumin seed: Adds a warm, earthy aroma that defines the blend's savoury character.
Fenugreek: Contributes a bittersweet, maple-like aroma and deep savoury note.
Dried chillies: Adds heat that gives the blend its pungency.
Black peppercorns: Adds sharp, piney heat and aroma to the blend.

Swap the poppy seed

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (turmeric, coriander, cumin, fenugreek, ginger, mustard):

Cardamomfits better
Fennelfits better
Cinnamonfits better
Poppy seedthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against turmeric, coriander, cumin, fenugreek, ginger, mustard. 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.