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Curry Powder

A homemade blend of roasted coriander, cumin, fennel, mustard, ginger, pepper, chillies, poppy seeds, garlic, cardamom, and cinnamon.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 13 ingredients
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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

  1. Clean and dry all the seeds and spices.

  2. Roast the coriander, cumin, fennel, mustard, ginger, black pepper, dried chillies, poppy seeds, garlic, cardamom, and cinnamon until fragrant.

Grind and blend

  1. Pound the roasted spices into a fine powder.

  2. Sift the powder to remove any larger pieces.

  3. Mix all the ground spices together thoroughly.

  4. Store the curry powder in a well-corked bottle.

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.

  1. Turmeric + cumintop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,698 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

  2. Coriander + cumintop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together3,866 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

  3. Turmeric + gingertop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,776 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

  4. Cumin + fenneltop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together276 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4-methoxybenzaldehyde (sweet, anise).

  5. Coriander + gingertop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together3,505 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-decenal (waxy, orange).

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

What each ingredient does

Coriander seeds
Adds a citrusy, warm aroma that forms the base of the blend.
Cumin seeds
Contributes earthy, warm aroma that deepens when roasted.
Turmeric
Gives the powder its yellow colour and a mild, earthy bitterness.
Black pepper
Adds sharp, pungent heat that rounds out the blend.
Dried chillies
Provides heat and a pleasant pungency to the powder.
Cinnamon
Adds sweet, woody aroma that gives warmth to the blend.

The step that matters

Roast the spices until fragrant. Roasting releases volatile aromatic compounds in whole spices, so the blend tastes fuller. Under-roasting leaves it flat, while over-roasting turns spices bitter and can scorch them.

Swap the poppy seed

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

  1. Cardamomfits better
  2. Oreganofits better
  3. Saffronfits better
  4. Poppy seedthe original

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

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