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Curry Powder, Indian

A blend of fenugreek, cayenne, ginger, mace, cloves, mustard, turmeric, white pepper, coriander, cumin, Jamaica pepper, dill, and black pepper.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 13 ingredients
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Why it works: Fenugreek and turmeric match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 229 recipes. Both carry coumarin, which smells sweet, hay. The science ↓

Curry Powder, Indian

Ingredients

Directions

  1. Mix all ingredients thoroughly.

  2. Pass the mixture through a coarse sieve.

  3. Store in an airtight container.

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. Fenugreek + turmerictop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together229 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  2. Ginger + turmerictop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,776 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

  3. Ginger + clovetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together6,038 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  4. Fenugreek + mustardtop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together137 recipes

    Shared aroma: gamma-nonanolactone (coconut, creamy).

  5. Mustard + turmerictop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,279 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

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

What each ingredient does

Fenugreek powder
Adds a bitter, maple-like aroma that gives curry powder its characteristic flavour.
Cayenne pepper
Adds heat, which gives the blend its spicy bite.
Turmeric
Adds earthy flavour and the yellow colour typical of curry powder.
Cumin seeds
Adds warm, earthy aroma that anchors the blend.
Coriander seeds
Adds citrusy, floral aroma that balances the warmer spices.

Swap the white pepper

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (fenugreek, pepper, ginger, mace, clove, mustard, turmeric):

  1. Cardamomfits better
  2. Allspicefits better
  3. Cinnamonfits better
  4. White pepperthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against fenugreek, pepper, ginger, mace, clove, mustard, turmeric. 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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