Name: Calcutta Curry Powder
Ingredients: 1 teaspoon turmeric; 1 tablespoon coriander seed; 1 teaspoon poppy seed; ½ teaspoon ginger; ½ teaspoon red chili; ½ teaspoon cumin seed

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 ↓

Calcutta Curry Powder

Ingredients

Directions

Combine all ingredients in a bowl.
Ensure the seeds are of the finest quality and well dried.
Pound the mixture until finely ground.
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.

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 + gingertop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together2,776 recipes

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

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together3,505 recipes

Shared aroma: trans-2-decenal (waxy, orange).
Turmeric + coriandertop 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 aromatic body of the blend, with a citrusy, warm flavor.
Turmeric: Adds earthy flavor and a deep yellow color to the powder.
Cumin seed: Contributes warm, earthy aroma that defines the curry flavor.

Swap the poppy seed

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

Cardamomfits better
Oreganofits better
Cinnamonfits better
Poppy seedthe original

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