Ben’s Home Cooking

India Menu

North Indian Curry Powder

This recipe makes enough curry powder for 6–8 chickens. If you see any spices that you don’t recognize the names of, you can find them at an Indian or Pakistani grocery store. Kalonji seeds are sometimes sold as black cumin. The two spices are quite different, and I developed this blend thinking that the former was the latter. Although I grind the kalonji seeds in this recipe, they are traditionally used whole. Degi mirch is Indian red pepper, which is milder and more aromatic than cayenne pepper, which can’t be used as a substitute.

This blend is the result of my fine tuning a cookbook recipe for North Indian curry. I had different ideas about how the flavors should be balanced than the author of the cookbook, and I spent many months getting the spices just right. Many people who smelled my curry cooking offered to pay me for this blend, so I made up a huge batch and sold it to anyone who asked.

One of my customers had a neighbor from Burma, and he shared some curry made from this blend with her. Although I thought the style of this blend was Punjabi, this woman insisted that the curry was 100% traditional Burmese. Call it what you will, this curry powder is sensational.

¼ cup Coriander seeds
2 Tablespoons Cumin seeds
2 Tablespoons Kalonji seeds
2 Tablespoons Brown Mustard seeds
1 Tablespoon Fennel seeds
1 Tablespoon Fenugreek seeds
1½ teaspoons Black Peppercorns
2 Tablespoons ground Degi Mirch (Indian Red Pepper)
1 Tablespoon Brown Cardamom seeds
1 Tablespoon Green Cardamom seeds
1 Tablespoon whole Mace
1 Tablespoon ground turmeric
1½ teaspoons ground Cinnamon
1½ teaspoons whole Cloves

The coriander, cumin, kalonji seeds, brown mustard seeds, fennel, fenugreek and black pepper all have to be dry roasted, one type of seed at a time, before they are ground. To roast the spices, put each one in a small pan—don’t use a non-stick pan for this—and gently shake from side to side over medium-low heat. After a while the seeds will start to crackle, and shortly after that you should see a few wisps of smoke. When you see smoke, stop roasting the seeds.

All of the seeds, except for the coriander should be allowed to cool before grinding. The coriander seeds will be easier to powder if you grind them while they’re hot. Grind the seeds in an electric coffee grinder, or if you’re really industrious, a mortar and pestle.

Remove the brown cardamom seeds from their pods; It will take about 2 Tablespoons of pods to get 1 Tablespoon of seeds. Grind the brown and green cardamom seeds, mace and the cloves without roasting them, and add to the roasted ground spices, along with the cinnamon, degi mirch and turmeric. Blend mixture well. One way to do this would be to put the curry powder in a 1 quart jar and shake it well.