Curry Powder

A few years ago, my sister Hannah gave me this book for my birthday:

It is an unassuming, square volume, entirely black and white on the inside with no pictures. The gem of this book is in the text. Not only does it contain good, solid recipes, but it also gives you the tools to experiment and create your own curry dishes.

Although the author assures the reader that using store-bought curry powders and paste will be fine in any of the dishes, she includes several curry powder recipes, as well as curry pastes and Garam Masala.

I've been wanting to try out the curry powder recipe for a while now. Two weeks ago I ran out of my store-bought McCormicks blend, so after a quick run to the Asian food store, I was ready.

All of this only cost me about 10 Euro -- I don't know why anyone would buy their spices anywhere else!

One benefit of making your own is that you can tailor it perfectly to your own taste -- and even if you follow the recipe exactly, there's nothing like the freshness of a newly ground spice blend.

Here are the toasted whole and untoasted ground spices all together in a bowl:


Curry Powder (from The Curry Book by Nancie McDermott)
You can vary any of these proportions, omit a few, or add any of the following: fennel seeds, start anise, ground nutmeg, mace, dried curry leaves, brown or black mustard seeds. You can substitute ground spices, but keep in mind that they burn quickly and need to be toasted separately from any whole ones you may be using (which will take longer to darken)

1/4 cup coriander seeds
2 T cumin seeds
1 T white or black peppercorns
2 tsp fenugreek seeds
2 cinnamon sticks, approx 3 inches long each
1 T ground turmeric
2 tsp whole cardamom (about 3 or 4 pods) or ground
1 tsp whole cloves
1 tsp ground ginger
1 dried red chili pepper, stemmed a broken in pieces (or 2 tsp crushed red pepper, or 1/4 tsp ground cayenne pepper)


Preheat oven to 300 deg F.

In pie tin (I used a large jelly-roll pan), combine coriander, cumin, peppercorns and fenugreek. Wrap cinnamon sticks in a kitchen towel (preferably a smooth one rather than one with a nap, like terrycloth) and bash them with a rolling pin or the side of an unopened can. Add crushed cinnamon to pan of spices and put in oven.

Toast spices for 15 minutes, stirring once, until they darken a little and release their flavors. Remove from the oven and spread out on a plate to cool to room temperature.

In a small bowl, combine turmeric, cardamom, cloves, ginger and chili pepper or cayenne. When the toasted spices have cooled, combine with untoasted spices and grind to a fine powder in a spice grinder (I have a coffee grinder that I use only for spices), or a mortar and pestle. Pour all into an airtight jar (I taped a piece of paper into a funnel), and store away from heat and light. For maximum freshness and flavor, use within 3 months.


Fragrant, fresh curry powder, all ground up and ready to use.

Have a great Easter, everyone!

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S'mores cupcakes and wooly warmth

I've been so busy for the past few weeks. Besides producing the new podcast episode, I was also getting ready to fly home for a visit. My husband was leaving for a work-related thing that would take him away from home for about a month, and so I scrubbed my house from top to bottom (with the help of my friend Jillian!), and packed up myself and the kids and flew back to NY on Tuesday.

Anyway, that's my reason for not showing you this earlier.

It's the Button Me Up pullover from Cosmic Pluto, and I'm knitting it out of Handpaintedyarn.com Handspun Bulky in Wine Red. I sort of feel like a cheater because I'm using handspun that I didn't personally spin, but I'll get over it. I love the color; it's the perfect shade of burgundy.

I cast on for this a few weeks ago and was just starting the sleeves when I suddenly realized something -- I was going to run 2 skeins short, because I hadn't read the pattern carefully enough! (Pattern calls for 4 skeins in MAIN color and 2 in CONTRASTING. I was knitting it all in one color, and...right. Just 4 skeins.) I went on the Handpaintedyarn.com site to buy the two more needed, and found that they had sold out of the color! I really didn't want to rip everything back to knit it in two colors instead, so I searched around on Ravelry to see if anyone else had the same color that they'd be willing to sell me.

Two different people suggested emailing the yarn company to see if they had some extra in backstock that they just hadn't entered in the system. I did that, and as it turns out, there were 6 extra skeins just sitting there, unlisted!

I immediately ordered what I needed, and had it shipped to my mom's. It arrived yesterday, and I'm going to work on this exclusively until it's done.

This'll be my first "real" sweater that I've knit for myself, and I'm so excited to be able to actually wear it! It's been nice and chilly here too, so I'm sure that I'll get plenty of opportunity.

In other news, I finally blocked this.

PROJECT SPECS:
Pattern: Nightshade Canopy Shawl by Susan Laurance.
Needles: Size 9 KnitPicks metal interchangables
Yarn: My own handspun worsted/bulky, roving dyed by Amy of Spunky Eclectic
Notes: I will definitely knit this again -- probably a little bigger, in thinner yarn. It was a simple and satisfying project, and the pattern is well written and clearly laid out. I would recommend this for a first-time shawl project.

While in route to Paris, I worked on Sahara, and this is as far as I've gotten:

Since it's been so grey and cold out, I've just been having a hard time finding it in myself to work on it. All I want is to snuggle into warm, thick, wooly goodness. Silk and rayon just haven't been pushing my button as of late.

Yesterday, I made S'mores Cupcakes:

Cupcake recipe from Cupcake Bakeshop, marshmallow frosting from Yumbrosia. At Cupcake Bakeshop, Chockylit filled the cupcakes with marshmallow fluff, but I didn't want to loose any of the graham crackery goodness, so I decided to spread the ganache over the top like she did, and then to pile on some marshmallowy meringue on top (piped out of a plastic bag with corner snipped off). My little sister (9-year-old Rachel) helped me with the double-layer frosting, and we had quite a fun time in the kitchen together.

Chockylit found that her cupcakes didn't quite rise and shrunk while cooling, and I had the same experience. I didn't think that it affected the overal quality of the final product though, so it was fine. Next time, I'd add less butter as she suggested to see if that helps any.

They've been a big hit with everyone who's tasted these so far. There's a buttery graham cracker crust on the bottom, and then a graham cracker-laced not-too-sweet cupcake. The ganache is bitter dark chocolate, which contrasts nicely with the fluffy, supersweet billowy topping. I tosted them under the broiler as a last step (with oven door open, of course!), which really took them over the top. I was going to stick a square of chocolate into the marshmallow frosting, but decided to stop while I was ahead.