Curry powder is a blend of many spices, and comes in almost infinite varieties. Each curry powder can have different component spices, in differing amounts--making each curry blend unique.
The Spice House offers a basic yellow curry in both sweet (mild) and hot. The sweet version is a rich flavor with no heat, suitable for any recipe that calls for curry powder. Hot curry has a nice little kick in the tastebuds without being overwhelming. The For those who prefer the very highest quality, try our Maharajah curry powder, a sweet yellow with cardamom and whole threads of saffron in the blend--it's curry fit for a king! We also offer a Thai red curry, which is hotter with lemongrass and galangal.
In recent years, Ras El Hanout has become increasingly popular as a Mediterranean style curry. Garam Masala is a Northern Indian style sweet curry blend useful for many vegetarian Indian dishes, and is available in whole or ground forms. And try our newest curry blend, the French-influenced vadouvan curry, a mild yellow curry with grated shallots.
Curry Leaves -
Curry leaves have a very subtle, understated delicate flavor. They should not to be confused with curry powder, which is a blend of many spices. Curry leaves can sometimes be an ingredient in curry powder, but alone they will not bring enough curry flavor to a dish to consider it a curry. Used in the cuisine of Southern India and Sri Lanka, curry leaves are also sometimes found in the cooking of Northern India. Curry leaves immigrated along to Malaysia, South Africa and Réunion with Southern Indian immigrants and can sometimes be found in the cuisine there. Curry leaves are used in these cuisines as an herb, much like we might use bay leaves, however the leaves are softer and need not be removed before serving. These leaves come from Florida, where a lovely woman picks them fresh for us as needed. They are then dried in our food grade dehydrator. Curry leaves are usually best if you can get them fresh, but these are very difficult to source, so this may be the only alternative.
Dried curry leaves are extremely light - 1/4 ounce is nearly a cup by volume.
Curry Powder -
While curry powder can be blended from nearly any ingredients and have a variety of flavors, these yellow, turmeric-based curry powders are the Western standard. When a recipe calls for curry powder, this is the type it means. Choose from mild (sweet), hot, or rich maharajah.
Hot Curry Powder -
Hot Curry Powder gives you the same full flavor as our sweet curry plus the added element of heat, derived from extra cayenne red pepper and spicy ginger. While this curry is hot by most Western standards, it's not as fiery as some Indian food, so don't be afraid of burning yourself with it.
Substitute this for sweet curry powder any time you prefer a bite to your dish. Hand mixed from: turmeric, coriander, cayenne red pepper, China No. 1 ginger, Indian cumin, white pepper, cinnamon, fenugreek, fennel, nutmeg, arrowroot, cardamom, cloves, and Tellicherry pepper.
Sweet Curry Powder -
Sweet Curry Powder is by far the most popular of our curries; it will give you a wide range of flavors without too much heat.
As is the nature of travel, we often discover new things when we are in parts of the world previously unfamiliar to us, and want to incorporate them into our lives back at home. Food especially falls into this category. The odds are that what we have discovered has probably been a part of a particular culture for hundreds of years, but nonetheless it is still new to us; we want to share this marvelous new flavor with our family and friends. Consequently, we try to assimilate many of the unusual, exotic flavors and cooking secrets of other cultures into our everyday life. The ease of modern-day travel only enhances these possibilities, but even back in the 1600s the employees of the British East India Company became so enamored of the wonderful curry-flavored dishes of India that they wanted to take the flavor home with them. In most authentic Indian cooking, the curry ingredients are mixed up individually for each dish, then roasted and ground. However, by combining, mixing and storing them, the sailors could conveniently carry them back home. Once these curries made their way back to England, the rest of the Western world wasn’t far behind in its enchantment with these exotic flavors.
For those of you who are purists or want to put your own personal mark on your curry dishes, we offer you the freshest individual ingredients to blend your own curry powder. In India, it’s said that “there are as many curry powders as cooks,” since each cook mixes her own curry powder according to her family’s spice preferences, passed down from generation to generation. For those of us without this tradition, our sweet yellow curry powder is a great place to start. It has a rich, balanced flavor that's perfect in any recipe calling for curry powder. In addition to Indian cooking, add this curry to rice, vegetables, chicken salad, dips, and baked fish or chicken.
Hand-mixed from: turmeric, coriander, cumin, ginger, nutmeg, fennel, cinnamon, fenugreek, white pepper, arrowroot, cardamom, cloves, black pepper, and red pepper.
Maharajah Style Curry Powder -
Maharajah Style Curry Powder is our premier curry powder, for those occasions when only the extraordinary will do!
This is a beautiful, rich, sweet curry, perfumed with fragrant cardamom powder that we grind ourselves from the inner seeds of the green cardamom pod. Rare high-grade Spanish saffron gives this curry a sophisticated elegance. In addition to the golden hue that saffron brings to a dish, its unique flavor cannot be imitated. A little of this curry powder goes a very long way.
Hand mixed from: turmeric, coriander, cumin, cardamom, fenugreek, ginger, nutmeg, fennel seed, Chinese cinnamon, white pepper, arrowroot, black pepper, ground cloves, cayenne pepper and superior grade Spanish saffron.
Thai Red Curry Powder, "Nam Prik Krung Kaeng Ped" -
Thai Curry Powder is a dry red powder that can easily be transformed into a paste by mixing it with water or fish sauce to the desired consistency.
From the ripe red chilies, NAM PRIK KRUNG KAENG PED or Thai red curry paste is a medium heat curry paste, by Thai standards, with a strong citrus flavor derived from galangal, lemon grass and lime peel. This most versatile of the Thai curry pastes can be easily made using our specially blended Thai red curry powder mixed with water to form a paste-like consistency. For a more traditional Thai flavor, the water can be substituted with fish sauce alone or in combination with shrimp paste (about 1 tablespoon shrimp paste to 2-3 tablespoons curry powder). Mix the Thai red curry powder with enough fish sauce to make a paste-like consistency.
Thai blend hand mixed from: Chile pepper, garlic, lime peel, galangal, coriander, lemon grass, black pepper, cumin, fennel, mace and shallots.
To make a savory Thai curry (i.e. panaeg nua); fry 4-6 tablespoons of the curry paste in thick coconut milk cream (the solid and fatty part that rises to the top of the can), add meat and cook through, add roasted peanuts or peanut butter with the rest of the coconut milk, mix in your favorite vegetables, sweeten with some sugar (preferably palm sugar or brown sugar), give it a little tartness with tamarind paste or lime juice, and soy sauce for salt.
Thai blend hand mixed from: Chile pepper, garlic, lime peel, galangal, coriander, lemon grass, black pepper, cumin, fennel, mace and shallots.
Ras El Hanout -
Ras El Hanout translates to "top of the shop", and represents the best blend a spice merchant has to offer. This is a traditional Arabic blend, common to Muslim and Sephardic cuisines, made with the spices their culture prefers.
This recipe comes to us courtesy of Kitty Morse, a wonderful food and cookbook writer affectionally known as the Queen of Couscous. You might want to roast the ground mixture before cooking, as she does.
Use this seasoning blend with meat and potato tangines, meatballs, or lamb. It pairs deliciously with any Middle Eastern vegetable dish, and is a wonderful seasoning for curried rice and roasted vegetables.
If we were to choose a top of our shop blend, it would likely be one of our ethnic Chicago Neighborhoods blends. This blend, however, is the traditional Arabic blend. It is very popular, and gaining more notoriety as American food culture becomes exposed to Middle Eastern cooking.
Hand mixed from: Tellicherry black pepper, cardamom, salt, ginger, cinnamon, mace, turmeric, allspice, nutmeg, and saffron. Sodium content: 115.21 mg per teaspoon; 4.80% sodium
Garam Masala -
Garam Masala is a Punjabi, or Northern Indian, style curry powder. Garam Masala is based, not on turmeric, as are other curry powders, but on a tripart mixture of cardamom, coriander and black pepper.
Kalonji -- also known as black cumin or nigella and quite difficult to obtain -- is used instead of cumin.
Many years ago, a customer who had recently moved here from the Punjab came into our store with a recipe his mother had given to him for a special spice mixture. He wished to barter: he was willing to exchange his mother's recipe if we would blend and grind for him the necessary ingredients. The gentleman's daughter was here recently shopping in our store and we were happy to find our spices were still in demand by the next generation of this Punjabi family! She was pleased to hear that her grandmother's recipe for Garam Masala has developed a real following among our customers.
This highly aromatic seasoning serves as an all-purpose blend in Indian cooking, seasoning dishes from lamb, goat and pork to fresh fish to potato and vegetable dishes. Often it is sprinkled on the top of dishes towards the end of the cooking process to preserve its special flavor. Hand mixed from Moroccan coriander, cardamom from Tamil Nadu, India, Tellicherry pepper, cinnamon, kalonji, caraway, Zanzibar cloves, China #1 ginger and nutmeg.
Tandoori Seasoning -
Tandoori originally referred to cooking food by slow-roasting it in a clay oven, or tandoor. In the West, tandoori has come to mean a specific flavor rather than a method of cooking. Even if you do not have a clay oven or pot, you can use this seasoning to make tandoori-style chicken or other poultry. Rub this blend directly on meat, or mix with plain yogurt for a marinade. Delicious for seasoning lamb or beef kabobs. Hand-mixed from: coriander, cumin, garlic, paprika, ginger, cardamom, and saffron.
Vadouvan French Masala Curry -
This is a French interpretation of an Indian Masala called vadavam, from the Pondicherry region of southern India where France colonial influence is still felt. This trendy curry blend is currently en vogue in France, Australia, and the U.S. It has a rich savory flavor that is more familiar to Western palates than many Indian spice mixtures. The traditional Indian curry flavors of turmeric, cumin, curry leaves, and coriander are given a sophisticated French twist with the addition of grated shallots. Use this spice to make French-style curried chicken salad, as a marinade for shrimp or fish, or wherever you would use regular curry powder. Hand blended from: curry, curry leaves, white and toasted onion and garlic powders, brown mustard seeds, shallots, and kosher salt. Sodium content 10.32 mg per teaspoon; 0.49% sodium
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