From ianhoare@angelfire.com Mon Mar 6 16:38:11 2006 Date: Fri, 03 Mar 2006 21:17:00 +0100 From: Ian Hoare Reply-To: ianhoare@nospam.net Newsgroups: uk.food+drink.indian Subject: Re: Madras Curry Powder Salut/Hi Andy Lee, My apologies, le/on Fri, 03 Mar 2006 10:00:48 +0000, tu disais/you said:- >>A quick reminder.... While having a fascinating wander round the idea of >>authenticity as applied to curry powder and garam masala, you forgot to >>answer the question, although Wazza had a go - almost in passing. >>>Sniff the Madras Curry powder, and you can easily tell it is Madras. >>>What is the ingredient that gives it the unique smell? >Well you didnt read my reply closly enough then Ian. I did suggest it >may be Methi or Fenugreek that gives that "Curry" smell it certainly >smells like that to me. You're right, you did suggest that. I have to say, that having used methi for years I thought "nah.. that's not it" and forgot. Sorry. However, to do you the courtesy of a proper reply, here are three different recipes one for a madras powder and two for madras pastes I make no claims at to authenticity, as there's some cause to suspect that a curry usually found made with beef isn't really indian anyway! Madras Curry Paste 90 gms ground coriander 4 1/2 tablespoon ground cumin 1 tablespoon ground black pepper 1 tablespoon turmeric 1 tablespoon ground chillies 3 tablespoon Salt 1 tablespoon black mustard seed 4 tablespoon vinegar 5 tablespoon garlic; peeled & minced 2 tablespoon ginger; peeled & grated 200 mls vegetable oil Madras Curry Powder 2 dried red chilies 1 oz coriander seeds 1/2 oz cumin seeds 1 teaspoon black mustard seeds 1/2 oz black peppercorns 2 curry leaves 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger 1 teaspoon turmeric Madras Style Curry Paste 1 cup ground coriander seeds 1/2 cup ground cumin seeds 1 teaspoon black pepper 2 tablespoon turmeric 1 teaspoon ground black mustard seeds 1 teaspoon ground red chilies 12 garlic clove(s) 1 2 piece ginger, chopped 3 tablespoon wine vinegar 2/3 cup oil Looking at these, I'd say the thing they all have in common that's different from other such mixes would be the black pepper in relatively large amounts. ATB Ian -- All the Best Ian Hoare http://www.souvigne.com mailbox full to avoid spam. try me at website