Karl’s Curry Powder for Japanese Curry

I am making a twist on Japanese curry this Sunday. I did not want to use the commercial curry cubes that most recipes for Japanese curry call for. Looking on-line at some recipes for Japanese curry spice blends, I created my own blend.

Karl’s Curry Powder for Japanese Curry

Karl’s Curry Powder for Japanese Curry

Ingredients

1 Tbs. coriander seeds
1 Tbs. teaspoons cumin seeds
1 Tbs. turmeric, ground
2 tsp. fenugreek seeds
½ tsp. black peppercorns
½ tsp. white pepper, ground
¼ tsp. cinnamon, ground
¼ tsp. fennel seeds
⅛ tsp. nutmeg, ground
6 whole cloves
6 green cardamom pods
2 allspice berries
2 small Indian bay leaves
1 black cardamom pod, seeds only (~ ¼ tsp)
1 small star anise

Directions

1. Put all of the spices into a spice grinder and process to a fine powder.

Tip: This recipe makes about four tablespoons and I used it all for my recipe.

Note: Some may notice that I do not toast the spices before grinding them—this is called “blooming”—a very common step in Indian cooking. When you take this step depends a lot on whether you are adding your spice blend to a dry or wet pan—if you put your spices directly into a liquid, they never get hot enough to become fragrant. Half of my curry powder is going to be heated when I first put the chicken wings on the grill. If I pre-toasted the spices, they would then burn in the heat of the fire. I will “bloom” the rest of the spice mix when I add it to my roux, before adding the liquids.