Recipe help?

[johnpalmer]

I have this dish I make. (No, kightp, this isn't the famous "Tuna Salad With Shredded 'Angel Hair' Cabbage" that really needs a more descriptive name, so people aren't surprised when they eat it and find out what it's really like.)

I take some oil - olive oil, or maybe clarified butter - and saute some onion. Then I throw some kale in the pan, then once it starts to wilt, I add lentils and then water, and boil it until most of the water is gone, then add garlic and let it cook, then add coconut milk, and curry powder.

And that last step, that's the problem. "Curry powder" means "we put these together, and called them curry powder." Can anyone help me figure out a good starting point for separate spices that make up curry powder in approximate ratios?

Comments

[irismoonlight.livejournal.com]

Here you go. Make your own curry powder. Proportions near the bottom.

Also, Recipes for curry powder (indian)

One of my fav sites, cooking for engineers, has a aery useful description of ingredients in many different kinds of curry powders, but no proportions.

[autographedcat.livejournal.com]

I misread your parenthetical as "Tuna Salad with Shredded Anger Cabbage", which is altogether different image and also a good sign I should go to bed.

[64tbird.livejournal.com]

Depends on the KIND of curry, doesn't it?
I have three completely different pre-mixed curry spice jars in my pantry. Garam Masala, yellow curry, just curry curry...

[kightp.livejournal.com]

Everybody else already chimed in, but I'll just add that what we think of as "curry powder" is just a masala (spice mixture) on the Indian subcontinenet. And as others have pointed out, there are a zillion different ones.

The yellow stuff you find on supermarket spice racks is usually heavy on tumeric, with coriander, cumin, fenugreek, garlic and red pepper. It's considerably more bland than most home-made masalas.

My go-to place for Indian recipes, including all kinds of masalas, is http://www.indiandelicacies.com - be warned, a person can get lost in there. (-:

Oh, and this database, from Death By Curry, has some great dal (lentil) dishes:

http://rubymurray.com/curry/typeidx.php

[laurarey.livejournal.com]

No curry advice, but Tuna Salad with Shredded Angel Hair Cabbage? Any chance you'd post the recipe when you have a moment? :)