Tumeric is the spice that makes curry powder yellow and gives it that distinctive curry flavor. Curry powder also typically includes cumin, so I think you’d be safe there. You could google some recipes for curry powder and choose the seasonings that aren’t tumeric.
The amount of curry powder called for is pretty small, anyway. I think the majority of the flavor is going to come from the apricot preserves and mustard.
Any of the other chili powders. Try chili powder, paprika, garam masala (might be closest to curry) or comino.
ETA: Ninja’ed - comino = cumin. If you make a blend that’s lighter on cumin it might not bleh you.
There’s a Ruth Reichl chicken recipe that uses an oil rub of chili, cinnamon, cumin, black pepper you might want to look into. I can’t get enough of it.
Thanks all. I think I will cut the curry powder to half and use half chilli powder and cumin.
I did not know that curry powder was a combination of tumeric and cumin. I really like cumin in mexican dishes. So maybe it’s the tumeric that I don’t like.
That sounds very interesting. Decisions, decisions.
I actually disagree with that. Turmeric does make curry powder yellow but it’s not the distinctive spice in curry to me. In fact, there’s plenty of curry-powder type concoctions (masalas) out there that don’t have any turmeric in them. Turmeric on its own just has an earthy taste, and I don’t think of it as particularly distinct. I would say it’s the mix of cumin and coriander seed that gives most curry powders the bulk of their flavor, but there is more going on, too.
Chili powder was going to be my suggestion for the OP.
Yeah, most standard American curry powders aren’t just turmeric and cumin; they can have a wide variety of ingredients. It may be that turmeric is the most offensive to the OP’s palate, or cumin (but as noted, many chili powders/Mexican foods include cumin), or cinnamon in combination with the other spices, or fenugreek, or something else we can’t pin down.
That’s interesting, as I don’t even think of fenugreek as an essential curry spice, but, it’s true, a lot of American curry powders do have fenugreek rather high up on the ingredients list (usually behind coriander seed, the main component.) When I make my own curry powder blends, they often don’t have any fenugreek (which has a maple-like flavor to it and can be quite bitter if you use too much.)
Oh, yes, cardamom is very distinctive. But something like McCormick’s, which is probably the most well-known American curry powder, does not have any cardamom in it.
And that’s what it really boils down to. As this thread indicates, there’s a wide range of spices in your typical curry mix, and different people pick out different spices as being the most distinctive.
could be both, the two I’ve done recently didn’t have any fenugreek in them. but I made the mistake of getting cardamom pods instead of seed, so I had to sit there shucking the damn things by hand for 20 minutes.
You really are better off with the pods, IMHO. They are more pungent and fresh-tasting out of the pod vs. seeded and especially vs. already ground. I never buy cardamom in non-pod form. Just how much curry powder were you making that you were shucking for 20 minutes? A little cardamom goes a long way, in my experience.
BTW, have you ever tried black cardamom? Another interesting spice, different in flavor from green cardamom. Kind of smoky, for lack of better description.
Also, if you’re looking for other uses, cardamom is great in sweets (the Swedes use it in cookies, for instance), and a pod or two in a pot of coffee is really nice, too.
Here’s a link to the recipe. This went from an experiment to a family staple in one go. We make it with boneless chicken breasts but the original works well, too.
I’ve never used “curry powder.” When I make curry, I use (onions, garlic, ginger), cinnamon, cloves, bay leaves, turmeric, cumin, red chili/cayenne, black pepper, and salt. I don’t know if any of those ingredients are what puts the OP off curry powder.
It’s most likely the cumin that’s the culprit. Like cilantro, people either love it or hate it. Many people think cilantro tastes like soap and that cumin smells like feet.
Here’s a simple sweet blend called Bangala garam masala:
It sounds to me like the OP is fine with cumin, especially given that he is suggesting substituting the curry powder with chili powder and cumin.
I don’t even think you really need to put anything in for the curry powder in the recipe. Just regular salt & pepper will be okay, and maybe some hot pepper for extra heat if you want it. The recipe certainly isn’t going to fail with the omission of curry powder.
I think what makes curry powder taste like “curry powder” is most of all the combination of turmeric and fenugreek. Neither on its own has that distinct “curry powder” aroma, but the two of them together is what makes the commercial curry powder of western countries distinct from other Indian masalas.
It follows that the nearest relative that can substitute for it is garam masala. Garam masala is made with pretty much the same inventory of spices that make up commercial western curry powders, except it has neither fenugreek nor turmeric.
The cookery of India doesn’t actually use what’s known as curry powder. Each dish gets its own masala formula; some are very simple and some are complex. Indian recipes always cook the spices to develop the flavor. Undercooked spices won’t taste quite right. Either frying or toasting is the main way to precook spices, and sometimes boiling. Garam masala is ground from pre-toasted spices so that you can just toss it into a dish with no further preparation. Western curry powders are made of raw spices.
The curcumin in turmeric seems to bring health benefits, and I always try to slip some turmeric in wherever it might go. If my analysis is right, and it’s the fenugreek+turmeric combination you dislike about curry powder, then you may even be able to add a bit of just turmeric with the garam masala without triggering the anti-curry powder reflex. In Indian cookery, a little turmeric is used in nearly every savory cooked dish, but in small amounts, because it’s bitter. It only takes a little, like no more than ½ tsp in a big pot of 8 servings of something. With the compositions of western curry powder blends, which are loaded up with high proportions of turmeric, you’re likely to wind up using excess turmeric if you use curry powder as your masala.
