Dried Indian Curry Spices

I must admit, it’s been over three years since my last post. What happened? A lot of life… Through all the updates and downs, one thing has not changed, my love of food! And so, I’m back with another food adventure!

My husband surprised me with a cooking class offered by our favorite Indian/Nepalese restaurant, Curry Kitchen. Yes, the same Curry Kitchen with the amazing peshwari naan! I have always wanted to learn to make authentic Indian curry but whenever I tried to follow a recipe it always tasted wrong, very lifeless, and uninspired. Well now I know why. Indian curry is not a powder you buy from a jar, well you can, but it will never taste right. Indian curry in all of it miraculous variations, I’ve learned, is rooted in medicine. It is a mixture of a variety of dried leaves, barks, and seeds; each containing a variety of medicinal qualities – from treating the common cold to even cancer! The actual dish that we call “curry” actually comes in many many variations down to the cook who makes it. Just like all my favorite cooking, there isn’t really a recipe, but rather key ingredients (dried cardamom, javitri, bay leaf, pepper corn, star anise, cinnamon stick, coriander, cumin, red chili, garam marsala, fenugreek, and turmeric) and techniques (pre-blend fresh ingredients such as onion, ginger, garlic, and nuts to a creamy consistency) to allow the chef to adjust the flavor and consistency of their curry to their taste.

This cooking class not only taught me how to cook a curry dish (Chicken Korma), it actually taught me the philosophy in the essence of Indian curry. After the cooking class I walked away with a huge smile on my face. For once, I wasn’t simply fed delicious curry, but I was taught to curry!