By Dave DeWitt Recipes: Bafat (Hurry Curry) Classic North Indian Curry Powder Ceylon Dark Curry Powder Cape Curry Powder Trinidadian Curry Paste The Debate Over Commercial Curry Preparations Many purists abhor commercial curry powders. “They are anathema to Indian cooking,” wrote Dharamjit Singh, author of Indian Cookery, “prepared for imaginary palates, having neither the delicacy nor the perfume of flowers …
A World of Curries: Curry Controversies and Myths, with Basic Recipes
By Dave DeWitt Recipes: Ghee Coconut Milk and Cream Coconut Milk Substitutions Canned Coconut Milk “Curry is India’s greatest contribution to mankind,” claims Norman Douglas, a British novelist and travel writer. I assume that Douglas’s tongue was firmly planted in his cheek when he wrote this assessment, but his comment hints at a wide range of opinion about the …
Chiles Around the World, 1889
This seems to be one of the few historical worldwide surveys of chiles and their consumption globally. It is interesting for several reasons. First, it is the first debunking of the notion that chile seeds are hot that I have ever found; second, it reports on adulterated cayenne, a problem in India, England, and the U.S. for centuries; and third, …
My Instant Curry Fiasco
After I posted my new 12-part series, "A World of Curries" to the Fiery Foods & Barbecue SuperSite, here, I had an obsessive craving to taste some of them. But making curries from scratch is almost as challenging as preparing mole sauces, so I had second thoughts about spending that much time. Our friend Geetha had given us a jar …