I have worked with Regional Agmark Labs for 33 years. I was posted in spices section when I came across The Curry Powder. We were handed two types of curry powders. One was called special and the other general. The special one used to have familiar smells like Sunday special Masala, Sambar masala, Garam masala etc.
But the mysterious general curry powder was really intriguing. It was yellowish in colour and without any distinct smell of spiciness. I had not seen or heard of anybody using this curry powder As this curry powder was not part of my daily cooking I forgot it’s presence till recently. I met this yellow curry powder in Lizzie Collingham’s book ‘Curry –A tale of cooks and conquerors’. I got recipes of this yellow curry powder, also read some recipes where this curry powder was used.
In my daily cooking there is no place for this yellow curry powder, but I use so many different masalas .We call these spices mixtures masalas and technically curry powder is defined as mixture of two or more spices. Hence these are all different curry powders. Foremost is our daily masala. In my book I have shared the recipe. This signature masala sits in my spice box along with turmeric powder and chili powder, and is used in my daily preparations like bhaji, aamati and some non-vegetarian preparations.
I make this masala for my house. I divide the process in three parts .First I prepare the chilies, in second part I prepare the masala by roasting each ingredient separately, then grinding. Then I mix both to get the finished garam masala. As relative humidity is more where we stay, we do not add onion, garlic, dry coconut or any grains like wheat or bajra. My masala has longer shelf life. I store this masala in a container with tight fitting lid, preferably brown coloured glass jar which helps retain the colour of the masala and the beautiful smells.
All over Maharashtra this combination of chilli and garam masala is used. The ratio of chilies and other spices changes from region to region, community to community and from family to family. Even the variety of chillies to be used also differs. For average spiciness bedagi chilli is used. But if more heat is required then chillies like Sankeshwar, Reshampatti, Guntur or local chillies of preference are used. Many a times chilies are used in combinations, like some giving colour, some the heat and some the flavour that we all remember. In market we come across Malwani masala, Koli masala, Agari masala, Ghati masala, Saoji masala etc. Everybody sticks to their own proportions and way of preparations. Result is so many flavourful masalas. This diversity of masalas and flavours is life of our Maharashtrian cuisine.
excellent.. there is so much to learn from a simple Daal making and variety. We have tried your recipes at home exactly as they have been told in your book… and result was super.. !!!!
We will be trying all the recipes slowly one by one.
Thanks fro bringing out an authentic konkani cuisine book.