Recipe - Heathers Roasted Curry Powder

One fourth cup Ground cumin
2 tablespoon Fennel seeds
3 tablespoon Coriander powder
25 Curry leaves *
10 Cardamom pods, crushed
6 Whole cloves
1 tablespoon Ground black pepper
6 Oneinch pieces rampa **
3 Oneinch pieces cinnamon
stick
1 tablespoon Dried, crushed red chilies
1 tablespoon Mustard seeds

Start with a large pan, and dryroast the ingredients separately over low
to medium heat, roasting the mustard seds last. In a few minutes, the
mustard seeds will start to pop (keep the lid on the pan or the mustard
seeds will fly out). Then stir in the coriander and cumin; when the spices;
when the spices begin to turn light brown, add the rest of the ingredients.
Since the curry powder mix can burn very quickly, stir it continuously.
Roast the spices for about 7 to 10 minutes, until they are dark golden
brown. Then remove them from the heat, and grind or powder them
immediately while they are still warm (whether you do it by hand with a
mortar and pestle or in a food processor, the must be FINELY ground). Store
in an airtight bottle keeps well for two weeks or more.

*Curry leaves edible graygreen leaves that resemble bay leaf, used in
flavoring sambols and fish, vegetable, or meat curries. The Sri Lankans use
curry leaves fresh, but they can be used dried if fresh leaves are not
available. The Sinhalese term for the plant is 'karapincha', and if you
can find them fresh, they add great depth and flavor to a dish. They are
not removed before serving, and they are edible. There is no substitute for
curry leaves.

**Rampa (pandanus leaf) Spear shaped aromatic leaves used to flavor
curries. From the lemongrass family, rampa is not edible, but it is used
as a flavoring in boiling rice. Sri Lankans do not remove it before
serving; they just leave it on the plate.

From: FIRE & SPICE THE CUISINE OF SRI LANKA by Heather Jansz Balasuriya
and Karin Winegar, McGrawHill Publishing Company, New York. 1989. ISBN
0070035490 Posted by: Karin Brewer, Cooking Echo, 1/93

From Gemini's MASSIVE MealMaster collection at www.synapse.com/~gemini