Curry Powder

This is in keeping with my last DIY post as I mentioned that I come from a long line of people who can't look at a pattern or recipe without automatically making plans to change it.

For many years, I was unsatisfied with store-bought curry powder.  Too yellow.  Too bland.  So I started doing some reading and research, and learned that curry powder is actually a BLEND of tasty seeds and spices.  Well!  That called for experimentation!  I have gradually arrived at my OWN blend, which I shall now share with you.

Before you run screaming for the hills ... this curry mix is safe for spice weenies! Although I love anything hot enough to clear my sinuses and make my eyes water, I also love sharing food I prepare ... and the majority of my friends and acquaintances are spice weenies. If you seriously have a heat problem, you could decrease the amounts of chili pepper and ginger to suit your own palate ... experiment a little! That's how I arrived at this particular blend!

First, you will need a small dry cast iron fry pan (DO NOT turn heat on yet!!!), as well as 2 measuring spoons ... one 1 tablespoon, and one 1/2 tablespoon.

Second, measure 1/2 tablespoon of each of the following ingredients into the fry pan  (sorry about the shaky photos ... hard to measure and snap pictures with shaky hands all at the same time):  dried chili pepper, whole allspice, and fenugreek seeds.

Third, measure 1 tablespoon of each of the following ingredients into the fry pan:  mustard seeds, coriander seeds, and cumin seeds.

Fourth, turn heat under fry pan to medium-LOW and slowly toast seeds and things ... stirring constantly .... until lightly toasted and the seeds start to pop.  Trust me ... the smell will be divine!

Fifth, remove from heat and let cool, then grind to powder.  I use an old fashioned cast iron mortar and pestle for this. 

Please note, this method takes time and muscles. You can use a clean coffee grinder. You could probably also use a food processor or blender. I happen to enjoy using a mortar and pestle! The gradual release of all those toasty yummy smells is INCREDIBLE!!! I just don't believe you get the same effect using an electrical appliance.

Sixth ... once ground to powder ... pour into storage container.   

And finally, seventh, add to your ground mixture:

1/2 tablespoon ground ginger         1 tablespoon turmeric

Eighth, label your mixture ... it's now ready to enjoy!  I use a ziploc baggie which I keep inside a glass jar in the fridge.  This amount makes enough for 4 or 5 uses.  I use my curry mix quite often, so make this up every few weeks, sometimes more often.

So I'm sure you're wondering what kind of recipes I use this curry powder in ... right?  One of my favourite "quickies" is Dal.

Begin by sauteeing some chopped onion and garlic in a bit of olive oil.

Once the onion and garlic has softened, add a generous tablespoon of curry powder.

NOTE:  a generous tablespoon of "grocery store" generic curry powder would be bitter and overwhelming, so if you're not making your own curry powder, tread carefully!

Then add some fresh grated ginger ...

... followed by 1 to 1 1/2 cups of split red lentils.

Add about 3 cups of vegetable stock (I used boullion cube ... but I do freeze veggie cooking water and often use that instead).

Cook about 10 minutes, or until lentils lose most of their red colour and the mixture feels "slodgy".  Add more water if necessary ... you don't want it too dry.  Think thick stew.  That particular day, I enjoyed the dal over some coconut rice (brown rice cooked with coconut milk instead of water) with some garbanzo beans and chopped fresh tomato.  Yummy dinner in a hurry!

NOTE:  leftover dal thickens up and becomes "stodgy" instead of slodgy ...

... which becomes a very good thing slapped onto a flour tortilla with a bit of fresh lettuce and salsa!  Lunch to go!

It's definately time for quick and simple recipes here right now as it's very hot.  Miss Boots is trying to live on my dining room table directly under the overhead fan.  I don't approve ... but it's too hot to fight about it!

Have a good weekend, y'all!

National Volunteer Week

Mid-April is National Volunteer Week here in Canada, and my organization usually participates in two different ways. First, we join our central volunteer organization at an Info Fair in a local mall.

It's always fun trying to devise an eye-catching display as well as come up with a gimmick of some kind to draw potential volunteers to our booth, especially when there are 50 or 60 other booths in the mall also trying to do the same thing! This year, I took my button jar to the mall. Lots of great conversations ... "My Mom used to have a button jar!" ... "My gran kept her buttons in a cookie tin!" ... although guesses were WAY off. There were actually 3,311 buttons in the jar. Yes, I dumped it out and counted every blessed one before taking the jar down there! I had no idea my button jar was so well endowed.

The second way my organization participates in this annual week is by hosting a lunch for our own volunteers. Despite our limited budget, we always try to do something fun. This year we enjoyed entertainment by a drama troupe from one of our local seniors' activity centres. Oh my, I laughed so hard! However, I can't begin to do justice to their skits by describing them ... it was one of those "you had to be there" things!

The best part of our volunteer lunch was having our volunteers introduce themselves and tell everyone a little bit about WHAT they do for us, HOW LONG they have been volunteering for us, and WHY they volunteer for us. I was really touched by the diversity ... seniors, students, mentally handicapped adults, new immigrants, housewives, businessmen ... all pulling together to make our community a better place for seniors. Reminded me yet again why I love my job, even if 12 hours at a booth in the mall makes for a very long day!

Miss Boots, naturally, was not too impressed with her hu-mom coming home after 9 pm. Her dinner time is 6 pm!

No time for our evening play time when the hu-mom gets home that late! Consequently, she was on serious play time overdrive Saturday morning ... and made my morning Chai and newspaper routine impossible! I would have been annoyed, but knew I had to be gone most of Saturday in order to set up and clean up for our volunteer lunch. However, Miss Boots and I spent quality time together Sunday (yesterday) to make up for it, so all is forgiven!

It was a busy week and busy weekend, but I managed to finish reading a great book ...... The Heretic's Daughter by Kathleen Kent. This story is based on real people and events, young Sarah Carrier and the Salem witch trials in the late 1690s, and is written by a descendant of young Sarah. Sarah's mother, Martha, was arrested and hung as a witch and for a time, young Sarah was incarcerated under the same charges. The language is picturesque, the story fast-paced and attention-grabbing, and the realization that fellow human beings are still hated or imprisoned or killed because some group or another objects to their "different-ness" keeps screaming from the pages. If you are remotely concerned about women's issues or human rights, READ THIS BOOK!

This book ...... Complete Book of Indian Cooking by Suneeta Vaswani ... caught my eye in the bookstore in the mall. I LOVE Indian food! And I love cook books ... what a perfect combo! Each section of this cookbook is subdivided into four geographical regions of India with explanations of the overall food and lifestyle, methods of cooking, and common ingredients including spices for each region. Most ingredients listed are available in the ethnic foods section of any major Canadian grocery store. The photography ... both regional and culinary ... is superb, and the author has included lots of personal and family snippets about different dishes and customs. I can hardly wait to start taste-testing, and have an interesting grocery list to take to the grocery store after work tonight!

Have a great week, y'all!