About 20 years ago, I knew a
Tamil Sufi named
Bawa Muhaiyaddeen. He was tiny, very
old, had a
bald head, a
white beard, and very much reminded me of a
spider monkey. And he was a great
cook. This is
Bawa’s
curry powder.
Powdered spices:
Grind in a suribachi or with a mortar and pestle: Seed Spices
- 1/2 teaspoon of cumin seed
- 1/2 teaspoon black mustard seed
- 1/2 teaspoon fenugreek (you could grind this if you're not going to cook the curry long).
When Bawa made a
curry, he made up fresh
curry spices. He cooked the seed spices in hot oil first and would add these to
vegetables along with some fresh garlic, a piece of cinnamon stick (which would be extracted before serving) and might add fresh chili to curries to make them even hotter. The powdered spices were added half-way through the cooking. After grinding spices he would add water to the
suribachi,
swirl it and add it to the curry as well.
If you are used to using
store-bought curry powders, you will be
pleasantly surprised if you try this. The
flavours of the 14 fresh
spices roll across the
tongue and as one
fades, another begins.