THE HERITAGE INGREDIENT
The British love of curry isn’t a new thing. I have a dog-eared copy of Mrs Beeton’s Cookery Book, printed in 1892, that belonged to my late grandmother. It contains numerous recipes for curry and other savoury Indian-inspired dishes, all of which call for curry powder. How times have changed. I cook a lot of curry but I’d never dream of reaching for a jar of ready-mixed powder. I prefer the mix of whole and ground spices that most recipes call for these days.
Pre-mixed commercial curry powder is rarely used in India and even then only for convenience rather than as a preference. In the south of India, the closest you’ll get to a curry powder or masala (a combination of spices) is sambhar powder, a dried spice blend containing ground turmeric, which gives the food a yellow tinge. Cooks in the north use the aromatic spice blend garam masala – and, of course, Indian cooks make their own household spice blends.
British manufacturers in the 18th, 19th and 20th centuries are credited with the invention of commercial, ready-prepared curry powder to imitate the sambhar powder of southern India used in Anglo-Indian cooking of the time.
These days brands of commercial powder will vary and can be mild, medium or hot, but they’re all likely to contain coriander, turmeric, cumin, black pepper, mustard seed, fennel seed, ginger, fenugreek, cayenne and cinnamon, all of which are generally roasted before being ground.
I still think curry powder has a place in the kitchen and I have numerous recipes that call for a teaspoon or two, but they’re rarely traditional Indian curries. Nevertheless the flavour works beautifully.
PERFECT MATCHES
The ingredients curry powder loves…
Eggs
Fish & shellfish
Lentils & chickpeas
Meat & poultry
Parsnips
Rice, couscous & quinoa Sweetcorn
Singapore-style stir-fried noodles
A GREAT BRITISH STIR-FRY
Singapore-style stir-fried noodles
SERVES 4. HANDS-ON TIME 1 HOUR 35 MIN, PLUS MARINATING
This dish has reportedly never been cooked in Singapore (in the same way that chicken tikka masala and kedgeree have never been cooked in India), but it makes a great supper all the same.
MAKE AHEAD
Roast the pork the day before, then continue with the recipe.