Curry Powder

My mother made this as a Christmas gift three or four years ago from the China Moon Cookbook and it was so good that I have never bought curry powder again. Barbara Tropp really knew what she was doing. The cookbook itself has always intimidated me because for every dish, you have to make anywhere from two to five of her special pantry ingredients. The ingredient lists are all italicized, making them hard to read, and then the ingredients themselves make me want to give up. She doesn't just call for dried red chili flakes, she calls for "shockingly pungent dried red chili flakes." I understand where she's going with it all, obviously fresher is better, but I've never been able to get past it all to really use many of the recipes. It's a good thing that the curry powder made the whole cookbook worth it. I use it on roasted vegetables, meat marinades, and I add it to fried noodles. I have had to leave out a couple ingredients occasionally when I hadn't checked that I had everything before I started and it's still great. 

Ingredients:
Whole Spices:
2 tablespoons coriander seeds
1 tablespoon cardamom seeds
1 tablespoon cumin seeds
1 tablespoon yellow mustard seeds
2 teaspoons fenugreek seeds 
1 teaspoon whole cloves
1/2 cinnamon stick (1-1/2 inches long)
1/2 teaspoon black peppercorns

Ground Spices:
3/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1 tablespoon ground ginger
2 tablespoons plus 1 teaspoon turmeric

Directions:
The spice blend routine is always the same: toast the whole spices, add it all to a spice grinder or a clean coffee grinder with the ground spices, grind finely, and store in a jar. 

It looks like this before the ground spices are added.

Carrots tossed with olive oil, salt, and curry powder, then roasted in a 425 degree oven.