Curry Powder (Sri Lankan)

srilankan-roastedcurrypowder Sri Lankan roasted curry powder is an essential spice blend to make Sri Lankan curries. Sri Lanka also known as the Spice Island is famous for its curries. As every family likely has their own spice blend that they use for various curries, most will have the same basic flavours of Sri Lanka. Feel free when you make your roasted Sri Lankan roasted curry powder to adjust to your liking. This is the one I used to make the Sri Lankan Prawn curry for our International Cuisine meal. This spice blend is roasted and then ground together. You can use a spice grinder or do it the right way with a granite mortar and pestle called gal wangediya in Sri Lanka. Other spices that you may want to include in your spice blend include star anise, nutmeg, fenugreek, cinnamon, mace and ginger to simply name a few. All these spices are used regularly in Sri Lankan cuisine.

4 Tbsp. coriander seeds
3 Tbsp. cumin seeds
2 Tbsp. black peppercorns
2 Tbsp. basmati rice
1 Tbsp. black mustard seeds
3 tsp. whole cloves
2 tsp. green cardamom seeds
1 tsp. fennel seeds

Place the rice in a non-stick pan. Heat over medium heat until the rice starts to turn light brown.

Add the rest of the spices and roast for few more minutes until the spices start to become aromatic. Keep moving the pan to prevent the spices from burning.

Remove from the heat and let the spices cool down.

Once the spices cool down - use a spice grinder (or a mortar and pestle) to grind the spice mix into a powder in batches and mix well.

Store in an air tight container.

Makes 8 Tbsp.

Cook's Notes:

Unroasted Curry Powder: Is the same as roasted, but the spices are not toasted in the pan. They are simply placed in a spice grinder and pulsed until finely ground.
Cloves: The ingredient ratio here is more of a guideline. If you don't like cloves, please feel free to leave them out or add less. The cloves I typically use are large, and I can only fit a few in 1 tsp. If your cloves are smaller in size, reduce the amount accordingly.
Which Spices Are the Most Important?
Coriander, cumin, black pepper, cardamom. Other ingredients can be left out if you don't have them, or reduced to your liking. You can also use yellow mustard instead of black/brown mustard, if that is all you have.
Why Is My Curry Powder Bitter?
If you find the curry powder to be bitter, it's most likely because you toasted the spices for too long and burned them. It can also be bitter if your spices have gone rancid (especially mustard).
How Long Can I Keep This?
Ground spices don't retain their freshness as well as whole spices. This is why I prefer making batches of this when needed. Every time I make the curry powder, the longest it has lasted in my kitchen is 2 weeks before I need a new batch, but usually I make this once a week.