Curry powder is not one spice but a blend and mixture of several spices including galangal, turmeric, cumin, cinnamon, cloves, coriander, cardamom, star anise, chili and fennel. In Singapore, we use different blends for cooking different meat, or fish or vegetable.
Curries blended by Malays and Indians have slightly different fragrance. I learned how to make my own curry powder from a Sri Lankan cooking teacher in Hong Kong and she used fennel, fenugreek and mustard seeds as well. She roasted the whole spices in a frying pan until fragrant and then grounded them finely in a coffee grinder.
Most of us in Singapore don’t make our own curry powder because there are so many good brands available. Today in the U.S., you can also buy curry powder in regular supermarkets. But I still prefer the brands sold in Singapore. My favorite is Baba’s, the one pictured above and I was excited to find it sold on Amazon. So, there you have it…you can make Singapore curry authentically.
In addition to curry powders, we also buy curry pastes from our wet markets in Singapore. Wet markets are our neighborhood markets, named because meat, fish, seafood and vegetables are sold fresh there and often the floor of the market is wet, unlike our air-conditioned supermarkets. Curry pastes are ground from fresh, moist ingredients like ginger, turmeric, galangal, lemongrass, garlic and chili.
Make your own curry paste
When using store-bought curry powder to make curry paste, we blend the powder with equal amounts of water to make a paste, as shown below. Use with caution. Some curry powder can be very spicy. I usually try not to use more than 3 tablespoons of powder for one pot of chicken curry. Every brand is different and you may have to adjust after using the curry the first time.
Make your own curry powder
This makes 3 tablespoons curry. Mix together these ground ingredients in a bowl:
1 teaspoon turmeric
1 tablespoon coriander
1 tablespoon paprika
1 teaspoon cumin
½ teaspoon pepper
½ teaspoon chili powder (optional)
