Sri Lankan Roasted Curry Powder

If you have read Ponniyin Selvan by Kalki or Ramayanam, you will be taken a virtual tour to Sri Lanka. I always have a sense of nativity to the country and Tamil people out there.  

I love exploring cuisines, my latest attraction is on Sri Lankan Cuisine. So on looking over Sri Lankan Recipes, I realized I should make the Sri Lankan curry powder to get the color and taste of the dish to be perfect. 

This Curry Powder demands 13 Spice Ingredients. All to be dry roasted, till the spices are almost browned. Roasting the spices deep brown is important, as the spice powder when ground will have the brown color & nice aroma and when it is added to the curry, it changes the color and flavor of the curry.

Roast each spice separately, in medium flame till they turn brown color. You need to be care full, as it is easy to burn the spices in the process.

Ingredients:

Cinnamon Stick – 3’ inch

Cloves – ½ tsp

Curry Leaves – 10

Coriander seeds / Dhaniya – 2 tsp

Fennel / Sombu – 1 tsp

Turmeric Powder – ½ tsp

Cumin – 1 tsp

Raw Rice – 1 tbsp (You can use Basmati Rice)

Fenugreek / Vendhayam – ½ tsp

Cardamom – 2

Pepper – ½ tsp

Dry Red Chilly – 3            

Mustard / Kadugu – ½ tsp

Method:

First Roast the Raw Rice in a heated pan for about 3 minutes till it turns golden colour, remove the rice to a plate. Roast other spices one by one. Roast the spices till they turn almost brown. Cool the roasted spices and grind along with roasted rice into a very fine powder.

Store the Curry Powder in a dry air tight jar.

This Curry Powder keeps well for 3 months.

You can use this curry powder in Pumpkin Curry, Eggplant Moju and other Non-Vegetarian Curries.        

 I will post Eggplant Moju(Pickle) next, which we liked most.

Referred BBC-Food and Rice and Curry.