Thai Red Curry Powder

Recently, I really needed a red curry powder for a recipe. I have a few, pre-made curry powders on hand, but none of them are read. They are the typical curry powders, which are yellow in color. But, I really needed a red curry powder. The thing was that the recipe did not even call for a red curry powder, but other sources hinted at the use of the ingredient in preparing the dish. So, I needed it even though I did not know what kind or how much would be necessary. 

That lack of information meant that I would not be buying red curry powder from the store. Curry powders can be expensive, and, without knowing what other uses that I may have for it, I did not want to spend a lot on another jar of a spice mixture. As my beautiful Angel will attest, I have a lot of jars already. 

So, I turned to the internet. To be truly authentic, it would have to be a Trini red curry powder. I had no luck finding such a recipe. I delved deeper, knowing that the author of the recipe came from the Indian community in Trinidad & Tobago, I looked for red curry powder recipes from India. Still no luck. And no recipe.

I had to broaden my search, and that led me to a Thai red curry powder recipe. And, that seemed like a stretch, because, in my adventures through Thai cooking, I always used curry pastes, whether red or green. Never a curry powder. Still, I needed a recipe so I decided to make this particular red curry powder. Its relatively "reddish" hue comes from the crushed red chile flakes, because the other ingredients -- cumin, ginger, bay leaves, cloves and turmeric (the golden spice) -- have no red hues in them at all. The spice mix worked well for my needs, so I decided to give the recipe its own post on this blog. 

THAI RED CURRY POWDER

Recipe from Vegan with Gusto

Ingredients:

• 3 tablespoons coriander seeds
• 2 tablespoons cumin seeds
• 1 tablespoon turmeric powder
• 2 teaspoons ground ginger
• 1 tablespoon red chile flakes
• 3 medium bay leaves
• 2 whole cloves

Directions:

1. Toast the whole spices.  Heat a skillet or frying pan to medium heat. Add all of the whole spices and stir them constantly for 1-2 minutes until the cumin and coriander seeds become fragrant and slightly darker.

2. Grind the spices. Add the whole spices to a spice grinder with the remaining ingredients. Grind the ingredients into a fine powder. 

PEACE.