Curry Powder For Stir Fries

This is a family recipe of my aunt, Indu. Thanks to her for sharing it with me and giving a chance to share with the whole world. This curry powder is mainly used to enhance the flavor of stir fries, like potato stir fry, tindora fry, capsicum/bell pepper fry, capsicum potato fry and a lot of various such combinations. All you need to add is the curry powder or the koora karam (telugu word) and salt to the dish. When I visited my aunt this year, I fell in love with this curry powder. It added a lot of flavor to the regular stir fries.

Ingredients:
Chana Dal/Senagapappu - 4 tbsp
Urad Dal/Uddipappu - 2 tbsp
Coriander Seeds/Dhaniyalu - 2 tbsp
Cumin Seeds/Jeelakarra - 1 tsp
Dry Red Chillies - 7-9(As per your taste)
Mustard Seeds/Avalu - 1/4 tsp
Fenugreek Seeds/Menthulu - a large pinch
Curry Leaves - 5-8

Method of Preparation:
1. Dry roast the ingredients individually and let them cool.
2. Add curry leaves and red chillies to a grinder and grind them first.
3. Then add the rest of ingredients and grind to a coarse powder.
4. Store the curry powder for stir fries in an air tight container.
5. Use a spoonful of this curry powder when you make your stir fries.

Usage: Heat oil in a pan and add the chopped vegetables of your choice(Potato/Capsicum/Tindora), cook them until they are 3/4th done. Then add this curry powder, salt, mix and cook for 2-3 minutes or till the vegetables are completely cooked through. Enjoy the tasty, flavorful stir fry.

Home Made Curry Powder

There are a lot of branded curry powders available in the market, but nothing comes even close to the fresh home made curry powder. It just takes a couple of minutes to prepare this amazing curry powder. You can add a couple of spoons of curry powder to a mixed vegetable curry or stir fry and see the difference.

Ingredients:(Yields around a cup of curry powder)
Coriander Seeds - 2 tbsp
Cumin Seeds - 2 tbsp
Black Cardamom - 2
Green Cardamom - 2
Cloves - 10
Cinnamon - 2 inch stick
Fennel/Saunf Seeds - 2 tsp
Turmeric Powder - 1 tsp
Chilli Powder/Paprika - 2 tbsp

Method of Preparation:
1. Dry roast all the ingredients. Let them cool down.
2. Grind to a fine powder in a spice blender or a grinder.
3. Store in an air tight container.

Homemade Biryani Masala Powder

Spices are the backbone of any dish. I love experimenting with different spices and coming up with different spice mixtures or masalas. Hear is a very easy way of preparing biryani masala at home. This masala can be used for making vegetable, chicken or mutton biryani.

Ingredients:(Makes around 11/2 tbsp biryani powder)
Cloves - 5
Green Cardamom - 2
Black Cardamom - 1
Cinnamon - 1 inch stick
Star Anise - half of a whole star anise
Cumin Seeds - 1 tsp
Bay Leaf - 1
Shahi Jeera - 1/4 tsp

Method of Preparation:
1. Add all the ingredients to a spice blender or a grinder and grind to a fine powder.
2. Store in an airtight container.

Usage:
For around 2 pounds or one kg of chicken or mutton, use 11/2 tbsp biryani masala.
(Add the biryani masala powder to the marinade and marinate the meat in it)