A recent trip to the India House revived our taste for Indian cuisine so we began working our way through some of the neglected recipes in one of my favorite cookbooks: 50 Great Curries of India. This one is our new favorite. One step of the recipe involves grinding away at the ingredients in a food processor or blender for about ten minutes in order to create a silky smooth sauce from the dried Guajilo peppers, cumin and coriander seeds, garlic, tamarind, and coconut that went in. I was pleased by how well the color of my version matched the picture in the book.

One of the best parts of this cookbook is the 50-page introduction where the author explains the traditional uses and preparation of the (gazillion) spices used in Indian cuisine. For example, we learn that turmeric is a root which gives an even better color and flavor fresh than when dried. “Turmeric is difficult to powder at home, and there is always a danger of buying an adulterated form in markets, so shrewd housewives buy their annual requirements before the summer and get it pounded in their presence.” Also be on the lookout for cassia bark being passed off as cinnamon, and if you can't use fresh coconut or find a reliable canned product, Nestlés coconut milk powder is the most acceptable of last resorts.