Today's Case

Ginger Curry Spice Blend On 10/23/2022 7:22 PM, Rivka wrote: Hi: I was looking for Nile Spice Foods and stumbled upon someone else’s request for a “secret” lost recipe. I still have the remains of some Ginger Curry blend by Nile Spice, which was purchased up in B.C. Canada in one of our chain grocery stores. There was a popcorn seasoning blend which tasted quite a bit of nutritional yeast and Parmesan cheese powder, but the Ginger Curry blend has become more important recently as it is a flavouring ingredient in a recipe using Tigernut Flour, dried pineapple, chocolate chips and other ingredients. This recipe was done as an experimental to make-over of the traditional Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe that just about every grade 8 or 9 in BC winds up cooking at some point in a foods class. At some point my dwindling bottle with its upside down label (also a keeper when it is empty) will be actually empty and I will need a replacement for this seasoning. Honestly…I swear that someone follows me around the store when I am shopping and notes down everything I buy and decides to discontinue the item…if anyone suddenly can’t find something in the stores, it is probably my fault because I bought it as some point and created a recipe around it. R Hi Rivka, Sorry, I had no more success than you. Does the bottle label have a list of ingredients? Can you send me the list or a photo of the label showing the ingredient list? It might give me some ideas of how to proceed. I will post this for reader input. Phaed On 10/29/2022 4:07 PM, Rivka Y wrote: Hi:  Thank you for the prompt reply. Sorry for my late reply. I have been very busy at work and it has been spilling over into my personal time (someone has to do the laundry at the end of the day) and unfortunately the “numbers” do not add up properly yet, so I need to teach for 2 more years before I can retire.  I am a Foods teacher but I was wondering if someone did have a clone recipe for this…however, I was not holding my breath. I took a look at the label.  The ingredients are in it in the order below. In Canada, the ingredient that is listed first has to be the greatest quantity in the product and then all other ingredients are listed in decreasing order.  I also suspect that when there are ingredients in the same amounts, they might be listed in alphabetical order also.  So based on another curry powder recipe that contains ginger (and ginger appears to not be the first ingredient on the label or in other spice blends that I have found for curry in general…) and my assumptions, I have come up with this.  I might give the garlic powder a miss when I make up the recipe to replace the other one for baking.  This should make about 1/2 cup (120 mLs) of blend without the garlic powder.  I will be getting on this, this weekend and will let you know how it works out. (Assuming my stupid left eye lets me function.)   By the way I did work out a clone recipe for Stubb’s Sticky Sweet Barbeque Sauce… so if you want it, I can provide that. 2 tablespoons turmeric 1.5 tablespoons coriander (1 tablespoon garlic powder) 1 tablespoon ginger powder 2.5 teaspoons cumin 2 teaspoons black pepper 2 teaspoons cardamom 2 teaspoons nutmeg 1/2 tablespoon cinnamon 1 teaspoon red chilli powder 1/2 teaspoon ground cloves All spices are pre-ground and are combined and sealed in a jar. R Hi Rivka, I wanted the ingredients list so that I could look for other spice mixes with the same ingredients. If the Nile Spice "Ginger Curry" was a traditional Middle Eastern Spice mix that they were selling under a different name, as has occurred before, then I wanted to find the traditional name. The problem is that no two recipes for traditional spice mixtures are usually exactly the same. Such recipes are often a bit different in different families and are often different in different geographical areas of the Middle East. It's good that you are using your the list of spices from the bottle and making your own version of the spice mix.  I think that you have a good chance of making something close. In my search by ingredients, I found some similar traditional spice mix recipes with different names. You might want to consider these recipes in judging how much of each spice to use in your own mixture, or you might want to locate and try some commercial versions of these spice mixes: Ras El Hanout Stir together 1 teaspoon each black pepper, paprika, ground ginger, coriander, cinnamon, cardamom, turmeric, and freshly grated nutmeg. Add 1 / 2 teaspoon each cayenne, ground fennel seeds, allspice, and cumin, and 1 / 4 teaspoon ground cloves and stir to combine. Makes about 3 1 / 2 tablespoons Baharat Grind 2 teaspoons black peppercorns, 1 / 2 teaspoon each whole cloves, cardamom seeds, cumin seeds, coriander seeds, and allspice berries to a fine powder. Put in a small bowl with 2 teaspoons paprika and 1 / 2 teaspoon each ground ginger, cinnamon, and nutmeg; stir to combine. Makes about 3 tablespoons. Middle Eastern Spice Mix: 1 tsp cumin 1 tsp cardamom 1/2 tsp allspice 1/2 tsp coriander 1/2 tsp cloves 1 tsp pepper 1 tsp red pepper flakes crushed 1/2 tsp ginger 1 tsp turmeric 1 tsp salt 1 Tbsp paprika 1 tsp cinnamon. Add ingredients to a sm mason jar and close lid and shake until combined. Phaed Subject: Another Nile Spice Spice Blend Request - Ginger Curry From: Rivka Date: 10/29/2022, 6:29 PM To: Phaedrus Have done some mixing and comparing both appearance and flavour… have come up with the following based on my experiments. Pictures with notes reveal steps taken and results. image0.jpegimage1.jpegimage2.jpeg 2 tablespoons turmeric 30 mL 1.5 tablespoons coriander 22.5 mL 1.5 tablespoon garlic powder 22.5 mL 1.5 tablespoon ginger powder 22.5 mL 4 teaspoons cumin 20 mL 1 tablespoon black pepper 15 mL 2 teaspoons cardamom 10 mL 2 teaspoons nutmeg 10 mL .5 tablespoon cinnamon 7.5 mL 1 teaspoon red chilli powder 5 mL 1/2 teaspoon ground cloves 2.5 mL Combine all ground spices well and store in tightly sealed jar in cool dark place. Makes 167.5 mLs, a little more than 3 quarters of a cup. As I was going through the trials…in the second, the amounts were just adjusted up.   For the third, I removed a quarter of the recipe and added a 1/4 of the amount of garlic powder…so I was not mixing large quantities of each…I just did some math. Hope this will help someone else…and since I have a large quantity of this, I will now be experimenting with some rice cooker recipes…yippeee! R