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The Cook Up with Adam Liaw
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series • cooking
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Talk to Plate it Forward founder and CEO Shaun Christie-David about making your own spice blends and it instantly sounds like a kitchen equivalent of creating a colourful artwork: “You can get very, very playful and you can get quite experimentative…”. And Christie-David’s recommendation of using a smoke mask when making potent traditional Sri Lankan curry powder (more on that later!) makes it clear this is a creative exercise you’ll experience with all your senses.
Likewise, spice mistress and cookbook author Sarina Kamini's suggestion for using sight (if you’re visual person) or taste (if you’re a flavour-first person) show that making your own spice blends can be a wonderful experience in itself, as well as a way to add fantastic flavour to food.
But there's perhaps no better way to describe the kick a curry powder or other spice blend can add to a dish than Adam Liaw’s description. “It's like a 1960s Batman, pow, pow, pow. One of the fastest ways to add flavour to things,” he says in Season 8 of The Cook Up, where he uses curry power in an Icelandic fish gratin.
If you’re keen to try making your own spice blends, we’ve gathered some top tips from these experts to set you up for spice success.
What do I need to make spice blends at home?
The two key essentials for a DIY spice blend powder are good whole spices and a way to grind them.
In her book What We Call Masala, Kamini (who also sells her own spice blends to retail outlets) recommends getting to know your spice retailer. Look for a place with high turnover, that stores the spices well. “Think of your spice retailer as you would a butcher, baker or grocer. The quality of your spices will categorically impact your dish.”
Sarina Kamini. Credit: Samira Damirova
“What you'll need for your spice blends is essentially a way to grind them. Mortar and pestle is a good one, but if you have harder spices, things like black cardamom or star anise or cinnamon [they are] very, very hard to grind in a mortar and pestle. Cloves as well, they can be very, very firm, so a spice grinder is a really good idea,” he says.
Of course, not all spice mixes need a grinder; some are mixes of seeds, herbs or pre-ground spices, such as Liaw's bacon and egg roll seasoning mix, or the suya spice mix he puts together in his recipe for Nigerian lamb suya.
Credit: Jiwon Kim
"And I think with curry powders, it would be the worst thing in the world to spend a lot of effort making a really lovely one and going, ‘oh, that's great’, and then not knowing how you did it. And then spend the next 20 years of your life chasing the dragon trying to make that curry powder again. If you record it, it's a really useful thing to do.”
You might also want a mask. Christie-David says that if you’re making a Sri Lankan curry powder, it can be a powerful experience. A traditional Sri Lankan curry power is darker and more aromatic than those of some other countries, in part due to the roasting, he explains. “We’ll mix, say 13 ingredients, and then we roast at a very high temperature to bring out a whole other layer of spice and heat. And different regions of Sri Lanka roast at different temperatures, to bring out different elements.
“And you need a smoke mask when you’re making curry powder,” he says with a laugh. “It is full-on and those fumes get everywhere and they don't come off your clothes for a while!”
What’s the best way to create your own unique spice blends?
For those looking to experiment with making their own blends, Kamini suggests two approaches.
“If you’re a visual person, you can create blends by sight – lay each of your spices out on the table and mix and match using colour and texture. Earth tone heavy blends will be warming. Blends with a high contrast of colour – lots of black, white and red, so say black mustard seed, fenugreek powder, and red chilli as hallmarks – will be jazzy and a bit loud to taste. Blends made from a lot of structured spices – so using more seedy and whole spices than powdered – will be more austere and distinct.
“If you’re a flavour person, try your raw spices on their own, and mix the ones together that you like or find most interesting. Ratios are tricky, but a good rule of thumb is to taste each addition raw before combining and then follow these broad frameworks: use pungent or bitter spices in small quantities, err on the side of less with whole spices, form the body of the masala with earthy and warm seed and powdered spices, and lastly don’t drown it all in vast volumes of powdered chilli – this is one spice that’s easy to build in when cooking.
"It’s easier to add hot spices ‘to taste’ once the cooking is in progress.”
Kashmiri chaman is a richer and more textured traditional curd cheese dish. Credit: Sarina Kamini
Christie-David suggests experimenting to find different blends that suit your dishes, as the team does at Plate it Forward eatery Colombo Social. “It's a fun process and you can start to get creative. You know, every single one of our curries at Colombo Social will have a different curry powder based on the protein. So, you can get very, very playful and you can refine based on spice levels and flavours.”
What’s the best way to store spices and spice blends?
“The best way to store spices and any spice blends – whether you buy them or make them yourself – is in sealed containers away from light and heat. The exception to this is when spices and blends are stored in a masala dabba or spice tin – because these tins store such low volume and we use them daily and nightly, the turnover is fast enough that ‘airtight’ ceases to be a thing,” says Kamini.
Credit: Eleni Woldeyes
Making a dish using barbere? Try making your own version of this East African blend with this recipe.
How long can spices and spice blends be stored for?
“The length of time you can store spices and blends depends on who you ask. Because you’re asking me, I’ll say between six to 12 months for most. They start to lose their dimension after that. And spices are like produce – the more textured and beautiful your aromatic ingredients, the easier it is to produce delicious results. Fragile spices like coriander seed are best ground fresh from dried coriander seeds. And dried fennel seed ground fresh to fennel powder is a revelation,” Kamini says.
Shaun Christie-David's Sri Lankan chicken curry. Credit: Adam Liaw
Is DIY always better?
No, purchased blends can be a great time-saver, and sometimes they are the key to a much-loved flavour. “There's some amazing store-bought curry powders now that are really authentic and home style,” Christie-David says. “And you go into any Sri Lankan household across the world they'll use King's Curry powder. It's possibly one of the best curry powers that you would use – besides your mum’s – to get that really authentic home-style food.
Native bush curry. Credit: Kitti Gould
Buying a spice blend or curry powder can also give you a change to try something you can’t easily make at home. That could be mixes using ingredients that might be hard for you to find where you live, or that are not widely available for commercial sale, such as some native Australian spices.
It might also inspire you to try experimenting with your own mixes. Follow Liaw's lead in recording what you did, and enjoy the ongoing process of discovering your favourite blends.
