Sri Lankan red curry powder is most versatile curry powder in my home kitchen. Not a day goes by that I don’t use red curry powder for something or other. Making medium to spicy curry isn’t the only use of Sri Lankan red curry powder. I use it to make salad dressings, sprinkle over scrambled eggs, hummus so many uses in this one curry powder recipe.

snapshot of curries and roasts created using Sri Lankan red curry powder

Weather you call it Jaffna curry powder, Sri Lankan meat curry powder, roasted curry powder or simply red curry powder every cook has their unique way of making it and spices that go into it.

My way of making Sri Lankan red curry power is simple and straight forward. What I mean by that is I get the same taste and consistency every time I make it.

Red curry powder, like my many custom blended seasoning bases, sits in the freezer too to keep it fresh, for long. It is extremely easy to make from powdered spices however in recent months i started making my Sri Lankan red curry powder only with whole spices. The flavor is much better and lasts even longer that way. I mostly use it to flavor curries, giveaway, and to make curry paste recipes. Just to spice things up to a nice, moderated heat and aroma. familiar aroma of my mother’s cooking.

You could adjust the heat level by changing cayenne pepper if you prefer milder taste.

How to make red curry powder

In a dry skillet toast coriander, cumin, paprika and cayenne pepper together until fragrant and just change the hue into deep red. Make sure not to overheat and I recommend doing it under low heat. set aside to cool down.

Get the seeds out from 2 cardamom pods, 2 to 3 cloves, pinch of grated nutmeg and a three-inch long cinnamon stick, grind them together and add it to the cooled down curry powder blend.

Optionally you could add ground black pepper, salt, and onion powder as well. If you are hoping to keep Sri Lankan red curry powder for long time, I do not recommend adding black pepper, salt, or onion powder. They tend to lose flavor much faster than spices after grinding and will not stay fresh for long er than couple of months. Pack everything into an airtight container and give it a good shake to evenly distribute.

With the premade Sri Lankan red curry powder ready, you can easily make any Sri Lankan style red curry/ spicy curry in my blog easily.

Cayenne pepper can be very spicy, please test your heat tolerance before deciding how much to use. If not, you could opt for a milder type of dry red chilies that will give the color and flavor but not spicy heat.

Snapshot of multiple curries with red curry base

I hope you enjoyed reading my post and will give any one of these curry recipes with Sri Lankan red curry powder in it a try. If you do, please do send me pictures via any of my social profiles or via e mail.

Thank you for reading my blog.

Red Curry Powder

How to make red curry powder from whole spices

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Prep Time 15 mins

Equipment

• food processor grinder

Ingredients

  

• Three tablespoon whole coriander
• one tablespoon whole cumin
• three tablespoons Spanish paprika
• four whole dry cayenne peppers more if you want very spicy curry powder
• ½ teaspoon ground cardamom
• ½ teaspoon ground nutmeg
• ¼ teaspoon fennel seeds
• 3 cloves
• 1 inch stick of cinnamon
• 2 tbsp Yellow mung dal optional

Instructions

 

• Dry roast the whole coriander until golden brown and fragrant for couple of minutes.
• dry roast cumin, mung beans dal and fennel seeds on low flame until it turns light brown and start giving aroma
• lightly roast whole dry red peppers for few seconds on low
• toast paprika until color turns dark red
• grind peppercorns and cardamom seeds using mortar and pestle
• add everything in food processor and grind to a fine powder

Video

Notes

Store in air tight container in freezer to the blended spices stay fresh for long time.