Never gave it much thought that curry and masala are different spice blends; all I knew is that one is yellow and the other more brownish. Although we use both, masala is more often used in traditional Indian-based food. Little did I know that our masala is different from the rest of the Indian world…
Masala or Curry?
Just got back from a beach vacation with lots of R&R and family love. Before I left, I created a dinner menu for the week so I could bring spices I would need. The majority of the ingredients we would buy locally. Then my daughter-in-law asked us to cook masala crab, a favorite dish of my family. Problem was, we didn’t bring any masala, so now we had to go on the hunt for it. Hubby called from the store asking for help to choose from the many choices: Tiki masala, Garam masala, Vindaloo masala, hot, mild, etc. etc. Nothing we recognized, but we had to get some and after looking up the spice blends on the internet, I selected the Vindaloo hot masala because it seemed similar to ours.
Not really though, cause there was some spices in the Vindaloo we were not familiar with, but oh well! At that point we didn’t care so we cooked the crab and enjoyed the “best” we could 🙂
The difference between Curry and Masala
After this experience, I wanted to find out what the difference is between Curry and Masala. Found a lot of good articles that explained this, but here is an infographic by Spiceitupp.com that clearly shows the difference.
Apparently Curry is an invention of the Brits who even have a Curry Festival. On the other hand, Masala is an authentic and traditional Indian spice blend you’ll find in any Indian kitchen.
A big difference between the two, besides color, is the flavor. Masala is much sharper than curry powder and should therefore be used sparingly. According to the articles I read, curry should be added at the beginning when cooking the sauce, while masala is added during cooking or at the end. In Surinamese cooking we add both at the beginning of cooking to get a better infusion of the flavor into the meat or vegetables.
I also believe that our version of masala may be a blend of both, because masala from Suriname is more dark yellow than brown, and lacks the flavor of cardamon (hard to find locally). To find the true spice blend we grew up with, I’ll have to go straight to a traditional source because none of my searches online and in cookbooks delivered a recipe I could imitate.
Most Surinamese recipes to cook “curry” chicken refer to masala, which we can buy in any local store (not in the USA). Once I find the spice blend recipe, I’ll have to update my Curry Chicken recipe to accurately represent what we use in our cooking. My stash is running low, so I’ll try these soon!
Curry and Masala links
Here are some other resources you might find interesting:
Home made spice blends
For a while I was into making my own spice blends and even started a Cottage Food business, that I shut down due to restrictions selling on the Internet. But, I will definitely give some of these recipes a try until I get the right blend as I know it from home, because so far we have not found it between all the available choices.
Ever heard of a Daba? Read my post about the use of a Daba here.
Do you like to cook with spices? Have you used curry or masala before? Share your favorite recipe link below!
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