[Urbane Guerrilla]

As long as somebody plants zucchini there will never be famine in America.

Lots of kids who hate zucchini, but no famine. Maybe an invasion of zucchini-triffid hybrids, but no famine. If the triffids get southern California in late summer, look out for triffid-artichoke hybrids.

If I keep this up I'm going to give myself an appetite.

Anyway, to keep the thread active, a crosspost from the Chicken Masala thread a little ways down:

Madras Curry Powder

5 TBSP dried ground red New Mexico chile pepper
2 tsp ground Cayenne
4 TBSP ground coriander seeds. Grind the whole coriander yourself.
4 TBSP ground cumin seeds. Ditto.
1/2 tsp ground ginger
1 tsp ground fenugreek seeds. Maybe ditto. I got a little packet of ground fenugreek and it lasted years.
1 tsp fresh ground black pepper
1TBSP cardamom. Grind this yourself from the seeds or pods, sift if needed.
1 tsp ground cloves.

The grinder here may be a coffee grinder. Mix all ingredients, grind until fine, store in tight-lidded jar, yield is about half a cup. Fresh-ground ingredients rather than buying powdered spices really make the difference. This is a general-purpose mix and you can play with the proportions for anything short of vanilla ice cream, I suppose. If I want turmeric in it, I just add by eye and taste. Recipe from The Whole Chile Pepper Book.