Homemade turmeric powder

A few photos from my turmeric powder-making session this weekend

We got some pretty good snowfall here last night. But in two days, the temperatures will be in the 60s, and this snow will melt fast. The gardens will get a nice watering.

The red pansies I planted around the outdoor Buddha shrine during that amazing heat wave two weeks ago have surely perished. I didn’t look this morning, but that’s my guess. That’s the way spring goes here in New England. I usually send some pansies to an early death. I always feel sad about that.

I made my own turmeric powder this weekend. I followed the Nyishar method (nyishar.com). I took fresh, fat turmeric tubers, peeled them, chopped them into thin disks, rinsed, dried, and then placed them in the dehydrator for five hours. Once they dried and cooled, I processed them into a fine powder in the coffee grinder.

It’s a very potent, bright orange, fragrant turmeric powder, superior to the powder I’ve bought at health food markets, and a world apart from the commercial turmeric powder at the supermarket. I held it up against the powder I bought at Whole Foods; the color difference is insane. I never realized how bland and beige store-bought turmeric powder is. That tells me it’s not fresh, not potent, and not worth using. 

Making the powder myself was easy and fun. Next, I’m going to make my own ginger powder, using the same method.

I have some seitan marinating in a tikka masala sauce in the fridge. Lunch for a couple of days will be seitan tikka masala and basmati rice. Indian food is my favorite. Winter, summer, whenever. The spicier, the better. Korma and masala sauces, green cardamom, curry, and tulsi must be among the foods the gods eat. The one thing I grieve in my marriage is that my husband doesn’t like Indian food. If he did, we’d be eating it every day.

I see the snow is already dropping off the trees. It’s melting fast. Yesterday was the first day of spring. We’re on our way.

Anumodana