Having great homemade condiments and flavour bursts on hand is the easiest way to turn your cooking from ho-hum to ‘wow, what have you done?!’
One of my absolute favourite must-have pantry essentials is Vadouvan curry powder. This French version of an Indian curry powder is a warm, toasty and well-rounded spice mix with a gorgeous rusty orange colour and a gentle chilli kick. You can make it in less than 10 minutes! Click through to the recipe.
By the way, it’s pronounced vuh-doo-vun.
See below for the base recipe and for some of my favourite ways to get vadouvan va-va-voom in my life. You may also like to add vadouvan to marinades, dressings, scrambled eggs and marinated fetta. The Barbecue chapter of my Entertaining cookbook includes a great recipe for Vadouvan-spiced Mini Rolls: they’re stuffed with caramelised onion and brushed with vadouvan – so great!
The Vadouvan Curry Powder, Chicken Tart and Butter Chicken recipes are available to everyone. The others are available to my lovely members (login here, friends). Want to know what my members think about the site? Check out their testimonials. Ready to start cooking? Join here!
Watch this video to see me make vadouvan, then use it in a light coconut curry that’s the base for a tasty steamed mussels dish. Serve it as an entree or build the dish up with noodles, veg and extra seafood to turn it into a sustaining meal.
Flavoured pastry, shredded chicken and buttered leeks take this easy chicken tart to the next level. Use vadouvan where the filling calls for curry powder. I also show you how to make a pastry lattice!
Vadouvan Recipes
- My version of this curry classic pays homage to the original 1950s Delhi version but it's super easy and quick. The flavour of the curry powder is key to this dish - its worth making my vadouvan curry powder but any good blend will do the trick.
- Do you ever have those "OMG I forgot to make dinner!" moments? Wouldn’t it be good to have a healthy pantry meal always on hand that you could get on the table in 20 minutes? This is that dish. It's also gluten-free, grain-free, vegan and super tasty!
This incredible creation is an amalgam of two great recipes, one for a pork curry, and one for a pillowy soft white bread. We wrap the pork curry like a tasty present then stuff it inside the bread before it's baked. The result is a 'golden pillow' with a delicious surprise inside.
Shorba is an endlessly versatile Indian spiced soup. It's a stand-by meal which takes a minute to throw together and is deliciously comforting.- My own version of the classic Aussie burger starts by grating fresh beetroot into kangaroo mince before layering it up with other favourite flavours. So good!
- Kedgeree is an Anglo-Indian rice dish which includes smoked fish, boiled eggs and curry spices. I’ve turned it into a sustaining breakfast risotto by using nutty, wholesome buckwheat instead of rice.
- A warming French curry powder becomes the flavour base for an easy and elegant seafood entree.
- While making this freeform chicken tart, I share a few fun tricks: flavoured pastry (mustard, mmm), shredded chicken (Thermo-genius), and a simple technique for creating a pastry lattice. I also let you into my love affair with buttered leeks - could they be the key to happiness?
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