Most of the supermarkets carry a good range of chilies and spices, as well as fresh spices and ready made curry powder. Or you may visit specialist Indian grocery shops to find the ingredients. the curry powder package is usually marked with ‘for chicken', ‘for meat' or ‘for seafood', making it easy for you to choose the one you need.
However, most of the recipes require for a combination of different spices in order to give a dish its unique flavor. Make sure your dried spices you buy are fresh when used, try to buy them in small quantities and discard the expired.
Cooking Spices
Spices are usually cooked briefly in oil with onion, garlic and etc, or dry fried, which means you simply cook the spices alone in a frying pan, stirring occasionally for a couple of minutes over a medium heat. The spices will become richly aromatic when done. Remember not to overcook as they may burn and becomes bitter.
Grinding Spices
Ground spices can helps to release their flavor and aroma very quickly. So for the best flavor of dish, buy whole spices and grind them yourself. A mortar and pestle is the traditional implements for this process. After toasted or dry-fried the spices, allow cooling and put them in a mortar and pound with a pestle until finely ground. Store ground spices in a clean and well sealed glass jar for not more than 3 weeks, by which time the flavor will diminish rapidly.
Storing
Spicy food is ideal for freezing as the flavors seem to be even better when food is thawed and reheated.
Cooking specially for the freezer, leave the food slightly undone. Cool the food rapidly. Once the food is completely cooked, spoon it into plastic containers, then the label and chill it in the refrigerator for a couple of hours, before transferring it to the freezer.
Meat and poultry freeze very successfully, as do curries made from vegetables, lentils and pulses. Fish curries can be frozen, but they are generally less successful as changes in the water balance may damage the delicate texture of cooked fish.
However, food that you do not intend to freeze such as leftovers, should not be kept in the freezer for too long.
