Ever since a friend emailed a story about the cancer-fighting properties of turmeric, I’ve been on a curry fest, and it’s proven to be a delightful culinary adventure. (“Curry” can refer to a wide array of ethnic foods, but here we’ll be looking at it in its spice form.)

Turmeric is one of the main components of the spice mélange known as curry, of which I’ve always been a big fan, in part because it’s so versatile. Obviously, it’s a crucial flavor in Indian food, but it also readily lends itself to everything from hearty winter soups to light summer salads to wonderful dry rubs for grilled meats and fish.

Turmeric comes from the root of a plant in the ginger family, Curcuma longa. Because it contains the yellow-orange oil called curcumin (also the word for turmeric in many languages), it’s able to impart a vivid yellow color to food, and thus is also known as the “poor man’s saffron.” For that reason, I will sometimes throw a bit into a grilling marinade or some rice, but it seems to impart a kind of flat, bitter flavor that rubs some palates the wrong way, so I tend to use it very sparingly.

Many people think of “curry” as a specific spice blend (or even as “a spice” coming from “a curry plant”), but its ingredients and proportions are as varied as the cooks creating it. Indeed, one website I found listed all of the following spices as options: Coriander Seeds, Cumin Seeds, Fenugreek Seeds, Turmeric, Cloves, Garlic , Curry Leaves, Fennel Seeds, Ginger, Chillies, Mustard, Red Pepper, Salt, Cassia, Black Pepper, Poppy Seeds, Anise, Bengal Gram (chickpeas), Cardamom, Cassia buds, Celery Seed, Cinnamon, Dill Seed, Mace, Nagkeser (an evergreen tree), Nutmeg, Onion, Trifala (a blend of three herbs and reportedly good for intestinal health), and White Pepper.

Yes, you could easily make your own curry blend, but that would involve keeping fresh batches of these spices around on a regular basis. That’s de rigueur in Indian kitchens, but neither an economic nor pantry commitment that a lot of Western cooks are willing to make. Thus, we have the spice blend known as “curry powder,” which supposedly got its start after the British colonization of India when Westerners developed a taste for the cuisine, but preferred to use the pre-mixed spice blend.

Almost all of the possible ingredients in curry powder are reported to have significant health benefits , but let’s run down the list for turmeric/curcumin:
-- antiseptic, used to treat cuts and burns
-- treatment for arthritis and similar inflammatory diseases
-- treatment for Alzheimer’s (India reportedly has the lowest rate of Alzheimer’s in the world)
-- protection against heart disease
-- protection against cancer (prelim studies have looked at breast, pancreatic, prostate, and colon cancer)
-- and “Now tests by a team at the Cork Cancer Research Centre show it can destroy gullet cancer cells in the lab.” 

Let the "currying of flavor" begin!

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Curry dishes abound on the web, but here are some favorites … and I was pleasantly surprised to see how well curry went both both white and red wines.

Andrew Weils’ Curried Cauliflower Soup , which paired wonderfully with Edward Sellers’ Cuvée des Cinq, a blend of Mourvèdre, Syrah, Grenache, Counoise, and Cinsault. Winemaker Amy Butler does a great job with all the ES wines, and the blends are especially food-friendly.

A simple meal of grilled chicken thighs marinated in a curry-based dry rub paired beautifully with Vina Robles WHITE4, a blend of Verdelho, Vermentino, Sauvignon Blanc, and Viognier.

And here’s Skinny Kitchen's low-fat version of chicken curry salad, which I had for lunch and passed on the wine, alas, but it would probably go very well with something like a dry Riesling, Sauvignon Blanc, or even Chenin Blanc.        

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While we’re on the subject on colorful cancer fighters ...
Pomegranate May Fight Some Breast Cancers
Phytochemical in fruit could inhibit hormone-driven disease, study finds

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Hurrah for Green & Black's switching to Fair Trade chocolate, but Sweet Earth Chocolates in San Luis Obispo has been using it for several years, and launched Project Hope & Fairness, Inc. to directly help cocoa farmers in the Ivory Coast, and they're donating a portion of their proceeds to Partners in Health for Haitian relief efforts.
Read more about Sweet Earth in my recent Dining Out column in The Tribune.

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January is Restaurant Month in San Luis Obispo County, so check out the list of those offering 3 courses for $30 and help support our local eateries. If you don’t live in SLO County, embody the spirit of the 3/50 Project and support at least one of your favorite local restaurants!