Kashmiri Saffron Curry, Herbs & Seasonings

Our Kashmiri Saffron Curry Powder is a fine blend of classic curry flavors, like cardamom, cumin, and chile, but we elevate it with the elegant flavor of saffron. Saffron is a premium ingredient that adds a complex grassy flavor and a bright yellow color.

All about Kashmiri Saffron Curry, Spice Blend

What it’s like, and how to make it

HeatMild

CuisineIndian & south & asian

Best forBraising, saute pan fry, quick weeknight

Goes inCurry dal, rice grains

WithLamb, chicken, vegetarian, beef, fish seafood

What’s in itcardamom, cumin, coriander, paprika, turmeric, chile powder, saffron powder, mustard, spices.

How to use it

Kashmiri elegance. Bloom one tablespoon in ghee over low heat for 30 seconds — the saffron opens up and turns everything golden. Perfect for rogan josh, yakhni (Kashmiri yogurt curry), and pulao rice. Also beautiful stirred into cream sauces or risotto. The saffron does the heavy lifting — don't overpower it with extra spices.

Kashmiri Saffron Curry spice, shown over a chalk-and-watercolour illustration

Illustration: Kashmiri Saffron Curry with Pampore in the Kashmir Valley in late October

What’s in it

Every herb in the blend, and where to read about it on its own.

Spice · Caffeine-free

Cardamom
Elettaria cardamomum
Green pods holding small black seeds, from a ginger-family plant of the Western Ghats — floral, resinous and eucalyptus-cool, quite unlike anything else in the cupboard. It is the third most expensive spice in the world after saffron and vanilla, which is why it is...
Floral, resinous, eucalyptus-cool and sweet-warm; the main volatiles are terpinyl acetate and eucalyptol
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Spice · Caffeine-free

Cumin
Cuminum cyminum
A small ridged seed with a deep, earthy, faintly smoky smell — cuminaldehyde is the compound doing most of it. Cumin is one of the oldest travelling spices there is, and in this catalogue it is one of the busiest: twenty-three products carry it, which...
Deep, earthy, warm, a little smoky and bitter, with a musky edge
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Spice · Caffeine-free

Coriander
Coriandrum sativum
The round, ridged seed of the same plant whose leaf is cilantro — and it tastes nothing like it. Where the leaf is green and divisive, the seed is warm, citrusy and floral, closer to orange peel than to anything herbal. That is why plenty...
Warm, citrusy and floral, a little sweet — orange peel and pepper together
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Spice · Caffeine-free

Paprika
Capsicum annuum
Dried sweet red peppers, ground. It is in twenty-eight products here mostly for colour and body — paprika gives a rub or a stew its red without adding heat, and it carries a soft, sweet pepper flavour that fills in the gaps between louder spices....
Sweet red pepper, no heat, vivid colour; the smoked one adds deep oak smoke
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Spice · Caffeine-free

Turmeric
Curcuma longa
A ginger-family rhizome, boiled, dried and ground to a powder so yellow it stains everything it touches. In sixteen products here it is doing two jobs: colour, which is most of why it is in a curry powder or a mustard, and a gently bitter,...
Earthy, warm, gently bitter and peppery, with a musky root smell; it colours everything gold
Learn more Sold on its own
Spice · Caffeine-free

Chile
Capsicum annuum
Dried chile peppers, whole, crushed or ground — the generic heat in twenty-nine products here, from curry powders to jerk to Tex-Mex. Heat comes from capsaicin and is measured in Scoville heat units; the shop's blends name theirs where the supplier gives a figure. The...
Heat first, then a dry, fruity red-pepper taste; the darker dried chiles run raisiny and the lighter ones bright and tannic
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Spice · Caffeine-free

Mustard
Sinapis alba, Brassica juncea
Seed and powder, from two related plants: yellow mustard (Sinapis alba), which is mild, and brown or oriental mustard (Brassica juncea), which is hot. Dry mustard is not hot at all until it is wet — water sets off a reaction between the enzyme myrosinase...
Sharp, nose-tingling heat once wet; before that, a dusty, faintly sweet, earthy powder
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Spice · Caffeine-free

Saffron
Crocus sativus
The most expensive spice in the world, and the arithmetic explains why: each flower gives three stigmas, and it takes roughly 150,000 flowers — some 440,000 hand-picked threads — to make a kilogram. The plant is sexually sterile, so every saffron crocus on earth is...
Metallic honey with grassy, hay-like notes, floral and faintly bitter; it colours everything gold
Learn more Sold on its own

Every ingredient in the shop →

What it goes with

Saffron and Darjeeling share something special — both get their signature aroma from the same family of compounds. Brew our Darjeeling alongside a Kashmiri curry and you'll taste why. This is the most scientifically grounded pairing in the shop.

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Masala Chai

Regular price From $9.00 CAD

Regular price Sale price From $9.00 CAD
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Assam Estate TGFOP

Regular price From $8.00 CAD

Regular price Sale price From $8.00 CAD

Reviews

What the time-travelers say

4.0 from 1 review of this one, and 206 of the shop’s 213 are five stars

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Kashmiri Saffron Curry

Mild curry spice

I think the saffron in this blend mellows the flavours very nicely. I found it just a little less kick than I like. But adding chi…