Do Indian curry powders have cancer-causing chemicals? Just make your own!

Pre-made curry powder mixes have blown up both on home turf and abroad for a multitude of reasons. The strong NRI base overseas in congruence with expanding global culinary preferences are the key motivating factors. However, the convenience that these small packets of flavour bombs come with, wins fair and square as the primary driving force behind the advent of the curry. Those savouring these mixes however, had a scare earlier this year with packaged variants such as fish curry masala, Madras curry powder and Sambhar masala powder and the quintessential curry powder being ‘banned’ in Singapore and Hong Kong. The reason? These mixes were found to be adulterated with carcinogens or cancer-causing chemicals, ethylene oxide to be specific.
Just to be clear, ethylene oxide is identified as a Group 1 carcinogen by the International Agency for Research on Cancer, particularly linking it to increased cases of breast cancer. Putting those worried to rest, the Ministry of Commerce, which also controls the Spices Board, informed the Rajya Sabha on Tuesday, August 6, that powders exported from India had not in fact, been “banned” by Singapore and Hong Kong. Instead, certain consignments were put under a Hold-and-Test regime for one-month by the Singapore Food Agency.
Anything with carcinogens can be flagged off as unsafe. That being said, often certain carcinogens become difficult to avoid in daily life and consumption which is why there are permissible limits of ingestion that are suggested. In the case of the ‘banned’ curry powders, the presence of ethylene oxide in transgression of Singapore and Hong Kong’s permissible limits is what commenced the fiasco.
Whatever the differences in permissible limits may be between India, Singapore and Hong Kong, why expose yourself to carcinogens at all, in situations where you can avoid it all together? This is where homemade curry powder recipes come into play. While it is not as convenient as ripping open a packet and simply spooning in flavour to your Desi concoctions, some little extra effort will affirmatively be a positive step in favour of your long-term health. Follow this simple 20-minute recipe from Swasthi’s Recipes which will leave you with your very own packed jar of curry powder.
Ingredients: Dried red chillies – 2 to 3, coriander seeds – 2 tbsps, cumin seeds – 1 1/2 tbsps, fennel seeds – 1 1/2 tsps, fenugreek seeds – 1/2 tsp, mustard seeds – 1/2 tsp, black peppercorn – 1/2 tsp, turmeric – 1/4 tsp, any type of dal – 1 tbsp, curry leaves – 1 to 2 sprigs, ground ginger – 1/2 tsp, star anise – 1, green cardamoms – 5, cinnamon – 1 2-inch piece, cloves – 4.
Method: Add the coriander seeds, dried red chillies, black pepper, star anise, cinnamon, cloves and cardamoms to a hot pan and roast till the coriander seeds start turning crunchy. Now add the cumin seeds and fennel seeds and roast till they start smelling aromatic. Keep this aside for cooling. Separately toast the fenugreek seeds till they change colour and start smelling nutty. To this add the mustard seeds and roast for just about a minute before taking them off heat. Roast the dal and curry leaves separately. Once everything is cool add to a blender with remaining untoasted ingredients and grind finely. Cool the powder and store in an airtight container.
Incorporating almost all of the major spices up for grabs in Indian markets, this recipe forms a great base for your cooking experiments. Feel free to tweak its flavour profile by playing around with the quantities of the ingredients. 
Will you consider making your own curry powder?