How much spice blend per person?
Allow 4 g of an all-purpose South Asian spice blend per person for a curry – about one level teaspoon – which is 16 g for a family of four, or roughly 2 g for every 100 g of raw meat or vegetables.
Scaling a curry by number of servings
| Servings | Meat or veg | Spice blend | Onion | Tomato | Oil |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2 | 300 g | 8 g (2 tsp) | 120 g | 150 g | 25 ml |
| 4 | 600 g | 16 g (4 tsp) | 250 g | 300 g | 45 ml |
| 6 | 900 g | 24 g (2 tbsp) | 375 g | 450 g | 65 ml |
| 10 | 1.5 kg | 40 g (3½ tbsp) | 600 g | 750 g | 100 ml |
| 20, a degh | 3 kg | 70 g | 1.2 kg | 1.5 kg | 180 ml |
Spice does not scale in a straight line. Above about six servings it drops to roughly 0.85× per doubling, because a deeper pot loses less aroma per unit of volume – which is why the twenty-serving row is 70 g and not 80 g.
How much spice for 500 g of chicken?
500 g of chicken takes about 10 g of an all-purpose blend, which serves two to three people generously and works out at 2 g per 100 g of meat.
How much spice per portion of rice, dhal or vegetables?
Dhal and vegetables take slightly less than meat – about 3 g per person – because there is no meat flavour competing with the spice and the dish is usually eaten alongside something else.
How do you scale a curry recipe up for a crowd?
Scale the meat, onion and tomato linearly, then hold the spice back to about 0.85× per doubling above six servings, and taste before adding the rest.
How much is a level versus a heaped teaspoon in grams?
A level teaspoon of ground blend is 4 g and a heaped one is 6 g, a difference of half as much again. That single ambiguity is why teaspoon-based recipes disagree so widely.
Can you use too little spice?
Under-spicing reads as flat rather than mild, and cooks usually reach for more spice when the dish actually needs salt or acid. Fix the seasoning first, then judge the spice.