no, you don’t need to figure out who done what to whom (whom to who?), and you don’t even need to especially love curry; today’s two recipes will set you up very nicely with a tasty (and stoopidly easy) basic mustard, and then with just a few additional ingredients, turn it into a very fine – and gift worthy – Ginger Sweet Curry Mustard that is pretty darned nice, if you ask me.
It all started with a visit to The Spice House (TSH), who also conveniently provided the basic recipes for both mustards.
INGREDIENTS
Base Mustard:
•3 tbsp water
•5 tbsp vinegar (I used plain old white)
•1/2 cup mustard powder
•1 tsp sugar
•1/4 tsp salt (I used my seasoned salt)
Ginger Curry Mustard:
•1/4 cup basic yellow mustard
•3-1/2 tsp sugar
•1 tbsp cider vinegar
•3/4 tsp sweet curry powder
•1/2 tsp ground ginger
•1/4 tsp coarse ground pepper
•1/8 tsp Aleppo pepper
•1/8 tsp garlic powder
First, the base mustard:
Here’s an interesting trick the nice folk at TSH mentioned in their recipe: if you want milder mustard, bring the vinegar to a boil, then stir in the mustard powder, sugar, and vinegar. If you want a hotter mustard, use cold liquids. I went half and half and used room temperature vinegar and very hot tap water.
Options: TSH recommends substituting a dry white wine or lemon juice for the water, and, of course, the vinegar is totally up to you.
Next, the Ginger Curry Addition:
Simply stir the additional seasonings into your basic mustard mixture and let rest for at least an hour for the flavors to blend.
Taste, and see what you think.
I thought, nice, but, just a bit on the runny side. Good thing I had read through TSH’s notes and stocked up on mustard seeds as well.
As it happens, mustard seeds absorb a lot of liquid, and so they’re a kind of natural thickener for your mustard. If you go too far 
that is approaching a brick, just thin it out with a bit of additional vinegar until you get to the consistency you like.
I had made a quadruple batch of the Basic, and then the Ginger Curry mustard, so I added 1 teaspoon (each) of brown mustard seed, organic black mustard seed (Brassica Nigra), hot mustard seed, and yellow (medium heat) mustard seed, lightly smashed in my mortar and pestle.
You don’t need to use a mixture of mustard seeds; read the qualities of each and choose the one you prefer. I happened to have all four in my (ever-growing) spice cabinet, so went with a blend.
Add the smashed seeds to the ginger curry mustard – you can see the mixture isn’t water-thin, I just thought it could use a bit more texture – stir together to blend well, then stash in the fridge overnight.
There you have it, three ways with mustard, from a basic blend which can be used as is, or dressed up a bit with sweet curry and ginger, or further enhanced by adding mustard seeds.
Sadly, I gave all of this batch away, but, I have ten minutes to spare, and plenty of mustard powder and seeds in my cupboard, so I believe we may be having a bit of ginger curry mustard – or mebbe even Pineapple Mustard, but made this time with the basic mustard recipe – with our Pot Roast o’ Love dinner this evening…