Scaling up a recipe

[Karen2005]

Hello,

I'm intending to make this for a dinner party:

Sweet potato curry

Ingredients
1 tbsp olive oil
2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
� banana shallot, sliced
� red chilli, finely chopped
1 tsp cumin seeds
1 tsp medium curry powder
1 tsp turmeric powder
2 tbsp tomato pur�e
200ml/7fl oz hot vegetable stock
250g/9oz sweet potato, peeled and cut into cubes
100g/3�oz broccoli stalk, chopped
salt and freshly ground black pepper
15g/�oz chopped coriander, to garnish
50g/1�oz Greek yoghurt, to garnish

Method
1. Heat the oil in a frying pan over a medium heat. Add the garlic and shallots and fry until softened.
2. Add the chilli, cumin seeds, curry powder and turmeric powder and fry for a further minute to release the aromas.
3. Add the tomato pur�e and vegetable stock, stir well and bring to a simmer.
4. Add the sweet potato and broccoli and simmer for 10 minutes, or until the sweet potato is cooked through. Season, to taste, with salt and freshly ground black pepper.
5. To serve, pour into a warm bowl, sprinkle with the fresh coriander and spoon the yoghurt into the middle.

However, the recipe is only for one person, but I want to make it for 6 people. How do I scale the recipe up (I don't want to blow my guests' heads off if I make it too spicy!)

[bandit2004]

Shouldnt matter if you multiply the ingredients by 6 as it would be no different to cooking six individual portions one by one and then adding them together .

[Karen2005]

Really? That would mean 12 cloves of garlic, 3 chillis and 6 teaspoons each of cumin seeds, curry powder and turmeric powder which seems an awful lot!

I do understand what you're saying, bandit2004, that if you put x amount into one portion then it shouldn't matter if you multipy by 6 as it's no different to cooking individual portions and mixing them, but 6 teaspoons of the spices mentioned above does seem rather excessive and I don't think I've ever seen a recipe requiring that much - even if it is for half a dozen people! Perhaps someone can explain the science behind scaling up recipes?

[ConfusedJohn]

Definitely just multiply by 6. Half a chilli when blended with cumin, garlic and turmeric won't end up tasting particularly hot - particularly when served with sweet potatoes. Make plenty of raita to go with it if you're worried! (greek yoghurt, grated cucumber, salt, mint and toasted cumin - www.mamtaskitchen.com has the exact recipe).