Do You Know Your Spices?
Spices are essential in our day to day cooking. They give a good aroma and elevate the taste of the dish. Indian cuisine uses a wide range of spices. It is intimidating for beginners as one cannot remember the names. They are even confused as some of them look similar. Here is a guide to the spices that are regularly used in daily cooking.
Spices used in cooking
- Green Cardamom: It has a strong aroma and a sweet and warm flavour. It is used in sweet and savoury dishes.
- Black Cardamom: It is larger and has a rustic look. It is mainly used in savoury dishes like biryani.
- Cinnamon: It is a fragrant bark with a sweet and fruity flavour. There are many varieties of cinnamon, but Cassia Cinnamon is the most commonly used one.
- Clove: It gives a sweet and spicy flavour to the dishes.
- Cumin: It is the most commonly used spice. It gives a warm and nutty flavour to the dishes. It is used both as a whole and a powder form.
- Coriander: It is widely used in curries, gravies and to make condiments. It tastes like a combination of caraway, sage, and lemon.
- Cayenne:: It is a powder made from tropical chiles. It is used in a wide variety of dishes and common to many cuisines.
- Ginger: It is one of the essentials in any cooking. It is mainly used as a paste along with garlic.
- Dry ginger: It has medicinal value; the sweet-spicy taste is good to cure a cold and cough.
- Bay leaf: It is commonly called as pulao leaf, it is used to give a good aroma. It is removed just before serving.
- Fenugreek: They give a nutty flavour and should be used with caution.
- Pepper: It gives a spicy taste to the food. The black pepper is more commonly used than the white pepper.
- Saffron: It is the most expensive spice in the world. It gives a splendid aroma to the sweet dishes.
- Turmeric: It is known for its anti-bacterial properties. It is commonly used in powder form in curry and spice mix.
- Mustard: They are tiny seeds that give earthy flavour when cooked or crushed in oil. It is used in pickles, curry powder, and curry.
- Nutmeg and mace: It is used in many dishes, gives a distinctive flavour to the dish.
- Asafoetida: It is mostly used in South Indian cooking. Commonly known as hing, it gives a good aroma to the dish.
- Fennel: It is one of the spices used in North Indian cuisine. It is also used as a mouth freshener.
- Carom: It is a small seed common by the name as ajwain. It has a strong flavour, hence used in small quantities. It aids indigestion.
This post first appeared on www.evergreendishes.com on Feb 25, 2014 written by Jayashree.
