Spices
As a general rule, I like to buy whole spices and grind them myself (couple of exceptions such as ground ginger, turmeric, paprika.......and the garlic and onion granules that Krista uses sometimes!)
But whether or not you follow my route or your own, you WILL need the following to re-create the recipes I shall be posting.
Whole spices and other dried ingredients
- Coriander seeds (dhania) - for use whole, crushed and ground
- Cumin seeds (jeera) - for use whole and ground. I have both the more common green/ brown variety but also the slightly sweeter and smaller black (kala jeera) variety
- Green Cardamom pods - you will use a lot of these
- Black Cardamom pods - less used but still important for e.g. Mussaman curries, garam masala etc
- Asafoetida/ Asafetida (hing) - you won't like the smell of this, but you'll miss it if it isn't in your food - bit like Nam pla/ fish sauce!
- Indian Bay Leaves (tej patta)
- Carom seeds (ajmo, ajwain or ajowan)
- Dried chillies - come in a multitude of varieties. Try to get a mix of heats - Mild Kashmiri, Extra hot, hot, medium etc
- Cinnamon (taaj/ dalchini) - I use this in bark form but also the more widely available "quills" from Western supermarkets (although I don't get my quills from Western supermarkets either!). The coarse bark sticks can be added to dishes whole and removed prior to serving; quills are generally roasted, ground and effectively become ground cinnamon
- Cloves (lerving/ laung)
- Curry leaves - great to get fresh but more likely dried
- Fenugreek (methi) - generally available as seeds/ crushed spice
- Fennel seeds (soonf)
- Mace (javantry) - a.k.a blade mace - the outside of a nutmeg basically
- Nutmegs whole
- Dried red peppers (Fa-Chiu)
- Dried Pimento
- Mustard seeds (rai) - I mainly use brown but also have black and yellow
- Black peppercorns
- Black/ Rock salt (kala namak) - different flavour to sea salt
- Star Anise (Badian Sternanis)
- Monkey nuts (natural peanuts in brown skin, unsalted/ unroasted)
- Tamarind block (imli) - available in blocks, requires soaking in warm water and then mashing with fingers through a sieve to make tamarind water.
- Palm sugar/ Jaggery - Cane sugar/ Soft demerara sugar. Buy Palm sugar in solid block and use cheese grater to convert into more manageable ingredient!
- Basmati & jasmine rice
- Cornflour/ Arrowroot (I prefer ground arrowroot as leaves no taste)
- Sesame seeds - white and black
- Split red lentils (masoor dhal)
- Yellow split mung beans (mung dhal)
- Nigella (Black Onion) seeds
- Ground turmeric (haldi) - you will use vastly more of this than you think!
- Ground ginger (adhu)
- Ground Smoked Paprika
- Ground Paprika
- Ground Medium Chilli powder
- Ground Cayenne Chilli powder
- Saffron......and.....
- Garam masala
GARAM MASALA
I'm going to give you some guidelines though, and share my current blend (I'll repost when I change it again!)
So - core ingredients that many sign up to:
Cinnamon; coriander, cardamom, cloves, cumin, nutmeg and peppercorns
to which can often be added......bay leaves, turmeric, ginger and mace.
I looked at a popular brand found in the supermarket the other day and they add.....allspice, "chilli powder" - comprising chilli pepper, cumin, oregano, garlic powder and salt; plus more cayenne chilli pepper. I've tasted it and I'm not a fan.
Here then, my current blend and method. It will keep once ground in airtight container for about a month so don't make too much!
1. Assemble your whole spices to be roasted off, comprising:
2 tbsp Coriander seeds, 2 tbsp cumin seeds, 1 tbsp black peppercorns, 2 tbsp green cardamom pod seeds (dependent on the size of your pods this can be up to 40 pods so allow time!), 1tbsp black cardamom pod seeds, 2x 6cm Cinnamon quills, broken into smaller pieces, 1 tsp cassia chips (if you have them - they are cinnamon bark chips), 1 tsp cloves, then half a teaspoon each of the following; - brown mustard seeds, nigella seeds, fennel seeds, carom seeds. Finally 2 indian bay leaves (rip them up and remove the central spine) and 8 curry leaves.
2. Heat a heavy pan for 90 secs and tip the above in. move about regularly until the oils are released and the aromas permeate your kitchen, but be careful not to let anything burn! As a rough guide, should be about 2 mins in total. A good guide is the colour of the cumin seeds - don't let them go past medium brown!
3. Tip the whole lot into a bowl, then transfer in manageable quanitities to the mortar to be ground into a fine powder. move each ground portion into a separate but reasonably sized bowl to make room for the next installment. Continue until you have ground all the whole spices and they are in the bowl.
4. Add the following:
Half a ground nutmeg, half a teaspoon ground turmeric, half a teaspoon ground ginger, half a teaspoon of ground black rock salt (or seasalt) and Quarter of a teaspoon of ground medium chilli powder.
5. Mix vigourously and decant to airtight container. Use as directed in recipes.
OK - maybe a but of a faff, but I like this current mix at the moment - although I will be trying it very soon with the "bake for 3 days" method!
By the way, the addition of some of the more unusual ingredients such as Carom seeds and black cardamom seeds are present to see if they make more "indigestible" dishes less "flatulence-producing" when consumed!
One thing - when you open the airtight jar and take a good sniff, it should smell wonderfully fresh and aromatic - you should NOT collapse on the floor wheezing and coughing! :-)
OK then - that's sort of it. We should now have a kitchen ready to go and before I commence with the recipes, I need to have one more post which recognises all the input from the professionals and suppliers that have made my cooking a success.
This post - which I will title "Sources" - should give you all the direction you need to follow my footsteps
Have fun!
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