Aromatics Make the Meal
As we found out with tracing the spice trades, India has a huge wealth of spices. Spices and their uses are a large part of the Indian food heritage and cooking methods. Spices are also used widely in Ayurveda practices, the traditional medicine of India. The most popular spices used in Indian food include turmeric, cumin, cardamom, cinnamon, cloves, ginger, aniseed, saffron, black pepper, chili powder, mace, star anise, tamarind and curry leaves. Besides that, Indian food uses many other pungent herbs and aromatics like garlic, fenugreek, rose petals, dried mango, onions and cilantro.
Indians have many ways of using all these delicious spices. Any meal starts with the preparation of spices first. Often this is done through dry frying or roasting the spices to bring out the flavor even more. Blending the spices is very important and using fresh or high quality spices is a must. Frying the spices in oil and using marinades are also very popular.
One of the most popular ways to use spices in India is in one of the many spices blends that can be found. Each area of India has its special spice blend. Masala means “spice” or “spice blend” in Hindu. These blends can be sweet, hot, spicy, warm or mild depending on how much spice is used. Maybe you have had some of these before?
- Curry
- Garam Masala
- Rasam Powder
- Tandoori Masala
- Chaat Masala
- Tikki Masala
- Chai
- Bengal 5 Spice
- Thandai Masala
- Sambhar Powder
