The other day at the grocery store I was browsing the spices and found a jar of ras el hanout, a Moroccan blend of spices. Sounded interesting, so I bought it, figuring I’d try it on something. I’ve opened it and smelled it, but haven’t yet tasted it. It’s an intense aroma, a lot of cardamom in it.
I’ve heard of Grains of Paradise, but I don’t think I’ve ever tasted it (them?), or any of the other ingredients mentioned there. Got me wondering, what other spices have I never heard of?
Tell me of an exotic spice or herb, where it’s from, and how I might use it in a dish. For the sake of this discussion, I’ll define “exotic” as something that’s rarely found in American kitchens.
Sichuan peppercorns–they’re not spicy, but instead they’re numbing, like the local anesthetic you use for canker sores. They also have a nice sour flavor. They’re pretty hard to find, but an Asian market should have them.
Fenugreek. It’s a spice commonly used in Indian cooking and first came upon it in a bread recipe. Now I use it all the time. I add it to no-knead bread, vegetable dishes, curries, stews and soups. It’s wonderfully fragrant and distinctive.
Mastic, aka Chios resin or Arabic gum. Kind of pine-y. My husband used some in a Moroccan dish he tried making for the first time last night.
Pippali, aka long pepper. It’s a little like regular black pepper. If you like Indian or Ethiopian cuisine it might seem vaguely familiar to you, as it gets used in spice blends.
Ground sumac berries, used in middle eastern cooking, is supposed to taste tart and lemony. Funny to think of the shrubs growing by the thousands along the roadside here are a source of a condiment. I had some, and a bottle of ras el hanout, but somebody made off with the after the Christmas cleanup.:mad:
The only thing that comes to mind that hasn’t been mentioned is epazote, which is an herb that is used in Mexican dishes and is supposed to moderate gas problems from the beans.
Ah, epazote! Go to a Mexican market, and if you can’t find it with the cellophane bags of herbs and spices hanging on a pegboard rack, check out where the herbal teas are kept.
It’s a very traditional herb used with black beans. And despite the creosote aroma, the resulting food does NOT taste like road tar.
~VOW
Ajwain: A tiny, usually dried, seed. You can find it at Middle Eastern and Indian markets.
Many uses, but I love to crush them slightly, dry-toast them on a hot pan, add to warm, high-quality olive oil, then use as a dip for white breads such as naan, pita, baguettes, como.
I looked at three different stores today to find Garam masala. It’s a blend, somewhat similar to curry, used in Indan food. It usually has cloves, cardamom, cumin , etc. It smells AWEsome… I’m going to try making tikka masala this cycle & I can’t wait to use it!
It’s amusing that quite a few of the “exotic” spices were not that foreign to Western palates in the Middle Ages - they may have been more expensive, but long pepper, cubebs, galingale and Grains of Paradise were all standard spices in that cuisine.
Zatar - ground sumac, thyme, sesame seeds, salt and (I think) hyssop. Brush a pita with olive oil, sprinkle with zatar, grill lightly. Yum! Or chicken seasoned with zatar - more yum!
Cumin is used in all kinds of spicy foods and it’s also one of the spices used in a spice blend called Garam Masala. Garam masala - Wikipedia
That is a very popular blend of several other spices, (several of which start with the letter “c”).
A typical garam masala contains:
black & white peppercorns
cloves
Cinnamon
black & white cumin seeds
black, brown & green cardamom pods
I think corriander is also included. Check Wikipedia for recipies that use Garam Masala.
