Really depends on the garam masala you’re using. Some are far more clovey than others. There is a huge difference from one brand or recipe to the next. (The brand I use, Swad, has clove fairly far down on the ingredient list: Coriander, red chilli, cumin, dry mango, curry leaves, fennel, clove, bay leaves, cinnamon, black pepper, star anise.)
Is there anything special you love to use it with? I like to aggressively season some chicken breast, cook in the Crock Pot or grill according to the day, then slice or shred the chicken and serve it in pita bread with tzatziki, lettuce, tomatoes, and onions.
I don’t think I’ve seen anyone fess up to using Italian seasoning, so let me be the first. I find it handy for a few things and usually keep some on hand. Pretty similar to herbs de Provence I guess, but that stuff often has lavender and I just don’t like lavender notes in food at all.
I have quite a few dried spices but the only brand-name blends I can think of are Herbs de Provence and a mild curry powder. The former is almost exclusively for roast potatoes (Potatoes Parisienne or mini-potatoes) which I toss with the herbs and olive oil. The latter I only have for use with a great fried-fish recipe.
The other blends I have are locally made specialties. Barberian’s Steak Seasoning is one, marketed by a local steak house of the same name. There are at least two that are made by Pusateri’s, a wonderful boutique grocery – Texan Chicken Spice, a spicy dry rub that’s great for grilled poultry, and Pusateri’s Fish Seasoning. Some of the best grilled fish I’ve had consists of the simple recipe of briefly marinating in olive oil with a generous sprinkling of said fish seasoning. Works especially well with sea bass.
Yeah, this is a go-to for roast chicken with us too.
I will admit that I keep some Mrs Dash Table Blend (a no-salt mix) to put on my eggs, but that’s a personal taste; I don’t use it when I’m cooking for others.
Speaking of spices, what do y’all do with Sumac?
I needed it for a recipe I wanted to make, but couldn’t find it anywhere. Finally ordered it from Amazon, but I forget what I needed it for.
It’s used in Middle Eastern dishes. I bought some and used it for something I made years ago, but I can’t even remember what now. It might have been a fattoush salad. It adds a lemony or general citrus flavor.
I think it’s also used as a garnish on hommus. That red stuff you see sprinkled on top may be paprika or it may be sumac, depending on what the chef had on hand.
Sounds great! Will do this weekend.
The only Indian spice that feels mandatory to me for toasting/grinding is cumin; the difference in aroma and flavor is incredibly distinct. Otherwise I go your route with bags of spices from my favorite local market.
It’s a lovely dish - the greens aren’t the important bit (I’ve used baby spinach, Romaine lettuce, etc - whatever’s at hand); it’s the crunchy bites of cucumber and radish, the tomatoes, and the sharp dressing that really make it, offset by the bread.
Sumac and zaatar (another middle eastern spice blend) are both fantastic on top of flatbreads with some olive oil and salt.
I don’t use any spice mixtures with salt as one of the major ingredients. It’s common for mixtures to have a lot of salt, sometimes >50%, and I prefer having more control over how much salt and spices individually I’m adding into the food.
I sometimes use some ready made herb mixtures such as herbs de provence. The exact herbs present vary based on manufacturer.
Kebobs are good with it. Skewer some cherry tomatoes, onion pieces, summer squash pieces, cubed chicken and Italian sausage chunks, drizzle the whole thing with olive oil and then sprinkled with the Greek seasoning. I also sprinkle a little into a pot of rice about to be cooked, to be served with the skewers. It’s all so easy, good, and healthy.
The only pre-made we used frequently is McCormick’s Hot Shot, but sadly they have discontinued it. It probably wouldn’t be hard to replicate it if we knew close to the correct proportions.
I like Pensey’s Sunny Spain which is a lemon pepper blend but better than the lemon pepper from the grocery store.
I’ve found big differences with Tumeric, Cumin, Coriander and Fennel for toasting, thought been blooming Fennel recently for what I’m finding a better result.
How do you toast Turmeric? It’s not a seed-based spice, it’s a root, related to ginger-- it only comes in fresh or powdered form.
I toast all my spices in powdered form. While people tend to toast the seeds then grind them, you can do it with powdered spices. It burns fast, changes to orange and is done. Cumin goes fast too in ground form. Coriander can take up to a minute, but needs to be kept moving. They all do.
I’ve found Turmeric to be the most strikingly different when toasted.
I was taught to do this on an Indian cooking course I took in the UK. Those were the three spices which needed toasting.
Hmm. Never occurred to me to try that- I would have figured trying to toast powdered spices would burn them. Maybe I’ll try this next time.