Stay away from chai tea at Indian restaurants then, Cardamom is one of the primary flavors in spice tea. If you like Chai tea, then you may not have a problem with cardamom flavor, but with how it was presented in these dishes.
Enjoy,
Steven
If you think cumin smells like armpit, try some asafoetida.
I’ve always described cumin as the “gym shoes smell”.
Hah! That’s how I describe it as well! It just smells exactly like stinky pits! I also love, love, love it. But then I am also a big fan of “stinky feet cheese” better known to the rest of the world as Kasseri (an aged hard Greek cheese quite similar to parmesan or asiago).
anise stars, cardamom, saffron, and coriander together make my rice taste more like Indian restaurant rice
Coriander usually refers to the seeds (in the US anyway) and cilantro to the leaves.
Darn Pulkyamell beat me to it.
My bad, it is actually cilantro. I’m 99% sure this time.
From what I heard, it’s a spice that people either love or hate.
I was going to say – cardamom is sweeter in taste than cilantro/coriander – you wouldn’t be mixing them up, especially if its the same taste that you’re tasting in Mexican food. Cilantro/coriander sounds about right.
FYI, the New York Times ran an article last month on why some people can’t stand cilantro. The chemicals that cause some people to dislike it are called aldehydes and they can be mostly eliminated if you crush the leaves.
Well, anything that looks like it translates to “fetid ass” may be a problem for the tastebuds. 
asafoetida is delicious, but only in small amounts. BTW it’s also known as “devil’s dung” 
Close enough. 
Bumped.
Hing’s getting some more attention these days: