From cardamom to fenugreek, how to spice up home cooking
Most of us have jars of these in the cupboard.
Now, amid self isolation, home alone cooks are offered a guide to common spices and how best to use them.
The team from spice kit brand Spicentice.com reveal how eight common spices can be used in cooking.
So, spice up your life, with below herbs that can transform dishes in the kitchen.
1. Cardamom
This warm, aromatic spice is widely used in Indian cuisine. It’s also great in baked goods when used in combination with spices like clove and cinnamon.
2. Cayenne Pepper
Made from dried and ground red chili peppers, Cayenne Pepper adds a sweet heat to soups, braises, and spice mixes.
3. Cinnamon
Found in almost every world cuisine, cinnamon serves double duty as spice in both sweet and savoury dishes. It has a very unique flavour and is extremely aromatic. Cinnamon goes well with apples, beef, chocolate, in curries, stews and spicy dishes.
4. Cumin
Smoky and earthy, cumin is used in a lot of Southwestern US and Mexican cuisine, as well as North African, Middle Eastern, and Indian dishes. It can be found ground or as whole seeds, and is great in curries, soups, stews, and spice rubs, or with beans.
5. Fenugreek
Although this herb smells like maple syrup while cooking, it has a rather bitter, burnt sugar flavour. It’s found in a lot of Indian and Middle Eastern dishes, and the ground seeds are often used in curry powder, spice blends, dry rubs and even tea blends. Fresh and dried fenugreek leaves can be used to finish dishes like sauces, curries, vegetable dishes and soups.
6. Garlic Powder
Garlic powder is made from dehydrated garlic cloves and can be used to give dishes a sweeter, softer garlic flavour.
7. Ginger
With a spicy, zesty bite, ginger can be found fresh in root form, or ground and dried. Fresh ginger is great in stir fries and marinades, or grated into cookies and muffins, whilst ground ginger works well in curry powders, spice mixes, and in general baking.
8. Nutmeg
Sweet and pungent, nutmeg is often used in baked goods, but it also adds a warm note to savoury dishes. It’s often used with cheese sauces too.