Recipes

[Dr Sardonicus]

"Spicy but pretty good" describes something called "berbere paste" I made a few times many years ago. An interesting part of the process was toasting the spices (including dried chiles minus the seeds) before grinding, and adding to cooked-down onions and garlic.

I used dried piquin chiles.

That stuff was hot!

Curiously, just a tiny bit of berbere paste would eliminate the "tired" flavor of a soup or stew that had been in the fridge a little too long. Adding a large dollop, though...

[masser]

Originally Posted by xilman

Garam masala (which translates as "hot-spice mixture") is easy enough to make from ingredients which themselves can be purchased in bulk and will last for a year or two if kept in a cool dark place. Garam masala is best used fresh and so I generally make enough for a month or so at a time. There are recipes all over the web; I generally use one published by Madhur Jaffrey. I can dig it up and post it here if there is sufficient interest.

Interesting; sounds like a fun cooking exercise to make DIY garam masala. After taste-testing the aloo palak, my wife asked about the ingredients. After informing her that I had to omit the garam masala, she went to the spice cupboard and ...promptly found the garam masala jar ... that was in plain sight.

[xilman]

Originally Posted by Dr Sardonicus

This one?

^* This took a little more digging. There are two seeds commonly referred to as "black cumin," Bunium bulbocastanum AKA kala zeera, and Nigella sativa AKA kalojeere AKA Kalonji, which further digging revealed, is what Madhur Jaffrey means by "black cumin."

That's the one. I always use regular cumin, aka jeera (the spelling most often seen in the UK), myself because I think it tastes better.