Showing posts with label SPICE. Show all posts
Showing posts with label SPICE. Show all posts
Wednesday, April 5, 2023
Why Chilli in Summer Makes Perfect Sense
Monday, October 17, 2022
Spiced Alcohol from Goa
(This article first appeared online on 17th October 2022 in Mint Lounge, India https://lifestyle.livemint.com/food/drink/toast-to-the-festive-season-with-spiced-spirits-111665989693602.html)
Sunday, May 17, 2020
May’s Missing Maushis
Summer in Mumbai just isn’t the same without the original ‘Spice Girls’—aka. groups of itinerant spice grinding ladies—whose rhythmic pounding of the many spices that go into the famous East Indian bottle masala blend are set to the tune of traditional work songs called ovis.
By Raul Dias
Ever since I can remember, synesthesia has played a particularly important role in my life. Numbers for me have genders. Days of the week have a definite hierarchy, with Sundays leading the pack. And all my months are neatly divvied up to form a rainbow of colours.
May’s colour has always been somewhere on the spectrum between a buttery yellow and an earthy burnt Sienna. No big surprise there. Think bright summer suns, freshly baked lemon chiffon cakes and yes, that indescribable hue of a ripe Alphonso mango.
But there are two more shades in the family that truly define the month and by default, summer for me. The almost-neon tangerine shade of freshly pounded East Indian bottle masala that is always stored in amber coloured beer bottles for a longer shelf-life. Thus, the name—bottle masala.
Spicy Talk
While I am not an East Indian by birth, I have always been a big fan of their culture and most pertinently, their cuisine. Having lived most of my life, here in Dadar West, Mumbai, surrounded by a close-knit, strongly matriarchal community of East Indian families led by genial aunties who made it their mission to indulge the budding foodie in me with their yummy curries and succulent roasts. Almost all jazzed up with the ubiquitous East Indian bottle masala. From the coconut milk enhanced mutton lonvas to a spicy chicken moile, the bottle masala reigns omnipotent.
Just like the 36-ingredient Moroccan ras-el-hanout spice blend or the Ethiopian berbere mix, East Indian bottle masala is made up of a bewildering number and variety of spices from the more obvious Kashmiri chillies to the ‘Google-it-now’ nagkesar. The latter—I just learnt for the purposes of this piece—is also called Indian rose chestnut or cobra saffron, by the way!
Added to this, the complex dry spice blend has as many iterations with varying measurements and ratios of spices. I would not be exaggerating if I said that every East Indian family uses a different recipe for bottle masala—some use 20 spices, some 30, while the most elaborate of the lot use up to 40. But try asking any self-respecting East Indian cook to part with their recipe and they will sooner part with their lives. Such is the almost militant level of secrecy that shrouds the hallowed recipe for the masala.
In fact, I remember an old neighbourhood aunty once telling me that East Indian mothers never teach their daughters how to make their bottle masala for the fear of them taking their prized recipe out of the family after getting married. They have no such compunctions, I was informed, for incoming daughters-in-law. I rest my case.
Thump and Grind
This also leads me to a vital link, not just to the whole bottle masala supply chain, but also to my very synesthetically-heightened month of May—the masalawaali maushis. It is the rhythmic thumping sound that these singing, itinerant spice grinding ladies make while pounding the aromatic, roasted spices for the bottle masala that I associate with summer as well. But not this year. Thanks to the pandemic and the ensuing lockdown, my backyard will not be infiltrated by the pungent fumes and lilting melodies originating from my neighbour’s garden. The maushis will not be coming.
Mainly from the local Maharashtrian Agri community, these women are generally always much in demand and need to be booked months in advance. Always armed with their wooden pounding vessel called an ukli and its cohort the mussal which is a mace-like stick with a metal base to hit the ingredients. These groups of ladies travel from house to house from early March to the end of May to grind the family’s annual supply of bottle masala according to each family’s specifications. Making sure to finish up their important task before the monsoon season sets in.
Interestingly, though they may be experts at first sifting, then roasting and finally pounding the spices, they will never fully know the final recipe for the masala. Not only will the house matriarch weigh each ingredient separately and hand it over to the maushis for pounding, but as per tradition, she will also withhold one vital ingredient that she will pound herself that will later be added to the final mix.
Undoubtedly, one of the most enduring and endearing traditions of the maushis is the singing of ovis (which literally means ‘strung together’) while they pound the spices. More specifically, they sing jatyavarchi ovi that are specialised Marathi language grinding songs that are used as poetic metre for rhythmic prose.
One such ovi by Bahinabai who was an unlettered 19th century peasant poet from the Khandesh region of Maharashtra comes to mind and seems a perfect way to sum it all up in times like these. It says:
Get up at midnight, neatly set out the grain
begin working the grinding stone
be patient, don’t talk back, hold your tongue
let the memories of your old life comfort you!
SUNDAY RECIPE
Bottle Masala
(Recipe courtesy Ann Dias)
INGREDIENTS:
1 kg dried red Kashmiri chilies
250 gm dried red Madras chilies
25 gm whole wheat grain
80 gm powdered turmeric
5 gm dagdaphool also called stone flower
200 gm cumin seeds
15 gm fenugreek seeds
500 gm coriander seeds
150 gm mustard seeds
250 gm poppy seeds
50 gm peppercorns
15 gm cloves
250 gm white sesame seeds
15 gm caraway seeds
14-15 green cardamoms
7-8 black cardamoms
10 gm cinnamon stick
10 gm asofoetida
25 gm bay leaves
1 nutmeg
5 gm tirphal also called Japanese pepper
5 gm star anise
5 gm nagkesar also called Indian rose chestnut
15 gm fennel seed
5 gm mace
50 gm whole Bengal gram
5 gm allspice
METHOD:
1. Precisely measure and dry out all the ingredients under hot sun for two days, making sure no moisture remains in them.
2. Over low heat, dry roast the Kashmiri chillies and the Madras chillies for 8-10 mins in a wide bottom pan making sure to not burn them.
3. Similarly roast the rest of ingredients for 7-8 mins on low heat or until they are aromatic.
4. Dry grind the roasted ingredients in several batches until fine, either in a large ukli or in a spice blender. You could also take the mix to a local mill to get it pounded.
5. To stick with tradition, tightly pack the bottle masala into amber- or green-tinted, sterilised beer bottles, sealing the top off with butter paper and hot wax. Otherwise, one can also store it in an airtight container or any other lidded glass container.
(This makes for an approximately 2.5 kg yield of bottle masala, so adjust according to desired quantity)
(An edited version of this article first appeared in the 17th May 2020 issue of The Hindu newspaper's Sunday Magazine section on page 8 https://www.thehindu.com/life-and-style/food/mays-missing-maushis-a-mumbai-summer-without-the-itinerant-east-indian-masala-makers/article31589988.ece)
By Raul Dias
Ever since I can remember, synesthesia has played a particularly important role in my life. Numbers for me have genders. Days of the week have a definite hierarchy, with Sundays leading the pack. And all my months are neatly divvied up to form a rainbow of colours.
May’s colour has always been somewhere on the spectrum between a buttery yellow and an earthy burnt Sienna. No big surprise there. Think bright summer suns, freshly baked lemon chiffon cakes and yes, that indescribable hue of a ripe Alphonso mango.
But there are two more shades in the family that truly define the month and by default, summer for me. The almost-neon tangerine shade of freshly pounded East Indian bottle masala that is always stored in amber coloured beer bottles for a longer shelf-life. Thus, the name—bottle masala.
Spicy Talk
While I am not an East Indian by birth, I have always been a big fan of their culture and most pertinently, their cuisine. Having lived most of my life, here in Dadar West, Mumbai, surrounded by a close-knit, strongly matriarchal community of East Indian families led by genial aunties who made it their mission to indulge the budding foodie in me with their yummy curries and succulent roasts. Almost all jazzed up with the ubiquitous East Indian bottle masala. From the coconut milk enhanced mutton lonvas to a spicy chicken moile, the bottle masala reigns omnipotent.
Just like the 36-ingredient Moroccan ras-el-hanout spice blend or the Ethiopian berbere mix, East Indian bottle masala is made up of a bewildering number and variety of spices from the more obvious Kashmiri chillies to the ‘Google-it-now’ nagkesar. The latter—I just learnt for the purposes of this piece—is also called Indian rose chestnut or cobra saffron, by the way!
Added to this, the complex dry spice blend has as many iterations with varying measurements and ratios of spices. I would not be exaggerating if I said that every East Indian family uses a different recipe for bottle masala—some use 20 spices, some 30, while the most elaborate of the lot use up to 40. But try asking any self-respecting East Indian cook to part with their recipe and they will sooner part with their lives. Such is the almost militant level of secrecy that shrouds the hallowed recipe for the masala.
In fact, I remember an old neighbourhood aunty once telling me that East Indian mothers never teach their daughters how to make their bottle masala for the fear of them taking their prized recipe out of the family after getting married. They have no such compunctions, I was informed, for incoming daughters-in-law. I rest my case.
Thump and Grind
This also leads me to a vital link, not just to the whole bottle masala supply chain, but also to my very synesthetically-heightened month of May—the masalawaali maushis. It is the rhythmic thumping sound that these singing, itinerant spice grinding ladies make while pounding the aromatic, roasted spices for the bottle masala that I associate with summer as well. But not this year. Thanks to the pandemic and the ensuing lockdown, my backyard will not be infiltrated by the pungent fumes and lilting melodies originating from my neighbour’s garden. The maushis will not be coming.
Mainly from the local Maharashtrian Agri community, these women are generally always much in demand and need to be booked months in advance. Always armed with their wooden pounding vessel called an ukli and its cohort the mussal which is a mace-like stick with a metal base to hit the ingredients. These groups of ladies travel from house to house from early March to the end of May to grind the family’s annual supply of bottle masala according to each family’s specifications. Making sure to finish up their important task before the monsoon season sets in.
Interestingly, though they may be experts at first sifting, then roasting and finally pounding the spices, they will never fully know the final recipe for the masala. Not only will the house matriarch weigh each ingredient separately and hand it over to the maushis for pounding, but as per tradition, she will also withhold one vital ingredient that she will pound herself that will later be added to the final mix.
Undoubtedly, one of the most enduring and endearing traditions of the maushis is the singing of ovis (which literally means ‘strung together’) while they pound the spices. More specifically, they sing jatyavarchi ovi that are specialised Marathi language grinding songs that are used as poetic metre for rhythmic prose.
One such ovi by Bahinabai who was an unlettered 19th century peasant poet from the Khandesh region of Maharashtra comes to mind and seems a perfect way to sum it all up in times like these. It says:
Get up at midnight, neatly set out the grain
begin working the grinding stone
be patient, don’t talk back, hold your tongue
let the memories of your old life comfort you!
SUNDAY RECIPE
Bottle Masala
(Recipe courtesy Ann Dias)
INGREDIENTS:
1 kg dried red Kashmiri chilies
250 gm dried red Madras chilies
25 gm whole wheat grain
80 gm powdered turmeric
5 gm dagdaphool also called stone flower
200 gm cumin seeds
15 gm fenugreek seeds
500 gm coriander seeds
150 gm mustard seeds
250 gm poppy seeds
50 gm peppercorns
15 gm cloves
250 gm white sesame seeds
15 gm caraway seeds
14-15 green cardamoms
7-8 black cardamoms
10 gm cinnamon stick
10 gm asofoetida
25 gm bay leaves
1 nutmeg
5 gm tirphal also called Japanese pepper
5 gm star anise
5 gm nagkesar also called Indian rose chestnut
15 gm fennel seed
5 gm mace
50 gm whole Bengal gram
5 gm allspice
METHOD:
1. Precisely measure and dry out all the ingredients under hot sun for two days, making sure no moisture remains in them.
2. Over low heat, dry roast the Kashmiri chillies and the Madras chillies for 8-10 mins in a wide bottom pan making sure to not burn them.
3. Similarly roast the rest of ingredients for 7-8 mins on low heat or until they are aromatic.
4. Dry grind the roasted ingredients in several batches until fine, either in a large ukli or in a spice blender. You could also take the mix to a local mill to get it pounded.
5. To stick with tradition, tightly pack the bottle masala into amber- or green-tinted, sterilised beer bottles, sealing the top off with butter paper and hot wax. Otherwise, one can also store it in an airtight container or any other lidded glass container.
(This makes for an approximately 2.5 kg yield of bottle masala, so adjust according to desired quantity)
(An edited version of this article first appeared in the 17th May 2020 issue of The Hindu newspaper's Sunday Magazine section on page 8 https://www.thehindu.com/life-and-style/food/mays-missing-maushis-a-mumbai-summer-without-the-itinerant-east-indian-masala-makers/article31589988.ece)
Sunday, December 2, 2018
Notes from Hungary
By Raul Dias
Like any seasoned traveller, I have a non-negotiable set of ‘rituals’ that I need to perform when visiting any new place. Chief among those is to visit a food market to get a pulse of the quotidian life of the local people. I love nothing better than to see bossy grannies haggle their way though a purchase of tomatoes. In European markets, I greedily look forward to the generous samples cheese-mongers and charcutiers put out for gourmands like myself.
So, on a recent trip to Hungary, the minute I was done with checking into my hotel in Budapest, I sauntered down to the city’s Great Market Hall housed at the end of the famous pedestrian shopping street Váci Utca on the Pest side of Liberty Bridge at Fővám Square. And while I did get my fill of both bargaining octogenarians and some rather strange local charcuterie — particularly the lókolbász or horse meat sausage — I encountered row upon row of stalls in the market dedicated to a single spice. Paprika.
Revelling in all its sweet-n-smoky glory, paprika is the de facto spice of Hungary, where almost the entire cuisine pivots around the axis created by the spice. And paprika-obsessed Hungarians have a certain Mr. Christopher Columbus to thank. Originating in Central Mexico, the spice that consists of dried and ground chillies made its way to the far Balkans via Spain when the Turks introduced paprika to the Balkan Peninsula in the 18th century during the Ottoman rule.
Dash of heat
Interestingly, thanks to it being packed with Vitamins A and E and capsaicin — which is said to have anti-cancer, antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties — paprika was first used by Hungarians as a medicine for treating typhus. It is also capsaicin that gives chillies their heat.
In fact, up until 1920, all paprika was super-hot. It was only when a hybrid variety of the plant was created in the southern Hungarian region of Szeged that paprika got its distinct sweet and smoky flavour profile. In fact, the Szeged paprika museum is said to be a very popular tourist spot where everybody is sent off with a 10-gram sampling of paprika.
Back at Great Market Hall, I soon realised there is no one paprika that fits into all dishes. A rather patient stall owner with much better English language skills than my non-existent Hungarian gave me the paprika 101. Apparently, the two most common types of paprika are either édes (sweet) or csipős (hot). But one could also go for the különleges deep red, finely ground paprika, which is mild. Or for those with a predilection for a dash of searing heat in their food, the rózsa, a dark red, medium-coarse paprika which tends to be very hot, is your best bet.
At lunch later that day at Zeller Bistro, a Budapest icon that regularly gets its share of ‘five star’ reviews for its wide range of paprika-rich offerings, Zoltan, an old university buddy, introduced me to a plethora of Hungarian classics that hero the spice. We started off with a cliché. Better known to most as goulash, gulyásleves is by itself a very basic meat and potatoes kind of stew that gets elevated to high gastronomic heaven when a dash of paprika and cream are added to it. Similarly, halászlé, the humble fishermen’s soup — made using river fish like carp or pike fished from the Danube — takes on a spicy hue when the warmer édesnemes variety of paprika is added to it.
By then, utterly obsessed with all things paprika, I found myself at Paprika Molnar factory, in the village of Roszke 15 kilometres from Szeged city. It is here I took a guided tour and learnt how things weren’t all rosy (pun intended) for paprika very recently, almost causing a national crisis.
In 2013, production hit a rough patch when Hungarian paprika exports slumped, as buyers across the world turned to cheaper supplies mainly from China and Latin America. This was in the wake of two years of unpredictable weather Hungary faced, resulting in the poorest yield of the paprika-producing capsicum annuum chilli in 50 years. I was told there was even talk of the possibility of Hungary having to import its very own treasured spice.
But in the last five years, things have taken an upward swing with production back on track, and once again, all is well in the land that literally worships its ‘red gold’.
(This article first appeared in the 2nd December 2018 issue of The Hindu newspaper's Sunday Magazine section on page 7 https://www.thehindu.com/life-and-style/travel/notes-from-hungary/article25642593.ece)
Tuesday, August 1, 2017
New Spice Quests
Join us as we tour the country on its many spice tours
and workshops that not just give us glimpses into the wonderful world of
spices, but also help us understand why spice is India’s ‘thing’!
By Raul Dias
‘Think India, think spice’. Now, there, is one maxim,
that has continually defined the subcontinent and all its exotica-laced
offerings—from the times of the ancient spice trade, right up to today. A maxim
that brought about a new identity and one that changed the country in myriad
ways, some good and some, well...not so good!
Right from the Mughal invasions to lucre-greedy, mercenary colonialists to the modern day ‘spice tourist’—all sought (and continue to seek) out India’s bounty of spices that truly runneth over. Each launching elaborate quests to replenish their spice cache with India’s edible gold.
And while tomes have been written about the country’s erstwhile spice conquests, we focus our attention on the newest ‘invasion’ aka. spice tours and workshops. A truly burgeoning vertical of the world food tourism industry today, according to the latest UN world tourism report.
Here are a few such spice tours and workshops that will help you see beyond just peppercorns and cardamoms:
Right from the Mughal invasions to lucre-greedy, mercenary colonialists to the modern day ‘spice tourist’—all sought (and continue to seek) out India’s bounty of spices that truly runneth over. Each launching elaborate quests to replenish their spice cache with India’s edible gold.
And while tomes have been written about the country’s erstwhile spice conquests, we focus our attention on the newest ‘invasion’ aka. spice tours and workshops. A truly burgeoning vertical of the world food tourism industry today, according to the latest UN world tourism report.
Here are a few such spice tours and workshops that will help you see beyond just peppercorns and cardamoms:
Green
Land Spice Garden Tour, Thekkady
Slap bang in the middle of Kerala’s spice wonderland of Thekkady and located at the foot of a gentle hill is the wonderful, arboreal Green Land Spice Garden. Here, one can partake in a guided spice lesson that seems almost like a crash course in all things spice! Led by Tigin a very knowledgeable local lad who takes you through everything that is grown and foraged in the meandering spice garden. From the de rigueur cardamom and clove trees to the more exotic cassia and nutmeg, you’re given a crash course in how spices are grown, harvested and then packaged. Speaking of which, at the attached spice shop, you can tank up on all your favourite spices like mace, cinnamon quills and the fragrant allspice to take back home.
Cost: Rs. 100 per person
Duration: 1 hour
Contact: greenlandspice@gmail.com
Slap bang in the middle of Kerala’s spice wonderland of Thekkady and located at the foot of a gentle hill is the wonderful, arboreal Green Land Spice Garden. Here, one can partake in a guided spice lesson that seems almost like a crash course in all things spice! Led by Tigin a very knowledgeable local lad who takes you through everything that is grown and foraged in the meandering spice garden. From the de rigueur cardamom and clove trees to the more exotic cassia and nutmeg, you’re given a crash course in how spices are grown, harvested and then packaged. Speaking of which, at the attached spice shop, you can tank up on all your favourite spices like mace, cinnamon quills and the fragrant allspice to take back home.
Cost: Rs. 100 per person
Duration: 1 hour
Contact: greenlandspice@gmail.com
Spice
Walk through Gariahat, Kolkata
Putting a more practical spin on spices, this highly interactive tour not only introduces you to the milieu of spices that go into a traditional Bengali meal, but also gives you a taste of the amalgamation of spices, culminating in an elaborate spice-centric meal. On this tour, you will visit a local bazaar in the Gariahat neighbourhood for an immersive introduction to the various spices and ingredients that are used in this part of the country. Especially the pungent, beloved shorshe or mustard seeds that is part of the panch phoron quintet which also includes cumin, fennel, fenugreek, and nigella seeds. The tour ends with a lunch of a thala– a multi-course platter comprising a full Bengali traditional meal at a local restaurant.
Cost: Rs. 4,500 per person
Duration: 3 hours
Contact: www.kolkatamagic.com, deepa@magictoursofindia.com
Putting a more practical spin on spices, this highly interactive tour not only introduces you to the milieu of spices that go into a traditional Bengali meal, but also gives you a taste of the amalgamation of spices, culminating in an elaborate spice-centric meal. On this tour, you will visit a local bazaar in the Gariahat neighbourhood for an immersive introduction to the various spices and ingredients that are used in this part of the country. Especially the pungent, beloved shorshe or mustard seeds that is part of the panch phoron quintet which also includes cumin, fennel, fenugreek, and nigella seeds. The tour ends with a lunch of a thala– a multi-course platter comprising a full Bengali traditional meal at a local restaurant.
Cost: Rs. 4,500 per person
Duration: 3 hours
Contact: www.kolkatamagic.com, deepa@magictoursofindia.com
The Food
Bazaars Tour, Old Delhi (Rs. 2,600 per person)
This early morning spice tour—that is part of the newly launched Airbnb Trips’ portfolio of curated experiences—starts off with a visit to Daryaganj’s vegetable market where you can interact with vendors and get an insight into some of the most commonly prepared Indian dishes. Things will take a spicier turn at Khari Baoli where Anubhav Sapra, one of the city’s leading authorities on food and spices of Delhi Food Walks will help you understand Indian spices and condiments while you get a perfect view of Old Delhi. A breakfast of the turmeric- and red chilli powder-laden bedmi poori along with the cardamom-redolent nagori halwa and tea or lassi, finishes off this very informative journey into the spicy realm of one of the city’s oldest neighbourhoods.
Cost: Rs. 2,600 per person
Duration: 3 hours
Contact: www.delhifoodwalks.com
This early morning spice tour—that is part of the newly launched Airbnb Trips’ portfolio of curated experiences—starts off with a visit to Daryaganj’s vegetable market where you can interact with vendors and get an insight into some of the most commonly prepared Indian dishes. Things will take a spicier turn at Khari Baoli where Anubhav Sapra, one of the city’s leading authorities on food and spices of Delhi Food Walks will help you understand Indian spices and condiments while you get a perfect view of Old Delhi. A breakfast of the turmeric- and red chilli powder-laden bedmi poori along with the cardamom-redolent nagori halwa and tea or lassi, finishes off this very informative journey into the spicy realm of one of the city’s oldest neighbourhoods.
Cost: Rs. 2,600 per person
Duration: 3 hours
Contact: www.delhifoodwalks.com
John’s
Boat Tours, Ponda, Goa
The central Goan temple town of Ponda is famous for having a large concentration of spice plantations, growing everything from nutmeg, cardamom, cinnamon, black and white pepper to coriander, chilies, and betel nut. The most popular of these plantations being Rustic Plantation, Savoi Plantation, Tropical Spice Plantation, Sahakari Spice Plantation, Pascoal Spice Farms and Abyss Spice Farms. And while it may seem like a daunting task to try to visit all of them, John’s Boat Tours comes up with specially customised spice tours that you can design, riding in his boat, in order to reach the spice plantation. Once at the farms, while you sip on a herbal drink, you get to see the art of how spices are grown, especially the betel nut, where pluckers climb these trees, over a hundred feet above the ground and then sway from tree to tree.
Cost: Depends on customisation
Duration: Full day
Contact: www.johnboattours.com
The central Goan temple town of Ponda is famous for having a large concentration of spice plantations, growing everything from nutmeg, cardamom, cinnamon, black and white pepper to coriander, chilies, and betel nut. The most popular of these plantations being Rustic Plantation, Savoi Plantation, Tropical Spice Plantation, Sahakari Spice Plantation, Pascoal Spice Farms and Abyss Spice Farms. And while it may seem like a daunting task to try to visit all of them, John’s Boat Tours comes up with specially customised spice tours that you can design, riding in his boat, in order to reach the spice plantation. Once at the farms, while you sip on a herbal drink, you get to see the art of how spices are grown, especially the betel nut, where pluckers climb these trees, over a hundred feet above the ground and then sway from tree to tree.
Cost: Depends on customisation
Duration: Full day
Contact: www.johnboattours.com
Tadka Workshop, Mumbai
Taking a very unique approach to enhance our understanding of spices, the Tadka Workshop by food historian Rushina Munshaw-Ghildiyal of APB Cook Studio focusses on the all-important tadka or tempering of spices which is a distinguishing feature of Indian cooking. This workshop which includes a spice market visit, is an ode to the great Indian tadka, and is designed to help you provoke new and interesting flavours in everyday cooking. Topics here range from spice immersion sessions to hands-on Indian home cooking classes using regional Indian spices.
Cost: Rs. 3,000 onwards per person
Duration: 4 hours
Contact: www.apbcookstudio.com, info@apbcookstudio.com
Walk
Through Spice Market, Chennai
Leading you through the fascinating world of south Indian spices, this tour takes place twice a day; at around 9am and 2pm. The trail takes you through the local markets of Chennai and helps demystify the unique usage of spices such as cardamom, coriander, turmeric, tamarind and asafoetida and how they add flavour to south Indian cuisine. You not only get to handpick fresh vegetables and home-made spices in the presence of expert guides, but you also learn the art of mixing them in the correct proportions. The tour ends with a spice-redolent meal prepared by you under the guidance of a local chef.
Cost: Rs. 9,500 onwards per person
Duration: 4 hours
Contact: www.thrillophilia.com
Leading you through the fascinating world of south Indian spices, this tour takes place twice a day; at around 9am and 2pm. The trail takes you through the local markets of Chennai and helps demystify the unique usage of spices such as cardamom, coriander, turmeric, tamarind and asafoetida and how they add flavour to south Indian cuisine. You not only get to handpick fresh vegetables and home-made spices in the presence of expert guides, but you also learn the art of mixing them in the correct proportions. The tour ends with a spice-redolent meal prepared by you under the guidance of a local chef.
Cost: Rs. 9,500 onwards per person
Duration: 4 hours
Contact: www.thrillophilia.com
Ever
heard of these Indian spices?
·
Radhuni: The dried-up fruit of wild celery,
radhuni is a rather curious spice
that looks like ajwain (caraway
seed), smells like parsley, but tastes like celery!
·
Jaiur: Found mainly in the north-eastern
states of India, jaiur aka. winged
prickly ash seeds start off with slight lemony overtones when chewed, the
create a tingly numbness in the mouth that sets the final stage for searing
heat.
·
Kodampuli: A dried berry like fruit, kodampuli is found in Kerala and is a
great souring agent, much like tamarind and kokum,
but with a sweetish-smoky aftertaste.
·
Jakhiya: With a sharp pungent smell and
crunchy taste, jakhiya is preferred over
cumin and mustard seeds for tempering dals
in the Garhwal region of Uttarakhand.
·
Ratanjot: A dried herb grown in Himachal
Pradesh and Jammu and Kashmir, ratanjot
is used to add a crimson hue to regional dishes like the Kashmiri rogan josh.
·
Maratti moggu: The unopened flower bud of
the red silk cotton tree, the mustard-meets-black pepper spice of maratti moggu is indigenous to the
Chettinad region of Tamil Nadu and is used dishes like Karnataka’s bisi bele baath.
(An edited version of this article first appeared in the August 2017 issue of Jetwings Domestic in-flight magazine of Jet Airwayshttp://www.jetairways.com/EN/IN/jetexperience/magazines.aspx)
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