Which Spice goes with what Dish | Spice complementing a Dish

What spices go with what food? This confusion always remains in minds of every homemaker,Still we use some or other spices in all our dishes. Not only the flavours of the food that we cook and eat can be enhanced by adding spices but also it makes each dish distinct and wonderfully aromatic. In fact, the spices can turn your food from ordinary to extraordinary. It is very common to cook food with salt, pepper, garlic, and onions but what about other herbs and spices available? There are combinations of spices that add great flavour to your dish. Let’s have a look at the spices that best matches with the dishes you cook.

1. Cumin Seeds

It is one of the most popular spices in the world that gives an aromatic flavor to your dish. In whole or ground form it is used as a seasoning for soups, raitas, salads, etc, as it brings out the natural flavor of the food. Your regular dish “dal” is tempered with the cumin seeds that enhance its flavor. It is also used to flavour veg curries, raitas, kadhi, etc. I personally love my buttermilk or chaas with a pinch of cumin seed powder, here is the recipe for the same Mint Buttermilk

Health Benefits of Cumin Seed

2. Asafoetida

It is also one of the most preferable spices that yield a full, smooth, and satisfying taste.It compliments most commonly used Indian vegetables like potatoes, cauliflower, peas, etc. Whether making a veg curry,dal or kadhi, just adding a pinch of it gives a great taste to your dish. It is a common element of Tarkas which means that it is first introduced to hot oil or butter and then poured over dishes before serving. The result is an extremely aromatic dish with an aromatic flavour.

Why Asafoetida is so much loved by Indians ?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b4w3pS6nEZg

3. Fenugreek Seeds

In an Indian cuisine, Fenugreek seeds are commonly used as an ingredient in curry powders and pickle powders. It compliments Indian curries, chickpeas, potatoes, and tadkas for dals and curries which adds a tempting aroma and flavor to your dish. Sprouted fenugreek seeds are also used for garnishing rice, soups and pasta dishes and stir-fries. One of the most popular spice with amazing health benefits.

Benefits of Fenugreek seed

4. Black Pepper

It is the best loved and most widely used spice in the world. Black pepper adds both heat and depth flavor to any of the dishes. Its strong flavor adds a great taste to pulao, biryanis, etc. The black pepper powder is commonly used in soups, sandwiches, sauces, curd, salads and grilled meat. I love its flavour with my grilled chicken recipe. It helps to get rid of that weather change flu when taken mixed in hot tea with ginger.

Benefits of Black Peppercorn

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OgEYuC0i8eY

5. Cloves

Cloves give a very intense and spicy flavour to your food. A very little goes a long way in your dish. It is best matched with biryani, pulao and curry dishes. The spice also complements the flavors of pickles and since ancient times cloves are valued to power the mast the smell of rotten meat/fish. Few other spices that goes very well with cloves include star anise,cinnamon, other spices high in eugenol. The onion’s savoury taste plays perfectly off the cloves sweet numbing quality, try using the nailed onion technique while preparing a chicken broth or soups.

Health benefits of Cloves

6. Cinnamon

Just a pinch of ground cinnamon or even a whole stick lends a more delicate flavor to both the sweet and the savory dishes. The cinnamon stick offers a unique taste with great flavor to pulaos, biryanis, meat dishes, etc. It also complements the sweet dishes like cakes, biscuits, ice-creams, rice puddings and other desserts. Here is our very own recipe of masala tea which has cinnamon and helps cure lot of diseases Masala Tea receipe

Cinnamon Health Benefits

7. Cardamom

Cardamom is an aromatic spice that adds a wonderful flavor to the dishes. It has an enticing hot, spicy-sweet flavor. A little cardamom goes a long way. The spice is best fitted with both sweet and savory dishes. It adds an aromatic flavor to pulao, biryanis, curries, meat dishes, etc. Even desserts, pastries, and baked goods become more flavorful with the use of just a pinch of it.A very common mouth fresher widely used in India. Its used in every indian desert to give that authentic flavour in Payesh, kheer, gulab jamun, gajar halwa. Checkout this traditional bengali sweet dish and use cardamom powder to enhance its taste Nolen Payesh Recipe

Cardamom Health Benefits