Spice is like Sunshine
It adds happiness and joy to our life...
Indian food is truly a feast - it awakens all our senses. It is bright and colourful to please our eyes, aromatic and inviting to mesmerise our nostrils and to provide exotic flavours and texture for our taste buds. Don't forget, enjoying authentic curry with natural ingredients also paves the way for healthier life. Thanks to the spices in Indian cooking, they contribute a lot to make the curry a fabulous choice for our Brits.
Add a bit of spice and the see the difference!
Spice up your life!
You may be aware that a spice from a plant can be obtained as a leaf, flower, fruit, seed, root or even from its bark. In Indian cooking spice has got a special place - it is added while seasoning, marinating, cooking or even while serving a dish. It is also interesting to know that the spices are also used to prepare desserts, snacks and even drinks like chai (Indian tea). Indian spice is one of the main reasons why many westerns explored, reached and settled in India. The flavours and aromas of Indian spices invited the British and started the British Raj in India.
Why Indian Spice?
Good to Know...
Adding spice to a curry is not just for flavour or aroma, it also has an intrinsic purpose of proven health benefits.
As per Ayurveda, the oldest science of health, a spice is essentially an important ingredient not only to treat common ailments, but also for our long term health benefits. Take cardamoms, they infuse subtle sweetness and mesmerising aroma to a dish. Moreover, the regular consumption of cardamoms will help ease fatigue and feel energised.
When you add cumin seeds (jeera) to a curry, during tadka or while pressure cooking dals, you get scrumptious earthly flavour. Also, you gain the health benefits of jeera – like easing upset tummy and helping digestion. Turmeric powder is another good example, it gives celebrating colors to the curries. And it is a proven antioxidant, antibacterial and antifungal miraculous spice. The list is endless.
Our aim is to introduce you to all the Indian Spices, their characteristics, uses in various curries and their health values.
Choosing Spices for
Your Favourite Curry
Here are the types of spice to enhance your curry dish...
DRY SPICES
FRESH SPICES
SPICE MIXES
Begin your
Tasty Curry Journey
New to Indian Curry world? Start with these THREE simple, but quality spices...
Sophistication at its best!
Turn food into a feast by adding spices
Spice in our daily food can make a big difference. Take plain rice: adding a clove and a crushed cardamom while cooking transforms it into an inviting rice dish. Sprinkle a teaspoon of coriander powder to a vegetarian dish when simmering it, resulting in an earthy flavoured recipe that you will enjoy.
It is true that knowing what spice, when to add and how much to use is important and can greatly influence a recipe. Don’t worry, we are here to help you answer these tricky questions so that you can start using spices to enjoy your meal times.
Add a spice and you can really see the difference. Instantly you turn an otherwise normal recipe into a special, flavoursome and aromatic dish in minutes. Spices stimulate both our tongue and our nose.
Do you know, a single spice can infuse 5 types of flavours? It all depends on how you use it:
- Raw spice powder
- Soak in water
- Dry roast a spice
- Fry spice in oil
- Boil in water