Spices from an Indian Kitchen
When herbs and spices are added to a dish, they act on the ingredients in some specific and wonderful ways. Contrary to what you might think, they don't always make the dish spicy. Only a few spices actually add a hot taste. Most indian spices act as aromatics, which add subtle fragrance to the food. Others are coloring agents, to make classic dishes lovely to behold. Still other spices add tartness or can help to tenderize the meat. Still other spices can lend texture a sauce.
Aromatic Herbs
- Asafetida (Heeng)
- Derived from the roots of certain plants in India and Iran. Aroma used to add subtle onion flavors in some dishes.
- Cardamom (Elaichi)
- Small fragrant black seeds from fruit of Cardamom plant. Green cardamom is a small quarter inch green pod with a powerful aroma and a delicate sweetness.
- Cinnamon (Dalchini)
- There are two kinds of cinnamon, one comes from the bark of the Cassia tree. The second comes from a True Cinnamon tree. Both have a