Clove (Laung, Lavanga)

Kokum (Garcinia Indica )

Kokum is one of the lesser known spices of India. It is only found in western regions of India (Konkan, Malabar and Kanara regions) and is not very well known outside these regions. Like tamarind, Kokum is used as a souring agent and has a sharp, acidic flavor with a fruity aroma.

Kokum tree is a solitary, tropical tree and is difficult to propagate. The tree is slender and its fruit looks like a small plum which becomes dark red when ripe. The ripe fruits are harvested and preserved by drying in the Sun. Salt is rubbed onto the rind to speed up the drying process and to preserve the tangy flavor.

Rose Parade - what a beautiful way to welcome the New Year.

This time I went to see the Floats on Jan 2nd, the day after the parade. It was beautiful. I have never seen so many orchids and roses in one place before.

All Floats are decorated using flowers, leaves, grains and nuts. Here are just some few pics for you all to enjoy.

Pressure cooker is an indispensible gadget in my kitchen. We Indians use it everyday, to make rice, daal, cook some vegetables, to make idlis, and so many other dishes. In India, the first thing any parent buys for the newly wed couple’s kitchen is a pressure cooker.

I am always amazed to see recipes for soups and stews that call for cooking time of 1 hr or so. Why not use a pressure cooker? The cooking time can be reduced to just minutes.

Here are a few more advantages of using a pressure cooker:

Holiday season is almost here and soon we all will get busy shopping for our friends and family. Here is a wonderful gift idea for someone who appreciates and enjoys the exotic spices. This gift set of Spice extracts is perfect for the Chef in your family. 

Spice extracts have long shelf life and unlike spice powders, they do not lose flavor or fragrance. They are easy to use and they allow you to customize the spices.

Here are 2 recipes by Chef Hari for Saffron extract    and  Cardamom extract 

You can get more info about Spice Extracts from this blog.

Use spice extracts and take control of your spices.

Spice extracts are natural, pure and consistent in flavor, aroma, and color. The advantages of quality spice extracts are widely recognized. These include: - Uniform, and wholesome flavor of the spices - Consistent color - Free from microbial contamination - Long shelf life

Saffron - the Royal spice

Saffron is rightfully called the "King of Spice" .

The number of hours spent plucking the saffron flowers and then the stigmas is just mind blowing. Something like 50,000 flowers, a football field-sized patch, must be grown to produce just 1 lb of saffron. Saffron is very royal and majestic.

Saffron is the stigma of crocus flower. Harvest season lasts for 2 weeks and the flowers are picked each morning. The 3 stigmas in each blossom are hand-picked. After plucking, the stigmas are light roasted which dries the stigmas and fixes the flavor in the threads. This delicate stage of roasting is done only by the most expert of farmers. Even as little as a minute too long on the fire and the whole batch would be ruined.

Asafoetida (Asafetida, Hing)

Asafoetida is an integral part of Indian cooking and is a must for lentil dishes and curries with green leafy vegetables.

It was introduced to the West by Alexander the Great in 4th century BC and was very popular in Roman cuisines. The name asafoetida is derived from the Persian for resin “aza” and the Latin for stinking “fetida”.

Asafoetida is a resinous gum that is extracted from the root and stem of a giant perennial fennel that is at least 4 yrs old. The stem/root of the plant is slashed and kept in shade while the sap seeps out and hardens. This dried, grayish-white gum is then scraped off which turns reddish and finally reddish-brown as it ages. The asafoetida that we buy in stores has only about 30 -40% of pure asafoetida and the rest is edible starch (rice or wheat flour) to make the powder more manageable.

Why is Masala Chai good for your health?

One cup of authentic Indian masala chai is enough to make you forget coffee.

Masala chai has typically 6 spices added to it - Cardamom, Cinnamon, Ginger, Nutmeg, Clove and Peppercorn.

Gewürztraminer  (guh-vertz-trah-MEEN-er ) - a real tongue twister.