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Spice World
episode • The Cook Up with Adam Liaw • cooking • 25m
G
episode • The Cook Up with Adam Liaw • cooking • 25m
G
If you want to add multidimensional flavours to your home-made dishes, there’s only one thing you have to do: spice it up.
Spice expert, and content creator Sarina Kamini, is a passionate advocate for the ancient flavour-boosting power of spices. “A little bit of spice goes a long way to making a dish feel more voluptuous, rich and satisfying,” she tells SBS. “To make your household meals taste better, you just need to use some simple spices from your kitchen.”
Spices are used across cultures to add earthiness, sweetness, bitterness and heat to dishes, and importantly, bring a raft of nutritional benefits to the table.
Catch chef Tom Sarafian cooking up a storm with spices on The Cookup with Adam Liaw.
“Start to use the spices and textures you’re comfortable with. Add a little bit to your favourite dish, while changing nothing else. Then, notice how different your dish tastes," she advises.
A little bit of spice goes a long way to making a dish feel more voluptuous, rich and satisfying.
Whether you already love cooking with spices, or are new to enter the spice world, here are the key spices – most readily available from your local supermarket – that everyone you should keep on hand at home.
1. Cumin
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Cumin lamb skewers
Kamini, who was raised in a traditional Kashimiri Hindu household in Australia, uses cumin as the base of a spice mix in many Indian dishes. However, she adds, “I also add cumin speeds to by Bolognese and any sort of Italian meat-based dish, because cumin seeds provide extra texture.”
2. Black cardamom
Different to green cardamom, which has a sweeter taste, possesses a smoky flavour and notes of menthol. Commonly used in stews and curries in Middle Eastern and South Asian cooking to add richness, black cardamom is also used in Arabic black coffee.
Kamini's hot tip for this oft-misunderstood spice? “If you're making like a lasagne or a cheesy sauce, add a pod or two of black cardamom. That will make it taste a little bit smoky and give it a richness without the need to use more butter, cheese or cream.”
3. Red chilli powder
Red chilli powder is a versatile spice used in Asian, African, Mexican, American and European dishes. Add it to boga a la parilla, a grilled Argentine fish delicacy; dajaj mashwi (a Saudi Arabian barbecued grilled chicken) or bomba Calabrese (a spicy Calabrian pepper spread), to cite just a few examples.
Kamini loves using half a teaspoon of red chilli powder in her slow-cooked meals. “That amount won’t make your dish hot, but it will make it taste lighter. Red chilli provides a feeling of lightness, because heat brings light.”
Just be sure to select the right type of red chilli to suit the desired heat level of your dish – Kashmiri red chilli powder, for example, isn't high on the heat factor, but brings lovely depth and colour to a dish.
4. Black pepper
Melbourne-based India-born digital content creator , recommends that households feature black pepper in more dishes.
“Black pepper provides a dish with heat,” says Samuel. “However, it does not heat up your body as it has cooling properties. This is why you find that a lot of hot countries have dishes that feature black pepper.”
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Fiery black pepper chicken
While it is an essential seasoning used in everything from eggs to pasta, one of Samuel’s favourite ways to harness the intensity of black pepper is to use it in a South Indian rasam. “Rasam is like a tomato consomme, in which the key flavour is black pepper.”
5. Turmeric
“Turmeric is a very popular spice that’s essential to food from the Indian subcontinent, and is also used in some Mediterranean and African dishes,” says Samuel. “Turmeric has a very strong flavour so it’s usually used in low quantities. It has a taste that stays in the background.”
With its health-boosting properties now common knowledge, turmeric now makes an appearance in unexpected places – think turmeric latte or turmeric scrambled eggs.
Look beyond using turmeric in just curries, to make the most of the golden colour and subtle flavour the spice imbues wherever it is added.
6. Coriander powder
The divisive coriander (also called cilantro), is a fresh herb with a warming feel with a . In dried powder form, it becomes a staple spice in cooking.
Coriander seeds are also popular in Mediterranean cuisine, as well as in many Asian, Middle Eastern dishes too, while ground coriander is popular in meat rubs and marinades across America. Coriander as a spice has numerous healing benefits, according to .
7. Fennel seeds
Fennel is a versatile spice with an aniseed flavour and notes of mint and honey, and has nutritional superpowers that include being a digestive aid.
Fennel seeds pair well with meat, and can be used to make slow-cooked, hearty dishes. “Fennel is used in a lot of Mediterranean and Middle Eastern dishes, as well as in Indian, Pakistani and Bangladeshi meals.”
The spice features in traditional Italian pork sausages, Malaysian curries and the Indian candy ‘mukhwas’.
