Star Anise

rainglow

This is an ingredient in a biryani recipe I saw on a cookery show, and I've never seen it anywhere. I googled it, but all that really did was tell me what it is! A couple of questions here:

Where can I get it?
What could i use as a substitute for it in a recipe?

Thanks

Alun

Yu don't say where you're based, but you can get it at any of the Asian stores / markets / emporiums in Dublin. You can get it whole, or ground. There isn't anything comparable you could substitue for it that I can think of off hand.

It's an odd ingredient for an Indian dish, though, I have to say ... it's usually only found in Chinese cooking in my experience. The fragrance in a typical biryani usually comes from whole spices like cinnamon, cardamom and cloves.

rainglow

Thanks! I'm in Dublin so will head down to the asian market tomorrow.

I thought it was strange too, but the guy doing the recipe apparantly is some Michelin starred Indian chef in London, so I'm lucky that only one of the ingredients is slightly obscure

bonkey

Alun wrote:

Yu don't say where you're based, but you can get it at any of the Asian stores / markets / emporiums in Dublin.

You can also probably get it in any organic store which also does herbs/spices.

Alun

rainglow wrote:

I thought it was strange too, but the guy doing the recipe apparantly is some Michelin starred Indian chef in London, so I'm lucky that only one of the ingredients is slightly obscure

Interesting .. it's probably the guy that was on that BBC program last year where there were a number of cooks competing to create a lunch banquet for Queen Liz's 80th birthday .. can't remember his name, but I'm fairly sure he was the only Michelin starred Indian chef in the country.

The Hill Billy

Atul Kochhar is yer man's name.

rubadub

Most aisian stores carry it, looks like a little dried starfish sort of nut. You can get it in supermarkets. I think some spice mixes in supermarkets have a lot of it in it, like 5 or 7 spice mixes. I think some sauce does too, a liquid sauce like soy.

Closest thing to it is liquorice, ever hear it reffered to as "aniseed", -star anise

The Sweeper

you can use fennel seed as a substitute - it's milder.

taztastic

As a totally pointless aside, does anyone else get unpleasant tequila flashbacks when they smell it?
Would a flavour that strong not dominate the dish? Let us know how it turns out Rainglow