Spices

Whole food/health food shop in your area would have them...there's a Dublin food co-op I think, and a shop called the hop sack... But since I'm in cork what the hell do I know...

Cremated wrote: »

Hey,

*Red Chilli Powder (Pisi Lal Mirch) - tsp
*Garam Masala - 2 tsp
*Dry fenugreek – 2 tsp
*Big cardamom seeds only – 1
*4 tbsp Garam Masala (whole)

Just in case you can't get the above, here are some substitutions that might help.

Chili powder should be readily available in supermarkets in the spice section.

Garam masala - you can make your own if you can't buy it made up. It's a blend of spices added, usually at the end of cooking, to 'round off' the flavours in a curry. The blends I buy usually have a strong note of cloves in them. There are quite a few recipes for garam masala on the net if you wanted to mix up your own.

Dry fenugreek - fenugreek is an odd blend of mild licorice-ness and unsweet maple syrupyness. If I were to try replacing it, I might grind up half and half fennel seeds and mustard seeds and add a little sweetness to the post using a bit of maple syrup.

Big cardamom seeds - if you're referring to brown cardamom as opposed to the fragrant green seeds, they're totally different. They look like vaguely shrivelled nutmegs and are about the same size. I actually can't think of anything you could substitute for them, because they have this really peculiar and totally unique flavour. If you can't find them, I'd leave them out as opposed to subbing for them.

Whole garam masala. As I said, garam masala is a spice blend. It's not a nut or seed in its own right. Recommending 'whole garam masala' is recommending you add the spices that normally go into garam masala as whole spices, in which case they'd need to go in at the beginning of cooking rather than at the end... Hmmm - if I were to try a stab at 'whole garam masala' I'd probably add (and see below for the caveat)

1-2 bay leaves
1 tsp whole cloves
2 tsps whole black peppercorns
2 tsps cumin seeds
1 tsp coriander seeds
1 tablespoon of whole green cardamom pods (that's probably about 10 - 15 pods balanced on a spoon)
1 cinnamon stick

As a personal preference, I do not enjoy booby-trapped food, so I'm not a big lover of whole spice in a curry sauce. If I'm cooking a curry like this, I'll start with a plain peanut oil, brown the meat in the oil (getting a good braise), remove the meat from the oil with a slotted spoon, and then add the whole spices to the same oil. Because of my personal preference, I'll often add twice the spice amounts to the oil, let them sizzle until they pop and smell fragrant, and then take the pot right off the oil and let the spices infuse into the oil for a few minutes as it cools. Then I'll fish them out of the pot with a slotted spoon, leaving only the large, whole spices (bay leaves, cinnamon stick). From there, the pot with the spice-infused oil goes back on the heat and then in go the onions, and ginger-garlic paste and so on. It's a bit fiddly but I truly hate encountering a whole cardamom in the middle of a mouthful of food and I still want the flavour.

Asia Market on Drury Street, D2. Any decent healthfood or ethnic shop. In my experience, the spices bought in Asian (and other ethnic) shops are fresher and taste better.

Can I just ad a big +1 for spice shops. I was buying my spices in the supermarkets, I lately started using the spice shop in Tullamore's Market square. I worked it out last night.

I was paying 1:89 for 28g of Cumin (Swartz)
In spice store i got 400g for 4:50!!!

Thats a 675% saving!!

He also gave me a recipe for curry and recommended a good Basmanti rice (1kg for 2:95)

Cremated wrote: »

I could purchase them in the South Dublin

There is an indian one in blackrock market which is open till 8 all nights, and one in dun laoghaire

rubadub wrote: »

They are up the back of the market, where the green arrow is pointing here
http://maps.google.com/maps?q=53.300859,-6.178485&hl=en&num=1&t=h&vpsrc=0&z=19

There is a Filipino shop in dun laoghaire too "Pinoy sari sari store", opposite walters near the peoples park
http://maps.google.com/maps?q=53.289563,-6.13002&hl=en&num=1&t=h&vpsrc=0&z=19

There's a new Indian/Asian shop at the top of Rathmines, the end further from town, just across from Slattery's pub. It's quite big, and stocks all the usual East End spices, lentils etc.

if you are ever in navan, there's a shop run by the same people that own the copper and spices indian restaurant and they sell packs with meal sized portions of spices for various different indian dishes.

i actually did an indian cookery course with them last year that my wife got me for xmas and had a great time learning how to make everything fresh, highly recommended.

Cremated wrote: »

P.S any recommendations of a really strong spice I can add to a chilli to spice it up?. I've got bored of all the variations that I have at my disposal...

Adobo sauce recipe

Called a sauce, the result is more of a paste and it will solidify after a few days in the fridge. I add a couple of tablespoon sized chunks to chilli recipes in place of chilli powder.

1 dried chipotle chilli
2 dried ancho chillies
50 ml red wine vinegar
90ml orange juice
30ml lime juice
50g chopped onion
30g chopped garlic
100g honey
10g salt

Dry roast the chillies, cut open and remove the seeds. Place the chillies in a bowl and cover with boiling water. Let soak for 30 minutes.
Put the soft chillies in a food processor with 30ml of the soaking liquid and pulse. Add everything else and pulse until smooth.

I find the chipotle are too fiddley to try removing seeds, so I leave them in for the extra heat. The ancho peppers are large dark purple (almost black) and have a lot of seeds so worthwhile trying to get those out. I use the recipe as a guide rather than accurately measuring everything. I store it in a jar in the fridge and it last ages - all that smoke, sugar and vinegar are natural preservatives.

The dried fenugreek will definitely be leaves - look for packs of 'methi' or 'kasoori/quasoori methi'. These people http://bombaybazar.ie/ have three outlets in the Dublin area, am sure you could get all your ingredients from them - either in person or online

I love exploding green cardomoms in a mouthful of Pilau Rice !!

Spice shop in Blackrock market have both fenugreek leaves & seeds. Got them there myself a few weeks back. Couldn't survive without that shop.:)

Sparks wrote: »

Actually, on that tangent, help! Does anyone know of any half-decent spice shops or asian markets around the Dundrum/Sandyford area?

And as usual, the minute you ask, you find the answer; there's an Asia Market branch out near ballymount, off J10 on the M50 (the signs say cash&carry, but they also sell to the public). Sorted, and had proper from-scratch beef with black bean sauce for tea. Nyom...

Gbear wrote: »

I think this a legitimate form of hijacking:o

Does anyone have a good recipe for Garam Massala?

My current batch has ran out and I've mislaid my recipe.

Garam Masala

50g coriander seed
50g cumin seed
20 green cardamom pods
10 cinnamon sicks 1" long
2tbs cloves
10 blades of mace
10 black cardamom seeds
1/2 a nutmeg
1tbs black peppercorns
4 bay leaves

Cunning Stunt wrote: »

If you can't be bothered blending spices yourself then you can get ready-mixed spices from www.greensaffron.com (based in Cork).
I am a big fan of Indian food - I have a few indian cook books and often blend the spices myself, but these guys do make great spice mixes aswell. I have tried their spice mixes and the dishes are yum!

edit: they also do a garam masala

It's fierce expensive though.

40g of garam massala for €3.85.

It's about €1 for 100g of each of the component parts in my local local indian (or somewhere else in that neck of the woods) news agent.

Mace and black cardomom are a little harder to find but I'm sure they have them in the English Market.

All told, you can make 250g of it for about €5.

You're far better off making it yourself.
You just dry roast the whole spices and grind them in a coffee grinder.
I've a jar with a rubber seal that seems to keep it fresh for a long time.

Curry Addict wrote: »

Garam Masala

50g coriander seed
50g cumin seed
20 green cardamom pods
10 cinnamon sicks 1" long
2tbs cloves
10 blades of mace
10 black cardamom seeds
1/2 a nutmeg
1tbs black peppercorns
4 bay leaves

Would it do any harm to throw in black cumin (could be caraway, not sure)? I think I used it last time.

Other than that it looks pretty familiar.

Gbear wrote: »

Would it do any harm to throw in black cumin (could be caraway, not sure)? I think I used it last time.

Black cumin, although it looks a bit like caraway, isn't the same thing at all. It's a different kind of flavour, a slightly burnt / smoky one, and smells not unlike black cardamoms. It's not that common either so you're more likely to have caraway I'd say, in which case don't use it.