When there is Indian food, it is inevitable to think of spices, condiments and هدیه زعفران herbs blended in proportion to create a piquant and zesty preparation that tingle your taste buds to the core of your gastronomic knowledge. I was looking for a nice restaurant in Orlando when my friend said "Google 'Saffron Orlando' ". I paid a visit to the Saffron Restaurant and being the foodie I am, I met the chef who briefed me about the use of spices in Indian food.
Indian cuisine use spices in various forms such as chopping it into slices, grinding it into a paste or a powder or simply using them as it is. Here are some spices that I dealt with while during my conversation with the chef in the kitchen of Saffron Orlando.
Pepper: A fiery spice with a tingly taste, black pepper is mostly used in powder form and as a part of condiments.
Ginger: Ginger is one of those spices that have the medical tag attached to it, in a good sense. Ginger has many medicinal properties and is used to treat cough and cold. In the kitchen, ginger is used in both dry as well as raw form. Powders are made from dry gingers and may be stored for future preparations. It is sliced and fried as a paste for preparing Indian dishes.
Chillies: The king of spices as it is known in Indian cuisine, chillies are used to add hotness to the food item. Almost every dish made in India has a dash of chilli, either in "tadka" or tempering wherein dry chilli is fried in a small amount of oil along with cumin.
Cumin: Speaking of tadka, cumin seeds are a must with chilli while tempering. Cumin is also added to preparation of Butter milk as a flavouring add-on.
Asafoetida: This spice is used to make dough fluffier and helpful in digestion of food apart from providing taste to the dish.
Turmeric: Like chilli, turmeric is widely used in preparing Indian food and has significant medical benefits such as defending against diseases and allergies. It is used in powder form and gives colour as well as flavour to the dish.
Coriander: Coriander seeds are used to add to add flavour to the preparation and are used in grinded form such as powder or paste.
These are the main spices used in almost every preparation of Indian cuisine but there are others of course such as bay leaf, fennel seed and cloves and we will discuss this in the next course of the article. Until then, enjoy your food and do pay a visit to SaffronOrlando.com a people choice's of restaurant in Orlando, FL.
The author Mack Johnson is a freelancer and food lover who binges on Indian food.
His recommendation Saffron Orlando restaurant is one of those restaurants he found himself among the places to find authentic Indian food, Wines and Beers .