Indian Spices: Rai, Raai, Sarson (Mustard Seeds)

One of my most favourite comparisons about a person is "like mustard seeds in hot oil" for someone who is impatient. Ah, mustard! What tales could be told of these little black pearls!

Mustard Seeds: Rai, Raai, Sarson

Mustard seeds are known by various names across different regions in India. Gujaratis call it "raai", Maharashtrians calls it "mohri", North Indians call it "sarson", and in the South it goes by "avalu" in Telugu and "kadugu" in Tamil.  Just as there are different names for the mustard seed, there are different kinds of mustard seeds - black, brown and white/yellow. The most commonly used form of mustard in cooking is the black mustard. 

Black mustard seeds are used in Indian cooking primarily for tempering. In Indian cooking, no dish - be it curry or lentil, vegetarian or meat preparation- is complete without tempering of some form. And that makes mustard seeds an inseparable part of Indian cuisine. Mustard seeds have a characteristic pungent taste that lends a spicy tang to the dish. 

Mustard Seeds: Rai, Raai, Sarson

Other parts of the mustard plant also lend to different dishes and condiments in regional Indian cuisine. One of the most famous dishes of Punjabi cuisine is sarson ka saag and makke ki roti, which is a gravy made of mustard greens and spinach served with maize flour flatbreads. The cooking oil used widely in North Indian and Bengali cuisine is mustard oil which is extracted from mustard seeds. 

Mustard seeds have many health benefits. Poultices of mustard seeds are traditionally used for decongesting blocked nose and chest during colds. Adding a tied bundle of mustard seeds to your hot bath water will relieve aching muscles and joints. The use of mustard seeds also boosts the effect of the Omega-3 content of fish and oils. 

Indian Spices: Jeera (Cumin)

India's most popular chef - Sanjeev Kapoor calls cumin his favourite spice. This all-rounder spice of the Indian kitchen packs a nutty and peppery aroma that tingles your taste buds and makes your mouth salivate.

Indian Spices: Cumin Seeds

Cumin seeds are most commonly used in Indian kitchens for tempering dals (lentil preparations), rice dishes and vegetables. Tempering is the first step of almost all savoury and main course dishes in Indian cuisine. It is done by heating a little oil and adding whole spices like cumin seeds, mustard seeds, whole dried red chillies, fenugreek seeds or herbs like curry leaves and allowing them to before adding raw, cut vegetables or boiled lentils for dal and dried spices to finish off the dish. 

Cumin powder is also popularly used as a dry spice powder in Indian cuisine. 

Indian Spices: Cumin Powder

Cumin powder is prepared by dry roasting cumin seeds on a low flame till they release a warm, nutty aroma (that spreads through the house and feels heavenly!). These are then dry ground in a grinder till they form a really fine powder. Cumin powder, like cumin seeds can be used to spice both dry vegetable dishes and gravy ones, dals (lentil preparations), rice dishes like pulaos and biryanis and even some forms of parathas (flatbreads). A dash of cumin powder can also be added to salads and cold buttermilk for that extra punch of earthy flavour!

Cumin seeds and cumin powder also form a part of various spice mixes used in Indian cuisine such as panch phoron (Bengali five-spice mix used for tempering), garam masala (Punjabi powdered spice mix), dhana-jeeru (everyday spice powder used in Gujarati kitchens made of corriander and cumin powders), goda masala (spice powder mix used in Maharashtrian kitchens) etc.

Cumin has a lot of health benefits. The most popularly known dadima ka nuskha (grandma's home remedy) is to munch on cumin or jeera goil (candy made from cumin) for aiding digestion. It provides relief from flatulence, nausea, stomach aches etc. Cumin is also had a lot during hot Indian summers for its cooling effects on the body. 

Indian Spices: Methi Dana (Fenugreek Seeds)

The Indian philosophy on food is that a meal should balance six 'rasas' or tastes - sweet, sour, pungent, salty, astringent and bitter. You will find this balance of different tastes in traditional meals across the length and breadth of the country - be it Gujarati food, Punjabi food, Bengali food, Maharashtrian food or South Indian food.

Though to someone new, it may seem that the bitter 'rasa' is the most difficult of all to add to a meal, however it is not so. All cuisines have their own ways in which they introduce it to the meal - a traditional Bengali meal begins with a bitter course with preparations such as 'shukto' (a mixed vegetable preparation) which has bitter gourd in it, whereas Gujaratis have dishes like 'thepla' (a spiced flatbread) that uses the slightly bitter fresh fenugreek leaves in it. Fenugreek seeds  or methi dana are a  a very common way in which the bitter 'rasa' is added to everyday meals.

Methi Dana: Fenugreek Seeds

In our kitchen, methi dana (fenugreek seeds) is a very essential spice, though it is used in small quantities. It is always at hand in our spice box that we use everyday. My mum and I add about 4 or 5 seeds of fenugreek in the tempering for the 'dal' (lentil preparation) we make everyday. It is also added to many spice mixes used in different cuisines everyday such as the 'panch phoron' (a mixture of five spices) in Bengali cuisine or the 'rasam' (spicy tomato and lentil soup) and 'sambhar' (lentil preparation had with idlis, dosas or rice) spice powders of the South. Broken methi dana (or methi na kuriya) are also used as a base for pickle spices.

Fenugreek sseds have a lot of health benefits. They are especially good for women during their periods or when they are pregnant or lactating. Adding fenugreek seeds to the daily diet is also recommended for diabetic patients. They can also be used in poultices (wrapped in a cloth and warmed) to relieve pains and inflammation. Fenugreek seeds are also very good for skin and hair - hair loss can be prevented by boiling fenugreek seed powder with coconut or olive oil, applying it to hair when it cools down and washing after and hour or so.

Indian Spices: Lal Mirch (Red Chilly)

Go to your kitchen... or any Indian kitchen. Open the spice box that is within your hand's reach and stores the spices you use everyday. What do you see? A rich red powder. One that you have been told since childhood not to touch. Or if you do, then wash your hands immediately before touching anything else, especially your eyes. If you aren't Indian, then this is the spice you are probably afraid of in Indian food. Yes, I am talking of red chilly.

People often say that Indian food is spicy. The 'spice' that is often referred to in this statement is the pungency of the red chilly (especially dried red chilly powder) that gives Indian food much of its characteristic flavour.

Red chillies are available in both fresh and dried forms. Fresh red chilly is seasonal, and is used to make pickles and chutneys that can be stored for around the year. The most commonly used form of red chilly in the every day Indian kitchen is whole dried red chilly and dried red chilly powder. Whole dried  can be used for while tempering or to add to purees and gravies.

Kashmiri Whole Dried Red Chillies

Dried red chilly powder is used both for flavour as well as colour in Indian food. No Indian snack, curry, lentil or rice dish is complete without a dash of this spice. It is also added to some types of flatbreads such as parathas when making stuffed parathas or just spiced (masala) parathas.

Dried Red Chilly Powder (Kashmiri)

There are various kinds of chillies depending on their pungency and colouring power - for e.g. Kashmiri red chillies are the ones used at my house because of their mild pungency and the deep red colour it lends to food. We also use cherry red chillies (called boriya marcha - boriya meaning berry because of its shape) for some types of tempering like that of kadhis. Spice mixes that use chillies can often have more than one kind of chilly to bring about a balance of flavour, pungency and colour effects.

Simply to sum it up, we Indians love chilly and simply cannot do without it! Indian cuisine wouldn't be 'Indian' without a dash of this spice!

Indian Spices: Haldi (Turmeric)

Turmeric- haldi, halud, haldar... it is named differently in different Indian languages. But you'll definitely find a name for it in all Indian languages because it is found in every Indian kitchen.

Turmeric powder

Dried turmeric powder is the most common form of turmeric found in each kitchen. It is the powdered form of the aromatic root (rhizome) of a plant grown both in India and West Indies. It has a characteristic golden-yellow colour and a slightly bitter, peppery, peculiar mustard-like aroma.

In Indian cooking, turmeric is used in all curries, meat and lentil preparations across the various regional cuisines. Apart from being a natural food colour that adds a deep yellow colour to curries, it is a natural anti fungal and antibiotic because of which it is added in small quantities to all food preparations.

Turmeric has many health benefits too. Firstly, it has found to be very effective for maintaining a beautiful glow on skin and curing various skin ailments because of its anti-fungal and anti-microbial properties. From time immemorial brides and grooms have had a 'haldi' ceremony before the wedding where a paste made of turmeric, sandalwood and other natural beautifying agents is applied to give the skin a golden glow. It has also been used as an anti-inflammatory agent to treat a wide variety of stomach, liver and other related difficulties in traditional Indian medicine. There are also medical trials being conducted to test its impact on preventing and treating various types of cancer. 

Indian Spices: Dhaniya (Corriander Seeds)

My blog is named "Salt and Pepper (With a Lot of Spice!) after a conversation with a friend about the richness of spices in Indian food. The conversation started when he was telling me about how he had been to UK and eaten their all-time favourite "fish and chips" and found it bland. "It was seasoned only with some salt and maybe pepper, nothing else! No wonder 'foreigners' go crazy when they eat Indian food. It has so many spices, you can't but like it!" I agreed. And that's why when I started writing this food blog, I wanted to honour our variety of spices that go beyond the classic 'salt and pepper'.

In these series of blogs I plan to write on the varying Indian spices that are used everyday in kitchens across various regions of India. If there is one spice that is common to kitchens across India, though in varying forms, it is corriander. So the first blog of the Indian Spices series is dedicated to it.

Corriander Seeds

Corriander seeds are also known as 'dhaniya' in Hindi and Punjabi, 'dhaana' in Gujarati, 'dhaane' in Marathi. They are used in various ways in Indian cuisine. The whole seeds can be used while tempering, like in Gujarati Kadhi. Corriander powder can be used as a spice by itself like it is primarily used in Marwari cuisine. Gatte ki sabzi, aloo mangodi, Rajasthani  bhindi, dal-chawal-'kath' are famous Marwari cuisine favourites that are flavoured with corriander powder. The seeds and the powder have two different flavours. The seeds have a citrusy overtone, whereas on roasting and grounding, the powder has an earthy smell. I am always reminded of the frangrance of the hot earth cooling down after the first showers when there are corriander seeds being roasted and ground nearby.

Corriander seeds are most commonly used in spice mixtures. In Gujarati kitchens, we have 'dhaana-jeeru' which is a spice powder made with a mixture of 80-90% roasted corriander seeds and the rest being cumin seeds. This 'dhaana-jeeru' powder is a quintessential flavouring for our daily food and is one of the three spice powders (apart from turmeric and chilly powders) stocked in our everyday spice boxes. In Maharashtrian kitchens, there is 'goda masala' which is used for flavouring in everyday cooking apart from turmeric powder and chilly powder. 'Goda masala' also is made of 90-95% roasted corriander seeds and 10-12 other spices like 2 types of cumin seeds, bay leaves, 2-3 types of red chilly, cloves, 2 types of cardamom, dried coconut etc. In Punjabi kitchens, their everyday 'garam masala' powder has 50-60% corriander seeds with other spices ground into a fragrant mixture.

Corriander seeds have a lot of health benefits also. According to ayurveda, corriander seeds are a great aid in digestion. Corriander seeds are suitable for all the three types of bodies: vaata, pitta and kapha. Unlike other spices, corriander seeds are cooling and do not cause pitta. Corriander seeds also have anti-bacterial properties that can help fight bacterial infections such as salmonella. 

The Importance of Spices in Indian Food (Culture)

I am an Indian, and we Indians cannot do without our spices, whatever part of the world we live in. The importance of this is also reflected in my blog title; it couldn't be just salt and pepper, it is always with a lot of spice!

India, with the rich variety of climates and soil it provides, is home to a lot of spices naturally, which due to their easy availability have become so enmeshed into the Indian culture. A simplest example of this comes from an observation I recently had. Very recently, a few of my closest people like my first cousin and a really close friend have become mothers and I have been a close observer to the fascinating growing up of the two angels. When it was time for these two infants to be started on their first solid meals, I had a revelation. Unlike the bland pureed vegetables and fruits I had expected, their first meals were foods like khichdi made of properly washed and dried home ground rice and pulses cooked with a hint of spices like turmeric, red chilly powder, corriander and cumin powder and asafoetida.

I always knew spices were important to Indian food, but seeing the infant's first foods, drove the point home!

P.S. Coincidentally, this post about spices marks the 50th blog post of my blog... which is titled 'Salt and Pepper (With a Lot of Spice!) because of the fact that we can't live without the spice!