Spices Used In Different Cuisines around the World

Good food without spices is certainly of no use. There are a variety of spices around the globe that add great flavours to the dishes. These aromatic ingredients are enough to transform a dull recipe into something tasteful and interesting

With television shows and the internet introducing a variety of dishes from faraway places, today’s population is more than willing to experiment in the kitchen. It is indeed disheartening to see a good spice sit idle in your kitchen cabinet. This often happens because you are all set to try a new recipe but held back due to an unfamiliar spice. Being doubtful about the spice usage makes the product go waste and cheats you from enjoying a delicious meal. So, don’t let this happen to you. Here is a list of the finest spices from around the world and a guide to how to use them in everyday cooking.

The Chinese five spice powder is historically known to incorporate the Yin and yang factor by balancing the heat with a corresponding cooling ingredient. Irrespective of what history says, this blend is unlike any other typical seasoning blend.

The Secret of the Five Spices

The Chinese five spice powder touches the five principal tastes as believed by the Chinese. These flavours include salty, sweet, sour, piquant, and bitter. These five tastes, along with nine boiling changes and three conditions (wood, water, and fire) are harmonised by fire. Balancing these five tastes will give you a flavour that is salty but not very slight, light but not weak, hot, but not very hard and fat but not oily. The five flavours also cover the nutritional requirements of five vital organs in our body – kidneys, lungs, pancreas, liver, and heart.

Where to Use

While the Chinese five-spice blend is not very hot, it is quite concentrated. So, make sure to use it in small quantities. This blend goes well with fatty meats like goose, duck, and pork. You can also use it for seafood and chicken. Flavour potting or red cooking is a technique that extensively uses this blend. This is a slow cooking process of stewing foods in a flavourful, spicy sauce. Use it as a substitute for cinnamon or clove while baking spice cakes and cookies. It is also used in marinades for chicken, seafood, and fish.

Nigella seeds are one of the most popular and exotic spices from India. Its aroma is similar to oregano topped with a peppy flavour. Like the mustard seed, these seeds are crunchy, dry, and bitter in nature. It is easy to find nigella seeds online today and can be used in vegetarian dishes and curries.

They are also frequently used in North African and Middle Eastern cuisines. They pair very well with dishes that use root vegetables. You can also use them with squashes like spiced butternut squash. Stir-fries from South Asian meals include nigella seeds while cooking or use them for garnishing purposes. Once you buy nigella seeds online, make sure to experiment by combining them with other spices like mustard seeds, pepper, turmeric, fenugreek, fennel seed, and cumin. You can also use them in legumes, rice, salad, pod fruit, green vegetables, flatbreads, rolls, and chicken.

Caribbean Spices

Thyme is a fragrant perennial that is native to North Africa, Asia, and the Southern Mediterranean region. You can find numerous varieties based on specific climate conditions. Some types like anise thyme, Moroccan thyme, lemon thyme caraway thyme, and Spanish thyme are highly popular.

Thyme features a fresh, strong, and lemony flavour and hence can be used in soups, sauces, and stews. Poultry, fish, and meat dishes taste extremely delicious when they are topped with thyme. Thyme is an essential ingredient in condiments like zaatar and Dukkah. Add thyme to cheese dishes, beef, egg, cabbage, goat cheese, lamb, lentils, onions pork, potatoes and venison for making them more flavourful.  

Spices are a must for adding a dramatic effect to the dishes. Different spices from around the world will enhance the delicacy and gives you joyful cooking experience.

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