What's in your spice/herb cabinet?

[velochic]

I keep a well-stocked spice cabinet (and dried herbs, some purchased, some homemade and fresh herbs during the spring/summer/fall), but sometimes I feel like I get into a rut using things over and over again for the same purposes.

I have all the Indian spices - from aesofetida powder to turmeric, but I typically only use them for the half-dozen Indian dishes I make and not for other dishes. I have several different chile powders (not to be confused with chili powder, which I make myself using the chile powders and other spices), and a large variety of dried herbs, even lesser known ones such as myrtle. I grow a nice herb garden, which is coming to its final uses as the weather cools down. I still have parsley, sage, rosemary and... chives (no, the thyme is gone). The rosemary will stick around until Christmas even later as it requires a very serious freeze to kill it. The first frost will kill the rest.

So, I'm just wondering how others use their spices and herbs. I make a lot of blends that I use as meat rubs or components of sauces, marinades, etc. Still, I feel like even though I use so many spices and herbs, I'm using them the same way over and over again. For example, I always add a bay leaf and a myrtle leaf to my pea soup, I always use my homemade pepper rub for southwest chicken dishes, I always do fresh parsley or rosemary on potatoes, I always put sage in my bread dressing... you get the point. Help me expand my horizons.

[staceychev]

nak (well, pak...)

Since you mentioned pea soup, I like doing split pea soup with curry. Sage is good with sauteed yellow squash, or with roasted butternut squash or sweet potatoes. Thyme with balsamic vinegar and brussels sprouts.

And cumin with everything.

[ollyoxenfree]

Maybe a different regional cooking will inspire?

I find Middle Eastern cooking uses spices in a different way. Lots of spices that I once reserved for "sweets", like cinnamon and cardamom, are used for savoury meat and vegetable dishes.

There are also different spice blends - za'atar and dukkah and baharat, although you may need to invest in some more spices, like sumac, to make them from scratch. I use za'atar and dukkah a lot.

[velochic]

Stacey - great ideas, especially with it being squash season. We love butternut squash. And I like the pea and curry idea. Do you have a particular curry mixture that you would recommend? I tend to blend my own and lean toward the sweeter rather than spicier blends (of dry spices... I don't make curry pastes at home, but do have a couple of jars of Patak's in my cabinet, one hot and one mild).

Olyoxenfree - my dh is from Turkey, so I make a lot middle eastern food with the spices I buy when we're there to see the in-laws (and buy online from this company, with whom we've always been pleased). I usually use sumak in lamb dishes (another rut I'm in) because it's how his sister makes it and mother used to make it... I do blend my own za'atar, heavy on the oregano, as dh likes it. I use it for pilaf that often includes pine nuts and currants. Again, don't use it for much of anything else... except maybe on some roasted lamb occasionally (in the spring, mostly). The spice bazaar in Istanbul has many versions of baharat, but they are all so heavy with mint and this isn't a favorite flavor here. I do have some (probably stale by now) in the cupboard, but perhaps I should try making my own. I've never blended dukkah... is that with nuts? I've heard of it, but never tried it. What would you use it in? I'm definitely going to go back to explore how to use these blends, though. Perhaps email SIL and ask for some new recipes.

Thanks for the ideas! Keep 'em coming!

[ollyoxenfree]

LOL, okay I guess you probably know way more about Middle Eastern food than me.

I like za'atar in olive oil, and maybe a spritz of lemon juice, as a quick dip for bread, or brushed on top of flatbread and warmed in the oven. It also gives a new flavour if you mash potatoes with olive oil and za'atar, instead of milk and chives/parsley.

Here are a couple of dukkah recipes. It does contain hazelnuts:

http://mideastfood.about.com/od/midd...s/r/Dukkah.htm
http://www.101cookbooks.com/archives/001416.html

It's also good in a dip. I like to marinade prawns in dukkah and olive oil before grilling. I've also made marinades for chicken with it.

Just re-read your post (I was looking to see if nuts are a problem), and here are a few other ideas:

- spiced chili hot chocolate (Aztec style)
- sage is nice in a pumpkin risotto, and I use dried sage in my meatloaf
- rosemary buttermilk biscuits
- use chicken stock to make rice, instead of water, and toss in a bay leaf and other spices, for something closer to a pilaf

[velochic]

Goodness, the Middle East is a huge area of the world. I just know Turkish cuisine (and dh's family's at that!). No, I love the suggestions.

I like the sage in meatloaf and rosemary in the biscuits (I might do dinner rolls instead, though).

Thanks!!!!

[staceychev]

No, I'm so pedestrian, Velo! I just buy garden variety curry powder at Whole Foods. It's definitely more of an Indian-flavored curry than anything. (It also makes a split pea that just begs to have yogurt or sour cream stirred through it...)

Perhaps you can answer a question for me, though. My sister went to Greece and Turkey and brought me back a bunch of spices from Turkey. Most were labeled with English words that I recognized, but one was labeled "For Salat." What is it?

[velochic]

Originally Posted by staceychev

Most were labeled with English words that I recognized, but one was labeled "For Salat." What is it?

It means, literally, "For Salad". Is it dark red? It's probably sumak. It has a bitter flavor and they put it in various salads (which is a broad term in Turkey as their salads are often vegetables and beans swimming in olive oil and subtly spiced instead of the western "green salad" that we typically associate with the word.)

[amma_mama]

Velochic, you do indeed have a well-stocked spice cabinet! Ours is overflowing so it is hard sometimes to remember what we have...most of it is for different Asian cuisines:

• Probably no less than 15 different types of South Asian curry spice mixes, some are for specific uses (vegetables-only, meats-only, fish-only) and others are more versatile
• Several types of biryani pastes from different South Asian countries
• A few Thai curry spices
• Sambar and rasagam mixes

We also have a lot of individual spices:

• Tumeric
• Coriander seed
• Fenugreek
• Chile powder
• Whole chile, plain and curd
• Cinnamon
• Cloves
• Mace
• Nutmeg
• Pepper
• Cardamom
• Old Bay mix
• Tamarind (I know it is not a spice, but it is in the spice cabinet)
• A few others without names in Englisdh (as far as I know), including goraka

Dh does a lot of the cooking and can never remember what combo of spice he uses in a particular dish so it never comes out the same way twice. I tend to have my go-to spices for different dishes, but I try to mix it up a bit as well.

We do not keep much in the way of herbs as we usually buy fresh. We do, however, have a huge jar of za'atar, whcih we mostly use on bread with butter/olive oil/cream cheese.

[velochic]

Originally Posted by amma_mama

[*]Sambar and rasagam mixes


We also have a lot of individual spices:
[*]Mace


goraka

I've never heard of sambar and rasagam. I'm going to google them to find out more. They have interesting names.

Mace I have, but I never use. I don't even know what it tastes like off the top of my head, although I've obviously used it in something recently (I try to rotate my spices so they don't get too stale, but I'm not great at doing that regularly so it could be kind of old).

What is goraka? Again, something I've never heard of.

I don't cook Thai because I'm allergic to coconut. And I don't cook a lot of eastern asian foods... just from lack of trying more than anything else... so these are interesting for me as I'm not familiar with them. Thanks!!!

[germin8]

We have a lot of spices because I never know which recipe I will try. It's just nice to have them all. I've been wanting to pre-mix some spices to have them ready-to-go for my favorite recipes.

Cumin, turmeric, and paprika are my favorite combinations for rice (ratio 2:2:1, respectively).

Cinnamon & turmeric are a good combination for couscous w/ peanuts, broccoli, and apricots. (ratio 1:1)

[cristeen]

Originally Posted by velochic

Mace I have, but I never use. I don't even know what it tastes like off the top of my head, although I've obviously used it in something recently (I try to rotate my spices so they don't get too stale, but I'm not great at doing that regularly so it could be kind of old).

Mace and Nutmeg are for the most part interchangeable. I actually prefer mace, it's a bit less tannic. Mace is the outer coating of the nutmeg. If you buy it whole, it makes a bit more sense - maybe google for pictures. It's kind of lace like and it is peeled off and the center nut is nutmeg. I use mace in anything that calls for nutmeg - including eggnog.

As for what's in my spice cabinet - just about everything that is readily available in a US supermarket. And a few things that aren't - like black cardamom, sumac, nigella, and whole mace. I do a lot of ethnic cooking, so I have a little bit of everything. You want Latin, I can do Latin. SE Asian? I can do (a lot of) that. I can do Russian, Polish, and am right now experimenting with Indian. I even have some Moroccan flavors. But, my spice collection takes up 4 spice racks, a drawer and a tin.

[velochic]

Thanks Cristeen! I don't think I've ever used mace in place of nutmeg.

Germin8, thanks for the tip of using turmeric in rice. That would be tasty AND pretty!

[JamieCatheryn]

I have:

garlic powder
onion powder
cumin
coriander
mustard
ginger
thyme
sage
nutmeg
cinnamon
paprika
allspice
red pepper
white pepper
chili powder
curry powder
cardamom
bay leaves
fennel
poppy seed
dill
oregano

[amma_mama]

Originally Posted by velochic

I've never heard of sambar and rasagam. I'm going to google them to find out more. They have interesting names.

Mace I have, but I never use. I don't even know what it tastes like off the top of my head, although I've obviously used it in something recently (I try to rotate my spices so they don't get too stale, but I'm not great at doing that regularly so it could be kind of old).

What is goraka? Again, something I've never heard of.

I don't cook Thai because I'm allergic to coconut. And I don't cook a lot of eastern asian foods... just from lack of trying more than anything else... so these are interesting for me as I'm not familiar with them. Thanks!!!

Sambar and rasagam are both spicy Indian soups, so I guess should not have included them on the spice list (though most of the ingredients are just spices), though we occasionally use them for alternative purposes in curries and the like.

Though I use it regularly, I had to google goraka. It is the dried rind of a small sour fruit. It is often used in the place of tamarind to give a slightly sour hint to curries. It is often used with fish to give it some zing. I understand (from googling!) that you can soak it and make a paste, but we just toss it in whole and gives a nice flavor. It does not "melt" like tamarind, so you can take it out during or after cooking to control the amount of sourness.

Keep in mind that not all Thai dishes have coconut, just the curries. Many of the pastes make a nice flavorable rub or sauce even without the coconut. Sri Lankan food, which is our main South Asian cuisine, also uses a lot of coconut milk (though not as heavy as Thai curries), which differentiates it from much northern Indian food that relies on yogurt and/or ghee for thickening, and we just substitute cow's milk.

[BetsyS]

This is a great thread! I bought some zatar last weekend, and I wasn't sure what to do with it, so this gives me some ideas.

[Malva]

Here's a combo I love on sweet potato wedges:

1 teaspoon coriander seeds
1/2 teaspoon fennel seeds
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon dried hot red pepper flakes
1 teaspoon kosher salt

It's from here and the recipe turns out everytime:
http://smittenkitchen.com/2008/02/sp...ive-etceteras/