8 WAYS ON HOW TO USE SPICES WHILE COOKING

Cooking is very tricky, especially with people who are great foodies but don’t like cooking at all. With Covid-19 striking us on and off, home cooking has become a task that you can experiment with. For newbies who are trying to learn to cook, the basic idea as to ‘when to add the spices’ and ‘how much to add’ is very important. Spices add so much flavor and texture to any dish. They act as a base for any dish and make it delectable. However, it is not everyone’s forte to be able to pull off a complicated mission like cooking. To gain the knowledge of which spice gives what kind of flavor and which combination of spices complement each other takes a little time and understanding.

There are a lot of premixed spices available in the market, but people still find it difficult to work with them. Hence, to make cooking easy for you, we are here with 8 ways how you can use spices while cooking.

How to Use Spices While Cooking

1. How To Store Spices:

Storing the spices well is the foremost important part of tasty cooking. If your way of storing spices is not good, the spices might start tasting weird, and their color might get dull. To keep the spices flavorful, you must store them in the right place. The right way to store any spice is to keep them in a dark place, away from direct sunlight, and in air-tight containers so that the moisture doesn’t seep in. It is also important to keep it away from any sort of heat radiation, like microwaves or gas stoves.

2. Check ‘Expiry’ and ‘Best Before’ Dates:

There are two kinds of instructions that read behind most of the packed food items. One reads ‘expiry’ while the other reads ‘best before’. There is a lot of difference between these two words and a lot of unwanted waste can be avoided if people understand the meaning behind it. When any product has an ‘expiry date’, it means that that product is not consumable after that particular date. When any product has a ‘Best Before date’ it means that the product is consumable even after that particular date but it will just not be as good as before. The quality might degrade a bit but it’s still edible and consumable.

For instance, if red chilli powder has passed its Expiry Date, it will start tasting awful and the bright red color will become dull brown. While, on the other hand, if red chilli powder has passed its

Best before ate, it may have significantly less flavor than before.

3. How to Use Dried Herbs Appropriately?

Dried herbs take time to release their flavor comparatively than other spices and because of this reason they are added mostly ‘during the cooking processes’. Dried herbs like oregano, basil, parsley, and chilli flakes are topped with or added before the sauces and stews. In case you’re running late for work and do not have the time to cook the dried herbs, you can rub the herbs between your fingers. This will release its flavors instantly and save your time!

4. How to Grind Spices?

The way you grind your spices will say a lot about how they taste. If any spice is grounded finely, it is obvious that it’s going to release more flavors. Coarsely ground spices will be comparatively mild. For example, finely ground black peppercorns will rather be harsh on the throat whereas if they are coarsely ground, it will give a touch of spiciness to the dish.

You could use the base of a pan to grind the whole spices but if not you could also grind them in a mixture. A lot of other appliances are available in the market as well. In ancient times in India, people used a set of two simple tools namely Mortar and Pestle for crushing or grinding the spices into a fine paste or powder. This technique traces back to the Stone Age era and is still popular among many Indian households. It is believed that the flavor of any spice gets multiplied if it is grounded with Mortar and Pestle.

5. Include Spice Grinder in Your Kitchen Appliances:

As we spoke about Mortar and Pestle in the point above, a lot of new kitchen appliances are also available in the market. Appliances like spice grinder, mini mixer, and hand mixer are available in the market that makes your work easier and faster. Investing in such appliances will not only save your time but also make your kitchen fully equipped. The next time you’re planning to invest in your kitchen, make sure you invest in the appliances first.

6. Dry Roast Spices – Why?

Dry Roasting is also an ancient method. People have been following this for years. Dry roasting enhances the flavor of whole spices. Spices like clove, cumin, cinnamon, bay leaf, dried chilli, and peppercorns can be dry roasted on low heat for about a minute or two with continuous stirring so that it doesn’t burn. As it cooks, it will start releasing an aroma and that’s the time when you take it off the heat, let the dry mix cool and then grind it the way you like.

Dry roasting spices will make the spices even more delectable. The aroma of the spices will add to the beauty of any dish.

7. Bloom your Spices:

Blooming is an important technique if you’re working with dried herbs or with spices that release flavor as much as you cook them. When the spices are added to medium hot oil, it is called blooming. It helps the spices to release their flavor. This technique involves the toasting of spices and infusing their flavors into the oil. As a result, the entire dish becomes aromatic and flavorful. For instance, if you add curry leaves to hot oil, the leaves release their flavors into the oil.

8. Gain knowledge about different kinds of chillies:

There are 24 kinds of chillies that people use across the world. It would be astonishing to know that there would be so many other kinds that we are not aware of. Let’s name a few chillies that are used and grown in India.

• Bhut Jolokia
• Kashniri chillies
• Guntur Chilli
• Jwala Chilli
• Kanthari Chilli
• Byadagi Chilli
• Ramnad Mundu
• Dhani
• Tomato Chilli
• Madras puri
• Khola Chilli
• Dalle Khursani

These are a few spices that Indians use. Spices give life to any food and so one must know how to use them correctly.