Know Your Ingredients ...
Almond
There are two sorts of almonds, the bitter almond and the sweet
almond. Bitter almonds are used to make almond oil, which is used in many baking
recipes to add an intense almond flavour. Sweet almonds are among the most
commonly used nuts. Ground sweet almonds are especially useful in baking and can
be substituted for flour to create a dense, moist texture in cakes and biscuits.
They are also used in savoury dishes - ground almonds thicken romesco sauce and
add texture and flavour to chicken korma. Dishes described as ‘amandine’ are
served with whole or split blanched almonds – trout amandine being a universal
classic.
Asafoetida
An extremely pungent spice extracted from a plant of the giant
fennel family, asafoetida is frequently used in Indian and Middle Eastern
cooking. In fact, asafoetida's strong, garlicky, dung-like smell is quite
off-putting (the Germans call it Teufelsdreck – devil's dung!), but if you can
overcome the stink, which disappears in the cooking process, the smallest amount
of it transforms vegetable dishes, meat stews and fish.
Aubergine
Although the plump, pear-shaped variety, with its near-black
shiny-skinned exterior, is probably the most familiar in Britain, aubergines
come in a wide variety of shapes, colours and sizes. Italian cooks enjoy
varieties with long fruit and striking lavender and cream streaks. Asian
cultivars vary widely: some, such as the bitter-flavoured pea aubergine, are the
size of a grape; the seed-filled, rounded Thai aubergine has green stripes and
is used in curries; the beautifully long and slender pale-purple Japanese and
Chinese varieties are ideal for stir-frying. The aubergine can also be
ivory-coloured and ovoid, which almost certainly led people in some countries to
name it the ‘eggplant’.
Basmati rice
Basmati is a long-grain rice from India, considered to be one of
the best-quality white rices. It has a distinctive aroma and, when cooked, each
grain should remain separate, giving a light, fluffy result. It is the perfect
accompaniment to Indian curries and is used in biriyani and pilaf dishes.
BAY LEAF
The aromatic leaf from the bay laurel tree, it is an essential
component of the classic bouquet garni: parsley, thyme and a bay leaf. The
bittersweet, spicy leaves impart their pungent flavour to a variety of dishes
and ingredients, making bay a versatile store cupboard ingredient. It’s also one
of the few herbs that doesn’t lose its flavour when dried.
Bird's-eye chillies
These small, tapered red or green chillies are extremely pungent and very,
very hot! They are sometimes called Thai chillies but are Mexican in origin.
Often used in Chinese and South East Asian cooking.
Black Pepper
Pepper is a condiment that has been salt's partner on Western tables for
hundreds of years. It adds a flavour of its own to dishes, as well as enhancing
the taste of other ingredients. A spice indigenous to southern India, it
stimulates the appetite and gives food a gentle warmth. Black pepper comes from
a climbing vine, the fruits of which - small round berries - ripen from green to
red and finally to brown. Black peppercorns are actually berries that are picked
when they're just turning red. They are then dried whole before being sold.
Peppercorns can be green, white or black, depending on when they are harvested.
Pink ‘peppercorns’, however, are not true pepper.
Black Sesame Seeds
These are the seeds of an annual herb that grow in long, oblong pods. They
are tiny, heart-shaped, jet-black on the outside and white inside and are used
as a flavouring. Their nutty flavour is similar to but slightly stronger than
white or yellow sesame seeds. They are often used for their aesthetic appeal, as
a contrast to white-coloured food such as naans.
Brown Lentil
Large, flat brown lentils that retain their shape well during cooking. Brown
lentils are slightly stronger in flavour than green lentils, with a solid skin.
Use them in soups, casseroles, rice dishes and savoury bakes.
Capsicum
This is the generic name for the pepper family. It includes the large, sweet,
mild peppers (green, yellow, orange and red are the most common) that are also
called bell peppers or sweet peppers, as well as any of the hundreds of hot
chilli pepper varieties.
Caraway Seed
Not technically seeds, these are the split halves of the dried fruits of a
plant that are used as a spice. They grow in East and South East Europe, the
Netherlands, North Africa and the USA. They are brown, long, narrow, slightly
curved, ridged, and pointed at both ends. They are aromatic and have a
distinctive bitter, sharp, nutty taste, with warm, sweet undertones.
Cardamom
An aromatic spice indigenous to south India and Sri Lanka, cardamom seeds
come from a plant belonging to the ginger family. They are contained in small
pods about the size of a cranberry. Cardamom has a wonderful aroma and an
enticing warm, spicy-sweet flavour. The whole pods can be added to dishes, or
the seeds can be extracted and either added whole or ground.
Cassava (Mogo)
Also known as manioc or yuca, cassava is a root vegetable native to Central
and South America, and popular throughout the tropics, where it’s used in many
of the same ways as the potato. There are two main varieties: bitter and sweet.
The former is toxic, and must be treated before consumption, whereas the more
watery sweet cassava can be eaten raw. In Britain, cassava is mostly found in
the form of tapioca pearls, made from cassava flour.
Cashew
Cashew nuts grow dangling beneath a fleshy stalk known as the cashew pear.
The 'pear' can be used for juices, syrups and liqueurs. Cashew nuts are eaten on
their own as a snack or as an ingredient in various sweet and savoury dishes.
Whole or chopped cashews provide crunch and substance to Asian stir-fries,
noodle dishes and curries and they're a good match with chicken.
Chickpea
Chickpeas are a small legume popular in Mediterranean, Middle Eastern and Indian
cookery. They are usually sold pre-cooked in cans, or dried; the latter must be
soaked before cooking. Chickpea, besan or ‘gram’ flour, made from dried ground
chickpeas, is widely used in Indian.
Chickpea flour
A flour made from ground chickpeas. It is pale yellow and powdery and has an
earthy flavour best suited to savoury dishes. Gram flour contains no gluten. It
is widely used in Indian cookery.
Chilli
Chilli peppers are a small, fiery variety of capsicum. They can be green,
yellow, orange, red or black. There are more than 200 known varieties and they
differ greatly in size, colour and level of hotness. In general, the smaller the
chilli, the more potent, but it's worth bearing in mind that individual chillies
of the same variety and even from the same plant can contain different levels of
capsaicin, the volatile oil that gives chilli its heat. There is an official
heat scale for chillies known as The Scoville scale, developed by Wilbur
Scoville in 1912. A sweet pepper scores 0 on the scale, Jalapeño and chipotle
chillies score anything between 2,500 to 10,000 and habañero and Scotch bonnet
score 80,000 to 300,000 plus! Chillies work well in sweet as well as savoury
dishes: a little chilli helps to cut through the richness of the chocolate.
Chilli powder
Chilli powder is made from grinding dried chillies to a powder. Chilli powder
can vary in heat and is also available smoked.
Chutney
Derived from the Hindi word ‘chatni’ (meaning 'strong spices'), chutney is a
preserved or fresh relish made from fruit or vegetables mixed with vinegar,
sugar, herbs and spices. British-style chutneys tend to be preserved by being
cooked and are usually quite sweet, whereas Indian-style chutneys are uncooked
and are usually hotter and quite sour. Chutney can range in texture from chunky
to smooth, and in degrees of spiciness from mild to hot. It is a delicious
accompaniment to curried dishes and their tangy flavour is a tangy foil to
cheese.
Cinnamon
This warm, sweet spice comes from the bark of a tree native to Sri Lanka. The
bark is removed, dried and rolled up to make a tube. Cinnamon is sold dry as
sticks and ground as a powder.
Cloves
Cloves are the dried flower buds of an evergreen tree native to eastern
Indonesia. Cloves are a versatile spice that can be used in drinks and in both
sweet and savoury dishes.
Coconut
The coconut sold in the UK is the de-husked, hard, brown ‘stone’ of a ripe
coconut. This brown shell has three eyes at one end. Inside is a further thin,
brown, coat called the testa: the creamy-white, firm flesh of the coconut is
attached to this. The middle of a coconut is hollow and filled with a sweet
liquid known as coconut juice or coconut water. The testa of a coconut hardens
as the coconut ripens. Occasionally, young, unripe, green coconuts are sold as
‘jelly’ coconuts: their white flesh is still soft and jelly-like with a slightly
more ‘milky’ water (this liquid is not coconut milk or coconut cream).
Coconut milk
Coconut milk is not the liquid from inside the nut, but the extract of
freshly grated coconut flesh. The flesh is first soaked in hot water, then
allowed to cool, after which the liquid is strained off. This process that
yields both coconut milk and coconut cream. The two liquids will separate when
left to stand: the thick white cream will rise to the surface of the liquid
leaving the clear watery milk below. Coconut milk gives a distinctive taste and
smoothness to curries, sauces and rice
Coriander
Coriander is one of the world's most commonly used herbs - in spite of the
fact that the name comes from the Greek, koris, meaning bed bug! It is green,
leafy and strong-smelling with a fresh, citrus taste that makes it an invaluable
garnish and flavour enhancer. Both the fresh leaves and stalks are edible, as
well as the berries, which are dried and called coriander seeds. Native to
southern Europe and the Middle East, the plant is now grown worldwide. Coriander
tends to be associated most with Asian and Central and South American cooking.
For maximum flavour, it is best added to dishes just before serving.
Coriander Seeds
Coriander seeds are the dried berries of the coriander herb, but have little
similarity in taste to fresh coriander. The seeds can be bought whole or in
powdered form. Ground coriander is a component of many different spice mixtures
including garam masala and harissa, It's also good added to savoury pickles,
chutneys or casseroles and can be used in cakes and other baked goodies. Crushed
whole coriander seeds are delicious for flavouring homemade burgers.
Cumin
The small, crescent-shaped seeds of a plant called Cuminum cyminum, which are
used as a spice. Cumin seeds have a warm flavour and a strong, pungent aroma.
There is also a smaller, darker variety of cumin called black cumin which, added
to dishes whole, lends them a smoky note.
Curry leaves
Curry leaves are the shiny, dark green, aromatic leaves of a tree from the
citrus fruit family that release a deliciously nutty aroma when fried in hot
oil. A staple of South Indian cooking, curry leaves are used in Indian and South
East Asian cuisine in the same way as bay leaves are used in the West.
Curry powder
Curry powder is usually a mixture of turmeric, chilli powder, ground
coriander, ground cumin, ground ginger and pepper, and can be bought in mild,
medium or hot strengths. It is thought to be a British invention – the Brits
probably took some Indian spice mixtures home with them hoping to recreate the
dishes they had enjoyed in India. Indian cooks don’t use a single spice mixture
to flavour all of their dishes. Instead, they mix various spices into a paste
called a 'masala', which varies from dish to dish and region to region.
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