8 Spices to add to your Kitchen: Whole Spices for a More Enjoyable Experience

Make Cooking a Joyful Ritual: Whole Spices for a More Enjoyable Experience

Spices made the British conquer a quarter of the land mass. A few centuries back wars were fought just to send spices back to their home country. Then the British forgot to use them in any of their cookings but hey they got the spices home. But fortunately today you don’t have to go to war to get spices, you probably have some in your kitchen already. And we are here to talk about how to use them, so your food doesn’t taste as bland as our previous colonial overlords.

Whole Spice VS Ground Spice

So what kind of spice should you use? And by kind I mean the condition of the spice, should it be whole or grounded? The visual difference between the two is obvious, whole spices have the spices intact. And if you ground those spices into a powder, you get ground spices.

But what difference does that make, you may think. Well to understand the difference you do not need to prepare a meal. Just open the jar of ground spices you have laying around in your kitchen from God knows when. Take a whiff of its aroma. Now smell the whole spices you just bought, I am assuming you bought whole spices since you are looking into recipes that use whole spices. The difference in flavor is obvious from the aroma alone.

Ground spice loses its flavor in 6 months or so. They are still edible, just way less potent. You are using spices to get that kick from your food, and if that burst of flavor is missing then why even bother using spices.

So is ground spices a scam, and should you exclusively use whole spices? Absolutely not. Ground spice provides the flavor much more easily than whole spice when used in cooking. As the spice is already grinded, the flavor is easily palpable. Cooking with whole spices is also a hassle of its own. You’ll need to cook the spices long enough for them to disperse their flavors, something you don’t have to worry about with whole spices. And you have to remove the whole spices after you are done cooking, or risk biting into them while eating. And trust me, you don’t want to accidentally bite into a cardamom or clove. The punch of the spice will knock out your taste bud for a moment and ruin the food.

Baked beans and toast are a staple in many places around the world including England, Australia and New Zealand! This is a fancier, spicier, more robust version of the store bought beans that uses the perfect amount of whole spices.

The artisan bread is the easiest, no knead, fancy-looking bread you can possibly make. You just mix all the ingredients together, allow to rise, then shape and cook in a dutch oven or cast iron casserole pot for best results. Beans and bread, made from scratch, are so much better than you can get in the shop!

The spices really turn these baked beans into something special. They’re not spicy, but have plenty of flavor, but you can switch up the spices a bit if there’s one you don’t like/have. Use crushed and sieved tomatoes for a smoother sauce, but if you have fresh or diced that’s fine too!

The bread can be made without a cast iron pot but the crust isn’t as crunchy. Cook on a tray or in a tin if you prefer. It’s still delicious though and you can’t beat the taste of fresh, homemade bread.

Serves: 4              Prep time: 15            Cook time: 45

Ingredients:

For baked beans:

• 1 teaspoon olive or vegetable oil
• 1 red onion
• 1 clove garlic
• 2 bay leaves
• 1 cinnamon stick
• 1 teaspoon cumin seeds
• 1 teaspoon coriander seeds
• 2-3 cardamom pods
• 2 tablespoons tomato paste
• 400g kidney or white beans
• 400g tinned tomatoes, diced

For bread:

• 3 cups flour
• 2 teaspoon active yeast
• 2 teaspoons salt
• 1 ½ cups water

Method:

• Prepare the bread dough ahead of time: Mix everything together in an extra-large bowl. The mixture will be wet and not kneadable, but not too runny. Set in a warm place to rise for 2-3 hours, covered with plastic wrap or a tea towel until doubled in size.
• To make the bread: preheat oven to 450 F and place a large dutch oven or high heat-resistant cast iron pot inside. Heat for 15 minutes.
• Tip the dough onto a large sheet of baking paper and shape into a ball as best you can.
• Remove the pot quickly from the oven. Remove lid and using the baking paper as handles, drop the bread inside the pot, place lid back on and return to the oven.
• Bake 20 minutes, then remove the lid and bake another 15 until nice and golden and crunchy.
• Cool slightly before serving with the beans and plenty of butter.
• To make the beans: Dice onion and garlic, drain and rinse the beans.
• In a dry skillet over a medium heat, place the cumin and coriander seeds and coriander pods and brown, stirring occasionally to not burn.
• Heat 1 teaspoon oil in a large skillet and add the onion. Cook until starting to soften and add garlic. Cook a further 30 seconds.
• Add tomatoes and tomato paste and mix well. Bring to a simmer. Add the bay leaves, cinnamon stick, cloves and toasted spices. Cook 5-6 minutes until mixture is starting to thicken.
• Add the beans and mix well, cook a further 5 minutes. Remove the bay leaves. Cinnamon stick and any stray cloves.
• Serve the beans on the bread or toast, or over rice.

Subs/notes:

The traditional white beans in baked beans can be subbed for pretty much any of your favorite beans. You can also add some diced bacon lardons at the onion/garlic stage of the beans for something a bit extra.

The filling of these peach pies is made by infusing a sugar syrup with whole cinnamon sticks, cardamom pods, mace, whole cloves and a bit of ground

The filling of these peach pies is made by infusing a sugar syrup with whole cinnamon sticks, cardamom pods, mace, whole cloves and a bit of ground whole nutmeg. With sweet juicy peaches and crispy pastry, they’re also finished with a sweet glaze and an extra dusting of nutmeg, a sweet and spiced treat to make for get-togethers, pot-lucks or family occasions.

The spiced syrup is deliciously sticky and when cooked turns these pies into super tasty, fresh desserts. The trickiest part is crimping the edges of the pies so the filling doesn’t spill out, but this is done easy enough with the ends of a fork or your fingers. Just make sure there are no gaps!

Serves: 12 small pies              Prep time: 15            Cook time: 25

Ingredients:

For the pies:

• 400g canned or fresh peaches (about 3 large)
• ½ cup water
• ½ cup sugar
• 4-5 whole cardamom pods
• 1 cinnamon stick
• 1 tablespoon whole mace (about ⅔ pieces)
• Small grind whole nutmeg
• 1 teaspoon whole cloves
• 400g frozen puff pastry
• 2 Tablespoons milk (for brushing)

For the glaze:

• ½ cup icing sugar
• Squeeze lemon juice

Method:

• Preheat oven to 350°F
• In a small saucepan place the water, sugar and spices in a small pot. Bring to a simmer and let cook for about 2 minutes until the syrup is starting to thicken. Crush cardamom pods gently with a spoon.
• Strain the pot through a fine sieve over a large bowl to remove the spices. Discard these spices and keep the sugar liquid aside.
• DIce the peaches into small cubes then stir into the sugar/spice liquid. Mix well.
• Roll out the puff pastry to about 5mm thick. Using the rim of a glass or a round cookie cutter, cut as many circles out as possible.
• Place half of the circles onto a lined baking tray.
• Add a spoonful of the peaches to the centre of each circle.
• Top each pie with a second pastry circle and gently press edges together with a firk.
• Use a pastry brush to brush each pie generously with the milk.
• Bake for about 20 minutes until the pastry is puffed and golden. Remove from oven and leave on tray 2 minutes then transfer to a cooling rack.
• To make the glaze: Mix the icing sugar and a squeeze of lemon juice in a bowl and add enough water to make a thick, pourable liquid.
• Drizzle a spoonful of the glaze over each pie.

Subs/notes:

Store in an airtight container for 3 days, in a single layer. Serve with vanilla ice-cream for an extra special treat.

Baked eggs is actually the name for a dish that consists of eggs cooked in a spiced tomato sauce and topped with your choice of toppings and a delicious yogurt sauce.

For this recipe, combine cumin, bay leaves, cinnamon and whole cloves and cook in the tomato sauce for a wonderful rich and flavorful sauce. Then cook the eggs to your liking (can be soft and runny or harder) and serve with the yogurt for a fantastic cafe-style meal at home. Remember, by toasting the seeds before grinding them, you get a stronger and better flavor!

The yogurt sauce is completely customisable, add a few toasted and crushed coriander or cumin seeds and a squeeze of lime for a zingier sauce. You can also add pickled vegetables, feta cheese, spring onion or some rocket or spinach leaves to the top when serving.

Serves: 2 for a large meal, 4 for a light meal          Prep time: 15 minutes            Cook time: 10 minutes

Ingredients:

• 4 large free range eggs
• 400g tinned tomatoes, crushed and sieved (aka tomato passata)
• 2 Tbsp Olive oil
• 1 onion, finely chopped
• 1 clove garlic, crushed
• 1 Tbsp Tomato paste
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon cumin seeds
• 1 teaspoon cloves
• 1 cinnamon stick
• 2 bay leaves
• 1 cup thick Greek or plain yogurt
• ½ lemon, juiced
• Salt and pepper
• Grind nutmeg

Method:

• In a dry pan over a medium heat, toast the cumin seeds and cloves lightly, being careful not to burn, about 2-3 minutes. Place into a mortar and pestle and grind into a powder.
• Heat oil over medium heat in a large fry pan, add onion and cook until soft. Add tomato paste, salt, tomatoes, ground spices, cinnamon stick and bay leaves. Lower heat and simmer for 5 – 10 minutes until thick.
• Remove bay leaves and cinnamon stick. Make four small indentations in the tomato mixture with the back of a spoon, then crack an egg into each hole.
• Cover pan with a lid and cook until eggs are done to your liking (soft and runny about 4-5 mins or firm & hard 6=7 mins).
• To make yogurt sauce: in a small bowl, add yogurt and squeeze of lemon. Using a micro plane grater, grate a little bit of nutmeg over and stir well. Taste and adjust seasoning if needed.
• To serve: Add a dollop of the yogurt sauce to a plate and top with a scoop of the eggs and tomatoes. Serve with crusty bread.

A tomato-based beef mixture spiced with bay leaves, cinnamon sticks and toasted cumin and coriander seeds for a rich and hearty sauce. This is then layered with pasta and a bechamel sauce and plenty of cheese and baked to golden perfection!

This is a spiced, more flavorful version of a lasagne, with plenty of warmth and comfort. Plus, it’s an all-in-one dish, you get the vegetables, meat and carbohydrate all in one, so no need to serve with sides.

You’ll simmer the beef and spices together to make sure every bite of this is super tasty! There’s also a pinch of nutmeg in the bechamel sauce and on top, but be careful not to add too much as fresh nutmeg goes a long way!

Serves: 4-6 person          Prep time: 15 minutes            Cook time: 35 minutes

Ingredients:

• 400 grams dried penne pasta
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon olive oil
• 400g beef mince
• 1 onion, diced
• 2 cloves garlic, grated/minced
• 400 grams tinned diced tomatoes
• 2-3 bay leaves
• 1 cinnamon stick
• 1 teaspoon coriander seeds
• 1 teaspoon cumin seeds
• 2-3 cardamom pods
• 1 teaspoon salt, to taste
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 2 tablespoons flour
• 1 cups milk
• Nutmeg, ground to about ¼ teaspoon to taste
• 1 cup grated cheddar cheese
• Salt and pepper to taste

Method:

• Bring a pot of water to a boil, add salt, and cook pasta according to package directions. Drain and set aside
• Preheat oven to 400F.
• In a large frypan, heat oil over a medium-high heat. Add the onion and garlic and cook 405 minutes until softened. Add the tinned tomatoes, all the herbs and a sprinkle of salt. Mix well and turn heat down. Simmer 20 minutes until everything is reduced down and thickened.
• Make the bechamel: Heat butter over a medium heat in a saucepan. Add flour and whisk, cooking 2 minutes. Slowly drizzle in milk, whisking constantly and heating until thickened. Season with salt and pepper and a grating of fresh nutmeg.
• Arrange the ⅓ pasta in the dish so all the penne are mostly facing the same direction. Add ⅓ of meat mixture then repeat, finishing with a layer of meat. Pour bechamel over the top and sprinkle with grated cheese and a little extra nutmeg.
• Bake 30 minutes until cheese is golden.
• Cool 15 minutes to set then serve!

These lamb and halloumi pitas are a quick and easy option for lunch or dinner. They’re made with lamb rump rubbed with a whole spice blend and served with gooey, squeaky halloumi cheese inside soft pita bread.

The lamb spice rub contains cardamom, cumin and coriander seeds, toasted until golden then ground together with a mortar and pestle. Delicious!

To get the best flavor when using cardamom pods and the coriander and cumin seeds, crush them gently with the back of your spoon as they cook to release the flavor. The lamb goes perfectly with these spices, and add some fresh garden salad for a different texture.

Serves: 4           Prep time: 20 minutes           Cook time: 15 minutes

Ingredients:

• 350g lamb rump
• 2 teaspoons olive oil
• 2-3 cardamom pods
• 2 teaspoons cumin seeds
• 1 teaspoon coriander seeds
• 1 tablespoon sesame seeds
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon cracked black pepper
• 150 grams halloumi cheese
• 4 large or 8 small pita breads
• 1 cup shredded salad ingredients of choice (claw mix, lettuce, spinach etc)

Method:

• Toast the cardamon, cumin and coriander seeds in a dry frypan over a medium heat until fragrant. Tip into a mortar and pestle and grind well, removing the pods from the cardamom.
• In a small bowl add the crushed spices, sesame seeds, salt and pepper and mix well. Drizzle a little oil over the lamb rumps and coat in the spices, pressing them on as best you can.
• Heat a drizzle of oil in a large frypan over a medium-high heat. Once sizzling, add the lamb and cook 3-4 minutes. DO NOT turn yet!. Once a nice brown crust has formed, the lamb should be easy to lift up with tongs. When this happens, flip to the other side and cook 3-4 minutes.
• Remove to a plate and rest 5 minutes before slicing.
• Wipe out then return the pan to the heat and add the halloumi. Let cook 2-3 minutes each side until golden brown.
• Toast pita breads in the oven for 5 minutes or warm in microwave.
• To serve: Place sliced lamb, halloumi slices and chosen salad vegetables into each pita pocket and drizzle with mayo or your fave sauces.