SPICING UP THE WINTER

Here’s how to get the best out of cinnamon, nutmeg, star anise, cloves, pepper & other easily found ‘hot’ spices in this season

When Vasco da Gama returned from his first voyage to Kerala, the weight of spices carried back by him was enough, ostensibly, to pay six times over the cost of his maritime adventure. Spices, of course, have been a valuable commodity exported from South and Southeast Asia, right from ancient times. But while it may no longer cost the earth to pop in a few peppercorns into a stew or a stick of cinnamon in a dessert, in Indian kitchens, the spice box is invaluable for more reasons than just money. Unlike Western cooking, where the focus is on a single main ingredient, Indian cooking is inseparable from its complex use of spices. We may often complain about how our cooks tend to drown everything in masala, and, well, garam masala, retailed as a universal mix, rather than individual spices, but a judicious use of spices can transform any dish from the banal to the exquisite. Just think of dal without tempering, or a mutton curry where the top notes of powdered mace uplift the whole creation. Indian cooking is largely seasonal and spices were used for their medicinal properties as well. (The most common example is turmeric, anti-inflammatory and antiseptic besides being tellingly regarded as “auspicious”, and mandatory to Indian cooking.) Like other ingredients, they have been traditionally grouped under the ayurvedic categories of “hot” and “cold”. This relates to the physiological action of these ingredients. The theory of “hot” versus “cold” guna (property) of foods supposedly travelled all across — to West Asia, Spain, South America and even China (the yin-yang principle is said to be a spin-off ), according to food historians like KT Achaya. At any rate, winter spices, as we today call them, are used not just in Indian cuisine(s) but around the world, where “Christmas flavours” of cinnamon, nutmeg, star anise, all spice (kebab chini in India) and cloves are a bunch of “hot” spices spreading culinary cheer. Global Flavours Colonial travellers and chroniclers like Niccolao Manucci, whose accounts I have just bought, record the prevalence of something called “burnt” wine, boiled with spices, in India, to soothe the stomach (!) and keep out the cold. This is but mulled wine, a well-known Christmas tradition. Chef Willi Haueter, the genial Swiss-born, world-travelled executive chef at The Imperial, Delhi, gives tips to do this at home: mix water and sugar and add ginger bits, a few star anise, cloves, orange and lemon juice (and zest) and bring all these to a boil. Let this rest for 15-20 minutes, then add any red wine and let the brew sit for a while. Warm it up (to 90 0 C; that is, just below the boiling point) and serve hot whenever you want to drink it. You can attempt plum puddings with ginger, nutmeg and cardamom, ginger bread with all spice, and as Haueter suggests enhance tomato sauce for pasta with a dash of cinnamon powder. But one dish I will certainly try is pan-fried fish (sole or snapper) with a sauce made with green grapes, ginger, star anise, cinnamon in butter and glazed with white wine (just add the wine to the butterspice mix). You can add some almond flakes or pinenuts, salt and pepper and pour over the fish. Voila! Revealing the Secret In Delhi and Hyderabad, the nahari was traditional winter breakfast of the poor man. Made in street eateries, this spicy stew no doubt helped keep the cold at bay. Lite Bite Foods’ corporate chef Bakshish Dean took me through the process of making it at home. While much is made of “secret” nahari masalas, this is regular whole garam masala plus four other spices that are not elusive at all despite the fact that Indian homes have stopped using them: paan ki jad, khus ki jad, saffron and pathar ka phool (lichens). Any old grocery shop should have these or can source them. Bony bits of meat (with gelatin and marrow) were used and while attempting nahari at home, use tough cuts and joints from the lower leg. At least 60% of the meat should be bony, says Dean. Start with onions and spices (tie these in a small cloth that you can remove later) and add meat. Slow-cook for 5-6 hours — or pressure cook for about an hour (purists will fume!). Finish with browned onions and cashew paste. Finally sprinkle some ground nahari masala (and top with ginger, lemon, coriander and onions while serving). Marut Sikka in his Indian Flavourshas some good ideas too. His nutmeg potato roundels are absurdly non-intimidating: cut potatoes in thick roundels. Heat ghee in a pan, add cumin seeds, ginger, green chillies and potatoes to this. Stir well. Add coriander powder and white pepper powder and salt and nutmeg powder. Stir. Sprinkle water (or stock) and cover and cook till the potatoes are done. The good thing about spices is that despite the classic combos — apple and cinnamon, bananas and nutmeg and so on, you can let your imaginations run. A word of caution: don’t overdo things.

1 Cinnamon The best cinnamon has always come from Sri Lanka though it grows in southern India too. A cheaper substitute most of us in India use unknowingly is cassia

2 Pepper The most potent of winter spices, round pepper is close to the Indian heart not the least because the Tamil word for it "kari" is the progenitor of the Anglicised “curry”

3 Cloves Originally an import from Indonesia, it is very much a part of Indian spice box. Among its non-conventional uses was chewing by the wealthy along with bhang, as a narcotic!

4 Cardamom The green one is a top-note flavouring in many desserts & non-veg curries. While in Kerala green cardamom is used, the black elaichi is a mainstay in North India

5 Nutmeg An import from Malacca, this is a warming spice integral to the Indian garam masala

6 Cumin Jeera should not be confused with caraway or shah jeera, which is Arabic. The best way to temper a dal is by first letting cumin seeds splutter in ghee & then adding heeng .

The writer is a Delhi-based food writer and curates food festivals
(ANOOTHI VISHAL SET20NOV11)