confused about whole coriander seeds

[parakeet]

A Hugh Fearnley-Wittingstall recipe tells me to grind whole coriander seeds to a rough powder in a pestle and mortar, before adding them to a curry. I have duly bought the whole seeds and I'm grinding away but they're not going to a fine powder, they are staying quite large chunks of seed pod. I cannot face putting this in my curry, I think it will be like chewing grit. Am I missing something obvious here?

I have previously made this recipe by cheating and using ground coriander, but I wanted to be authentic this time. Have I bought the wrong kind or coriander seeds or something?

Cheers for any replies.

You will never be able to get finely ground coriander in a pestle and mortar because the seeds are quite 'husky'. Do you have a coffee/spice grinder you can transfer it into and finish it off? Failing that sieve it to get rid of the husk? Did you toast them first?

Just chuck them in, it honestly won't taste like grit. The cooking process will soften them. But yy to roasting them (ie dry frying for 30 seconds or so) before pounding next time.

You know what, I didn't toast first. The recipe said that was optional - perhaps not so much.

Going to invest in a spice grinder too.

Thanks!

If you haven't added the salt yet, you could add some coarse salt to the seeds as it will act as an abrasive and help break down the seeds.

Another one suggesting you dry roast them in a frying pan until they smell 'toasted' before trying to pound them in a pestle and mortar. Then they go dry and easy to crush, plus you get a much nicer flavour out of them.