What's in your Spice cupboard?

[Goldilocks99]

I'm trying to up my game with my cooking. Mainly cook Asian style dishes and fusion. Curries are a staple in my house. In my spice rack regularly used are:
Tumeric
Cumin
Lemongrass
Ginger
Chilli
Paprika
Cinnamon
Madras
Curry powder
Nutmeg

I'd like some new spices to add depth. For example I'm going to give cardamom a go to add sweetness to curries.

What spices are your secret weapons for depth and flavour please?

We use a fair amount of cumin, turmeric, ginger, cinnamon, chilli, paprika and garlic as with you. But other spices I use a lot include fennel seeds, cloves, star anise and coriander (dried/ground and fresh when it's around). Also bay leaves. I keep chinese five spice and mixed spice for certain marinades etc.

I use cardomon if I'm doing indian-style curries (although we don't cook those that often).

Herbs I use the most are thyme and rosemary, followed by basil and parsley - both dried and fresh. (maybe fresh coriander comes under herbs rather than spices above). If it's just me, lots of mint too (DH and DC hate mint).

How do you use fennel and cloves? What are your favourite cardamom dishes?
Star anise I use in East Asian dishes, do you use it in anything else.
Love coriander. That goes in most things lol!

Ohh also what do people use for colour? I use tumeric for yellow but would like to achieve more vibrant reds, oranges and yellow.

Kashmiri chilli powder for deep red colouring without too much heat.
Asafoetida for dal dishes to reduce - erm - gassiness :)
Dried fenugreek leaves (kasuri methi) for curries
Pakistani basaar mix (masala) for a change from Madras or similar curry powder
Green cardamoms, black cardamoms, tej patta (Asian bay leaves, not the usual ones, these have three veins down the middle), star anise, cassia bark for flavouring the oil at the beginning of cooking
Black mustard seeds also in the oil, and whole cumin seeds, sometimes black pepper and coriander seeds, too
Whole cloves

Ground coriander and seeds, mustard seeds, nigella seeds, garlic and onion granules, celery salt, star anise, cinnamon sticks, cloves (whole and ground), cardamom, cumin seeds, garam masala, nutmeg (whole and ground), various types of dried chillies as well as chilli powder, sumac, schezwan peppercorns, white pepper. That's the spices I can think of, we have absolutely shedloads! Not to mention all the herbs. Then we have pastes like harrisa, chipotle and tamarind.

Oh and gochujang chilli paste and miso paste, red and white.

What you have, plus coriander and garlic powder/granules

Also smoked paprika for Mexican, cassoulet, and lots of other things.

Allspice.
Had an amazing rub on pork last week, garlic granules, smoked paprika and allspice. It was insanely good.

Dill.
All the green things.

And chipotle paste.

Sweet paprika, hot paprika, smoked paprika, hot smoked paprika, Kashmiri chilli, chili flakes, sumac, green cardamoms, black cardamoms, mace... ... probably far too much.

I like to make my own curry powders, ras el hanout and five spice. I always roast my own spices before grinding.

Tamarind, sesame oil and a tiny amount of brown sugar add depth.

If I can't get to a decent Asian grocers I buy stuff from here wiltonwholefoods.com/31-herbs-spices-condiments

Gosh thank you so many ideas.
Does anyone know the difference between Green cardamoms and black cardamoms, powder versus seeds?
With Cassia bark, cloves and bay leaves do you fish them out before serving or leave them in as a lucky dip haha?
I use star anise and sesame oil in Chinese dishes. Do other people use them in curries? Have seen a few odd combinations online recently.

Green cardamoms are small and have an intense almost eau de cologne taste. Black ones are larger and have a smoky taste. Always use whole pods, either throw them in whole or beat them up in a mortar and pestle.
If your DC are small fish whole spices out, otherwise a lucky dip is fine.
Remember curries cover an area from Pakistan to Malesia and beyond.

Remember curries cover an area from Pakistan to Malesia and beyond.
So specifically I want to spice up:
My Indian curries(tikka and similar) sag aloo(which I can never get right!?)
Massaman curry
Mango curry(I'm pretty sure I made this up, but possibly originates in Sri Lanka?)
Thai red curry
Thai green curry

I want to master North Indian sweeter curries in particular. :)

I love this book www.amazon.co.uk/Eastern-Vegetarian-Cooking-Madhur-Jaffrey/dp/0099777207?tag=mumsnetforu03-21 it goes from the middle east to Japan.

I have a bottle of this holylama.co.uk/product/lemongrass-extract useful as I live in the arse end of nowhere, where lemon grass is not stocked.

My Thai friend uses a lot of MSG and preaches about the balance of heat, sweet, salt and sour

Supermarket chilis are a bit sad so when I find good ones I buy a lot and freeze them.

You tube is worth watching for authentic dishes

@Postdatedpandemic

I love this book www.amazon.co.uk/Eastern-Vegetarian-Cooking-Madhur-Jaffrey/dp/0099777207?tag=mumsnetforu03-21 it goes from the middle east to Japan.

I have a bottle of this holylama.co.uk/product/lemongrass-extract useful as I live in the arse end of nowhere, where lemon grass is not stocked.

My Thai friend uses a lot of MSG and preaches about the balance of heat, sweet, salt and sour

Supermarket chilis are a bit sad so when I find good ones I buy a lot and freeze them.

That lemon grass extract looks great! I never use lemongrass because I can't get it good enough to use.

Does that book have photos? I have a bit of a cookbook addiction...

No photos in the book at all, unlike every other cookery book I own. But I use it, the adult DC use it. It has so many food splashes on so many pages. You just smell the spices as you go and cook by smell-o-vision.

My secret weapon isn't a spice, but balsamic vinegar. Put it in. All kind of pasta dishes, stews, casseroles as well as for more common vinaigrettes etc. It adds so much depth of flavour and provides a wonderful, but hard to place, tang in so many foods. Anything tomato based works well with it.

@Postdatedpandemic I think you deserve commission. I've already got three spice drops in my basket haha!

Which ones have you chosen @Goldilocks99 ?

I think I might need saffron and spices plus asafoetida plus ...

My cupboard is full of spice mixes from The Spicery. I used them where recipes call for a single spice and it gives them better depth of flavour. So I use the Haldi blend in place of turmeric and the Kammun blend in place of cumin.

Oh and the Morrisons lemongrass paste is brilliant. I use KTC for garlic and ginger.

I'm in a FaceBook group called The Curry Club (Home Cooking) which is a tremendous resource for people interested in this type/style of cooking - there's an associated website, and the people are very friendly. I've learned loads since I joined, and the recipes on the website are brilliant. Just thought others on this thread might be interested :)

DD and I have just made ras el hanout, OMG the kitchen smells amazing, warm roasted spices.
Loosly based on this marocmama.com/how-to-make-ras-el-hanout with added dried citrus, curtesy of the Gin Craft Club.

@Inextremis what does asafoetida taste like? Do you think the concentrated drops would have the same gassiness impact, or just the flavour?

Sumac
Pul Biber
Chipotle chilli
Dried mint
Allspice
Fenugreek
Whole spices such as coriander and cumin seeds, toast and grind when required
Curry leaves (I keep them frozen and use straight from the freezer)