Spice mixture recipes

RHemmings

Are there any good, simple, recommendations for spice mixtures that can jazz up simple food such as stews?

Curry power is the classic example, and will give a wide variety of otherwise simple and thrown together meals a rich distinctive flavour.

But, what are other mixes of spices that work well in savoury dishes? Particularly mixes that don't require 20 ingredients.

(When I say "spice mix", I don't mind if there are ingredients such as onion powder or herbs which aren't technically spices).

spike7451

Garam Masala work well as does Five Spice added to strews.It really depends on what you're making.What I have done is invest in an Indian Dabba box & then went to the Indian supermarket.Then I just add spices to taste.
http://www.amazon.com/Stainless-Masala-Deluxe-Traditional-SimplyBeautiful/dp/B000T3E96O

Generic spices I use are;
Chili powder
Garlic powder
Corriander powder
Turmeric powder
Curry powder
Spice mix (a ready ground spice mix)

A good site I use is this one;
http://www.mamtaskitchen.com/

Finefoot

What sort of meals do you make?
I tend to buy the dried seeds and then mix and grind them when I need them. they keep longer this way.
I also dry herbs in the summer, and freeze them in little plastic pots.
I have
Pimento berries (all spice berries)
cumin seeds
coriander seeds
mustard seeds
black onion seeds (kalonji)
black pepper
pink pepper
celery seeds
nutmeg
cinnamon bark

Stephen_Leak

My spice rack has just chilli powder (Rajah extra hot. What's the point of mild chilli powder? Just use less.), cumin, garam masala mix, tikka mix and turmeric. When I do another Hungarian Goulash, I'll get a new jar of paprika.

My usual mix for 4 x 200g to 250g portions of curry is ...

2cm (1 inch) piece of fresh ginger (peeled and finely chopped)
1 teaspoon of chilli powder
1 tablespoon of garam masala
½ a teaspoon of ground turmeric

The magic ingredient is the fresh ginger. It gives it that "zing". It is expensive per 100g or kilo, but what I call a "knobble" only costs a couple of pence.

The quantity of chilli powder above makes for a medium curry. For a hot one, increase this to 1½ teaspoons. For a mild one, decrease this to ½ a teaspoon.

The cumin is used in Chilli Con Carne. 2 teaspoons of chilli powder and 2 teaspoons of cumin. The cumin "rounds off the edges" of the chilli. Cumin comes from Asia, but the Spanish brought it with them to the New World, where it is now widely used in Tex-Mex cuisine. Also add 2 squares of dark chocolate. This doesn’t make it taste like chocolate, but gives it a smooth velvety texture. Chocolate comes from the New World, and is used there as an everyday cooking ingredient.

PS. I have a recipe for Five Spice Powder, using just the five traditional and whole ingredients, if you're interested.

spike7451

Stephen_Leak wrote: »

My spice rack has just chilli powder (Rajah extra hot. What's the point of mild chilli powder? Just use less.), cumin, garam masala mix, tikka mix and turmeric. When I do another Hungarian Goulash, I'll get a new jar of paprika.

My usual mix for 4 x 200g to 250g portions of curry is ...

2cm (1 inch) piece of fresh ginger (peeled and finely chopped)
1 teaspoon of chilli powder
1 tablespoon of garam masala
½ a teaspoon of ground turmeric

The magic ingredient is the fresh ginger. It gives it that "zing". It is expensive per 100g or kilo, but what I call a "knobble" only costs a couple of pence.

The quantity of chilli powder above makes for a medium curry. For a hot one, increase this to 1½ teaspoons. For a mild one, decrease this to ½ a teaspoon.

The cumin is used in Chilli Con Carne. 2 teaspoons of chilli powder and 2 teaspoons of cumin. The cumin "rounds off the edges" of the chilli. Cumin comes from Asia, but the Spanish brought it with them to the New World, where it is now widely used in Tex-Mex cuisine. Also add 2 squares of dark chocolate. This doesn’t make it taste like chocolate, but gives it a smooth velvety texture. Chocolate comes from the New World, and is used there as an everyday cooking ingredient.

PS. I have a recipe for Five Spice Powder, using just the five traditional and whole ingredients, if you're interested.

Just to add to what Stephen said,steer away from those "Really lazy" jars of chili,garlic, & ginger.I have a jar of each in the fridge,the garlic one is pickled in white wine viniger that can overpower the main flavor.I buy chili,ginger & garlic now,finely chop the chili & garlic but cut & peel the ginger,then I put them into washed out cream cheese tubs & freeze,then when you need any,just get some from the freezer & add frozen,I find ginger grates well from frozen.

RHemmings

Thanks to everyone for the responses.

[QUOTE=Stephen Leak;49930219
PS. I have a recipe for Five Spice Powder, using just the five traditional and whole ingredients, if you're interested.
[/QUOTE]

I have packaged five spice powder, so I'm good for that.

bupster

I find the really lazy jars of chilli great! What do you find is wrong with them? I agree with you re the garlic ones, though...

I'd also be really interested in anyone's suggestions for herb and spice mix recipes - I want to make up a 'cajun' mix, but also one for ordinary casseroles and stews. I grow some herbs and have a decent collection of dried herbs and spices, but it would be handy to have some home-made jars of ready-mixed ones!

rachbc

tastykitchen.com has a great 'condiments' section with recipes for mixes, also chekc out the 'homemade ingredients' tab.

http://tastykitchen.com/recipes/category/condiments/spice-rubs/

And try not to get too distracted by allthe other recipes and pcitures

spike7451

bupster wrote: »

I find the really lazy jars of chilli great! What do you find is wrong with them? I agree with you re the garlic ones, though...

I'd also be really interested in anyone's suggestions for herb and spice mix recipes - I want to make up a 'cajun' mix, but also one for ordinary casseroles and stews. I grow some herbs and have a decent collection of dried herbs and spices, but it would be handy to have some home-made jars of ready-mixed ones!

I just find the stuff they're pickled in can be overpowering.especially the garlic one.I find if I rinse the chili one I can use it but not so much the garlic one.

Stephen_Leak

RHemmings wrote: »

Thanks to everyone for the responses. <snip> I have packaged five spice powder, so I'm good for that.

OK, but ... one well known top quality brand contains, in descending order, sugar, salt, dried onion, star anise (10%), dried garlic (8%), black pepper (6%), fennel, ginger, cassia & cloves. For a start, that’s only 3 out of the 5 traditional spices. OK, cassia has long been a cheaper alternative to cinnamon, and black pepper and ginger have long been used as cheaper alternatives to Sichuan pepper. But, more importantly, as ingredients have to be listed in descending order and star anise is 10% of the total, then the sugar, salt and onion listed before it must be at least 11% each. Therefore, at least 33% of the mix is “padding”.

My recipe uses just the five traditional spices. It also uses the whole spices, which should stay fresh almost indefinitely in an airtight container. When ground, they lose their aroma and flavour over time. It's also based on just 1 stick of cinnamon, so you can make it in small batches to ensure that it’s as fresh as possible.

Minihauk

Stephen_Leak wrote: »

PS. I have a recipe for Five Spice Powder, using just the five traditional and whole ingredients, if you're interested.

Yes, please - I would love you to post it
(sorry, don't want to hijack the thread, but I'm sure others will also be interested!)