Spice Mixes
Chaat Masala
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Chaat Masala
- Ingredients
- 1 Tbsp cumin seeds
- 1 tsp coriander seeds
- 1/2 tsp fennel seeds
- 1/2 tsp dried mint
- 2 tsp black salt (kala namak)
- 1 Tbsp mango (amchoor) powder
- 1/2 tsp black pepper, preferably whole
- 1 tsp Kashmiri chili powder
- 1/2 tsp ginger powder
- Instructions
- Roast cumin, coriander, and fennel one after another in a pan until they turn slightly more brown
- Combine roasted seeds with other spices and grind to a fine powder in a spice grinder or something similar
- Notes
- This recipe is supposed to include asafoetida powder, but I didn't have any, so I may update it
at a later date
- Roasting the seeds is always better, but it will work with pre-ground spices as well
Lebkuchen Spice
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Lebkuchen Spice
- Ingredients
- 8 tsp (15g) cinnamon
- 2 tsp (2g) cloves
- 1 tsp (1g) allspice
- 1 tsp (1g) coriander
- 1/2 tsp (1g) cardamom (only the seeds, don't include the shells)
- 1 tsp (1g) ginger powder
FIXME: tsp is wrong for nutmeg!
- 1/4 tsp (1/2g) ground nutmeg (possibly increase if using pre-ground since that isn't nearly as strong)
- 1/4 tsp (1/2g) mace powder
- ~2 1/2 pieces (2g) star anise (whole "star", not just seeds)
- 1/2 tsp (1g) dried orange zest
- 1/2 tsp (1g) dried lemon zest
- 1 tsp (1g) fennel seeds
- Instructions
- Simply grind all spices together using a spice grinder or something similar
- Notes
- Everything always tastes better when whole seeds are used, but you should be able to
replace the spices with pre-ground versions as well (I actually used pre-ground
coriander when I made this). Pre-ground cardamom is utterly horrible, though.
- There has been some confusion regarding the teaspoon measurements, since they can be
done using the seeds or pre-ground spices, resulting in differing amounts of actual
spice. If I remember correctly, I originally measured cloves, allspice, cardamom,
and fennel using the whole seeds. Note that the measurements aren't very exact,
for instance, since the allspice seeds are fairly large, I just filled the teaspoon
and had them go a bit over the top. I measured cinnamon, ginger, orange zest, lemon
zest, coriander, nutmeg, and mace as powder, although there shouldn't be much of a
difference for the coriander. One important detail is that I used freshly ground
nutmeg, which is much stronger than the pre-ground versions. I mainly did it this way
because those are the formats I had each of the spices in. Ideally, whole seeds should
be used as much as possible, as already mentioned in the last note.
- It probably is better to just add orange and/or lemon zest when making the Lebkuchen,
but it's easier to put it directly into the spice. Honestly, this spice can be
changed a lot and still called Lebkuchen spice - back in the day, everyone had their
own special mixture. Just follow your heart.
- On second thought, don't, that's what killed Romeo and Juliet.
Seasoning Salt for French Fries or Fried Potatoes
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Seasoning Salt
- Ingredients
- 1 medium onion (~80g, but it doesn't have to be exact)
- 4 Tbsp salt
- 3 Tbsp paprika
- 1/4 tsp black pepper
- ~1 tsp (2g) mace
- I only have whole, dried mace, so I don't know exactly how
much volume it would have as powder. I just used a teaspoon
filled with small pieces of mace, but it probably doesn't
matter too much anyways.
(Image)
- Instructions
- Cut onion into small pieces and place in frying pan without oil.
(Image)
- Fry onion on medium heat for 15-20 minutes, occasionally turning
the pieces, then leave on the hot (but turned off) stove until
cool in order to dry the onion pieces. If a gas stove is used,
it may be necessary to keep a very small flame on since no
further heat comes after it is turned off.
(Image)
- It may be necessary to increase the time depending on
various factors.
- The onion pieces may get fairly dark brown, but they
shouldn't actually get burnt unless the heat is too high
(in the image, they may have gotten a bit too dark
because I accidentally had the stove too hot).
- It's probably possible to dry the onions using an oven as
well, but I just did it with a frying pan and haven't
experimented with other methods.
- Grind dried onion pieces, paprika, pepper, and mace together in
a spice or coffee grinder.
- It might be a good idea to grind the onions alone and leave
the powder to dry for a while since the onion pieces often
will not be perfectly dry. I haven't experimented with this
yet, though.
- Add salt and grind for a few more seconds to mix it properly and
make the salt a bit more fine-grained (the salt I get here is
relatively fine-grained, but I still found it to be a bit coarse
for my taste).
- Note: Even though this seasoning salt is "officially" meant for
french fries, you can dump it on a lot of other things as well.