The ten spices that do almost all the work

The ten

Between them these cover nearly every recipe in this collection.

• Turmeric: colour and earthiness. Goes in early, needs cooking, burns fast in dry heat
• Cumin seeds: the default tadka. Whole, into hot fat, until they darken and smell nutty
• Coriander powder: body and bulk. The quiet backbone of most masalas
• Red chilli powder: heat and colour. Kashmiri for colour without much heat
• Garam masala: a finishing blend, not a base. Added at the end, off the heat
• Mustard seeds: the southern and western tadka. Must pop before anything else goes in
• Curry leaves: irreplaceable and useless dried. Buy fresh, freeze the rest
• Hing: savoury depth, especially without onion and garlic. A pinch, in hot fat
• Black pepper: heat that is warm rather than sharp. Crush it yourself
• Bay leaf and whole garam spices: for pulaos, biryanis and long-cooked gravies

When to add what

This is the part that changes results most, and it is a sequence rather than a set of rules to memorise.

Whole spices go into hot fat first, because their flavour is oil-soluble and needs fat and heat to come out. Ground spices go in after the aromatics and before the liquid, and they need thirty to sixty seconds in the fat to lose their raw edge, which is called blooming and is the step most recipes assume rather than state.

Ground spices burn in seconds on a dry hot pan. If yours catch, take the pan off the heat before adding them, stir, and return it. Finishing spices, garam masala and kasuri methi, go in at the very end because their aromatics are volatile and long cooking destroys them.

• Into hot fat: whole spices, mustard, cumin, bay, cardamom
• After aromatics, before liquid: turmeric, chilli, coriander powder
• Off the heat at the end: garam masala, kasuri methi, chaat masala, amchur

Why your spices taste of nothing

Ground spices lose their volatile oils in three to six months. A jar bought last year is not weak, it is essentially inert, and doubling the quantity does not bring the flavour back.

Whole spices keep for a year or more, which is the argument for buying whole and grinding small amounts as needed. A cheap coffee grinder kept for spices pays for itself quickly and the difference is not subtle.

Heat, light and air are what destroy them. The jar above the stove is the worst place in the kitchen and the most common.

Toasting, and when it matters

Dry roasting whole spices before grinding transforms them, and it is the single technique that most separates a good home masala from a flat one. Thirty seconds in a dry pan until they smell strong, then cool before grinding; grinding them warm makes a paste.

This is what a Chettinad masala, a Kolhapuri masala and a ghee roast paste all have in common, and it is why those dishes taste of something a jar of ready-made powder cannot reproduce.

Do not toast ground spices. There is nothing left to develop and they burn almost instantly.

The ones you can skip

Saffron, mace, star anise, black cardamom and stone flower all have real uses and none of them belong in a starter kitchen. Buy them when a specific dish you want to cook regularly asks for them.

Ready-made blends are worth it for exactly three things: pav bhaji masala, sambar powder and chole masala. Each is a long list of spices in proportions that are tedious to reproduce, and the good brands are genuinely good.

Everything else labelled as a shortcut blend is usually salt, chilli and filler.