Despite being a fairly experienced cook, the spice aisle @ Spencer's Grocer is truly foreign. At first I thought there were similar spices, with Indian names, but after standing for a very long while, trying to match smells & shapes I was only able to find cumin in seed form, cinnamon in stick & ground turmeric to match US spices. Indian cooks have a "mixer" in their kitchen as a staple appliance...it's a powerful spice grinder - you pop the whole spices called for in a recipe, turn it on, it make a gigantic racket and ta-da....perfect, fresh, aromatic spices each meal. Luscious! Recipes call for a 2" stick of cinnamon, or five whole cloves, or 20 peppercorns, so I know they must have the spices we traditionally use at some store. Slowly venturing into their spice selections, beyond the traditional marsala - difficult to make an entire recipe, with a tablespoon or two of spices you've never tasted, wondering how it will taste! (Fresh curry leaves have been the best find & easy to understand because they are called by their English name by all. They add a hard to describe flavor to curry dishes...not to be confused with the yellow, rather harsh spice blend we call curry in the US. They are fresh & very pungent, with an oily quality to the leaves...sort of bitter like lime zest mixed with basic & sage.)
I eventually put two & two together today after remembering that the cookbook packed in the microwave when I moved in had a spice chart! (Ah, like my dad always reminded me growing up - when in doubt follow the directions.) Cooking with confidence, here I come!
PS I have noticed that there are a few more tiny little ants & today only my third lizard now that the kitchen has been in working condition for over a month...any idea what human food this little critter may be searching for? I keep the kitchen very clean...just want to make sure I'm not inadvertently leaving out bananas, for instance, which he may find irresistible, no matter how scared he is to crawl through the open window, drawn by the aroma.
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