how to think about powdered spices

a simple rule, and some more general principles

In college I went to some dinners run by vegans who lived in a fun but somewhat smelly communal climate house. Every single person there was kind, curious and intelligent. They discussed climate issues with a level of nuance and knowledge that’s sorely lacking in much modern discourse. But! They really didn’t know how to cook. It’s a pity because vegan food can be luscious and luxurious. It can nourish and seduce. There are boundless vegan inventions to delight the taste. But these were not that, and that’s a pity because there were people who could have been convinced to eat more plant-based food but were repulsed by the bad cooking.

(I’m not vegan myself, in fact the opposite: I’m a 99.9th percentile promiscuous eater. Give me a somewhat edible thing and I will eat it. But it’s probably good for everyone if we ate more vegetables. Fight me.)

the thing that’s bad about this meal is that it doesn’t have enough vegetables

The mistake the vegans made was that after boiling a big batch of lentils, they sprinkled a bunch of random spice powders and called it a day. Don’t do this.

Here’s what to do instead:

rule of thumb: add powdered spices soon after the first bulky thing

This rule is a good starting point but not an iron law of nature. It ensures that the powdered spices don’t burn, because something bulky is already in the pan. It also makes sure to give them time to cook, because they go in somewhat early in the cooking process.

Examples of this rule being followed:

1. Notice when I add turmeric and red chili powder in kitchen sink subzi

2. Similarly, notice when I add turmeric and red chili powder in hing peas in example 2 from the veg in spiced oil recipe template

3. The cumin potatoes recipe (example 3) from that same recipe template uses coriander in addition to turmeric and red chili powder

There are many legitimate uses of powdered spices that break this rule. Can we find more general laws?

principles

Here’s my attempt at writing down principles for using powdered spices that cover more of the ways they’re used to good effect. These are more abstract and descriptive than the prescriptive rule above; that seems to be the tradeoff.

1. Cook them: let heat act upon them until they’ve stopped smelling and tasting raw

2. Use a significant amount. This varies depending on the spice but you should be able to taste and smell their presence!

3. Maybe temper the powdered spices: heat them in some fat, and then cook other stuff in this flavored fat or mix this flavored fat with already-cooked stuff

4. Don’t burn them! They’re powders and so they can go from raw to burned very quickly if you’re heating them in oil.

These seem to apply in many more cases than the rule of thumb above. Here’s a recipe that’s consistent with these principles but violates the rule of thumb:

stuff
2 yukon gold potatoes
1tsp cumin powder
2tsp coriander powder
0.5tsp turmeric powder
1tsp red chili powder
0.5tsp amchur
salt
oil or butter
lime or lemon
cilantro

tools
big bowl
knife
frying pan
cutting board
saucepan
colander

what do
1. Cut the potatoes into chunks the size of dice.
2. Dump them in the saucepan, cover with hot water from the tap or an electric kettle and boil.
3. Test with a fork every few minutes until the fork can push through a potato with some resistance, but before it's fully soft and cooked.
4. Drain the potatoes using the colander.
5. Put potatoes in bowl and sprinkle all the spices and salt over them.
6. Use your hands to get the spices to cover all surfaces of the potato pieces.
7. Heat the fat in a pan until very hot but not quite smoking.
8. Dump in the spice-powder-covered potatoes in the pan.
9. Cook on high heat without stirring until the bottoms have browned, almost charred.
10. Stir and repeat until most pieces have some browning on several of their sides.
11. Take off heat, squeeze lemon juice on top and serve with a garnish of cilantro.

In this recipe, the raw spices are cooked in hot oil when the potatoes are browned and charred. But because there’s the large thermal mass of potatoes — which are mostly water — there is a much lower danger of burning. The powdered spices are used in generous amounts.

Here’s a reasonable but worse alternative: we temper the spices in oil first, then dump in the boiled potatoes and stir stir stir to coat the potatoes in the flavored oil. This is worse for two reasons:

1. The spices are in danger of burning because they are thrown naked into hot oil. Without the thermal mass of a bunch of potatoes or other vegetable or liquid to protect them, the spices can get very hot very fast and then burn.

2. It can be annoying and require a lot of oil to get all the potato surfaces to get covered with the flavored oil. This results in inconsistent bites: some will be great, others bland. It also looks goofy: bits of beige potato flesh peeking through where the yellow-red spiced oil hasn’t touched.

if you only remember one thing: cook the spices

Many spices need to be heated in order to fully release their flavors. There are certainly exceptions: powdered cardamom and cinnamon come to mind. But even cardamom and cinnamon can be fruitfully heated and this happens in Punjabi and Rajasthani food all the time.

Many spices also taste bad or off when they’re raw. Turmeric and coriander are like this.

Sprinkling spices at the end and simply mixing them in doesn’t allow them to cook long enough.

two interesting exceptions that aren’t really

Powdered cumin can be used without cooking, but that’s because it’s sold and stored after being toasted. It’s already cooked! A common thing in my home growing up in India was to buy whole cumin seeds, toast them, grind them and then store the delicious aromatic powder. The whole house smells roasty toasty.

Garam masala is often sprinkled on top as a finisher, for example in baingan bharta. But most garam masala ingredients are also toasted whole before being mixed and ground!

Gotta heat the spices!