Hallo Mamta & Family,

for many years I've been making my favourite curry - the recipe given to me by a very good friend in my student years also many moons ago. The recipe contains cardamon seeds which I split and take out the black sticky seeds - not the white/grey dry seeds. Is this correct as I have seen a recipe from Gordon Ramsey were he suggests to grind the whole cardamon pod in a grinder.

Thanks for any advice.

Hello Maxine

1. If a recipe has worked for you for years, why change it, just because one chef recommends it, however wonderful he is, as he is in my opinion :-)? Different chefs are like different doctors, they all have their different opinions, not necessarily right or wrong.

2. I presume you are talking about large, brown cardamoms (badi illaichi), because those are the ones most commonly used in cooking, except in sweet dishes? You can grind whole cardamom pods, as I do for making Garam masala or you can remove the husk and grind the seeds alone. Seeds alone give you more intense flavour, that is all. So, if you are using seeds alone, that is absolutely fine, you just need to use less.

3. The white septums between seeds and a few smaller seeds that look dry and white are also okay to use, they just have less flavour than seeds.

Hope this is of help.

Mamta

if I may add my 2p's worth: grinding green cardamm seed pods is difficult, there always seems to be some of the husk left relatively intact. Just using the seeds for grinding is the way I usually go, and save the husks for other things. Black/brown cardamoms are much easier to grind, and I grind them whole.

I wouldn't say green cardamoms are only used in a sweet context, but I wouldn't use black ones for sweets, either.

Hello Lapis

Here in India, people often grind whole green cardamoms with a little bit of sugar. This works well, as green cardamoms are mostly, but not always, used in desserts and tea, which Indians tend to have quite sweet.

I mostly grind them on their own and whole and then sieve them through a wire sieve. This removes most of the offending husk. I do this when making Garam Masala too. You just have to grind them a bit longer and sometimes re-grind the sieved roughage to get maxim content out of them.

Mamta

I love green cardamoms with coffee, I put a few whole green cardamoms in with the grond coffee before brewing, or even add a few whole pods to instant coffee. It is sometimes possible to see the essential oils floating on top of the coffee (if its without milk!)

As you mention tea, do you have a recipe for char masala?

Lapis, I'm curious -- in what "other things" do you use the green cardamom husks?

coffee is one, but also in an experimental flavouring technique that I don't want to disclose at the moment, until I have tested it thoroughly.

Using the husks to flavour oil is another thing I have done, then removing them before adding other ingredients.

HTH

Thanks. It's always nice to find uses for items we might otherwise toss in the bin.

Cardamom tea (chai), coffee are good. Chai masala recipe is on site, but I sometimes just sprinkle ground green cardamoms and grated ginger in my teapot, it is lovely.

My mum always adds husks of green cardamom seeds that she has used for other recipes, straight into the tea leaf container.

Channa, you can use husks in curries, boiled rice etc. also, but the falvour is milder than whole cardamoms.

You can always grind them in garam masala.

Adding to oil also seems like a good idea, but then you will have to do it in a small bottle, unless you like cardamoms in everything.

I just thought of flavouring olive oil with cardamoms, gound cardamoms of course. It will make an interesting flavour ;-)!

I hardly ever toss cardamom skins in a bin.

I will wait to hear about this experimental flavouring :-).

Mamta