Mamta's Kitchen - A Family Cookbook
Dry Roasting Spices
Have just tried to dry roast spices for dhansak ( thanks Liza ) Still not sure of length of time /how you check to see if done without burning arrrghhh!!!!! any thoughts or tips
Hello Tiny
You get a wonderful aroma of roasting spices arise from it that you can.t miss for anything else! Also, spices look a little darker, specially cumin.
Mamta
I dry roast until the moment I see moke appearing. otherwise, dry spices burn
Phil
The only thing I would say is when you dry roast spices, it has to be on a gentle flame otherwise it changes colour too quickly. If you take your eye off it for any length of time, it will burn, as I found out many times!
You'll know when it's ready when you get a lovely aroma wafting around the kitchen, and the colour has changed a couple of shades darker.
Also, allow it to cool completely before grinding, this helps the overall flavour. You'll soon get the hang of it. Ready made ground spices have that stale, dusty flavour because they've been sat on the shelves far too long. From what I remember from my days in India, all spices were roasted fresh for immediate use.
Liza
After watching a programme on the chemical reactions in food while cooking I'm now in two minds as to whether dry roasting helps or not...
The compounds in the food that are released into the air when you cook them are the same compounds that give it flavour...
so..that would seem to suggest that part of the flavour would be lost the smell in the air..
on the other hand, half of "taste" is down to your sense of smell.. so ?
personally I grind,crush etc all my spices and add them to my onions which I fry on a hot heat until they are begining to catch on the bottom of the pan, at which point I add my liquids to help remove them and stop it burning..
I must admit, my garam masala is not pre-roasted, just like everyone else in my family. It works quite well for us.
Mamta
I would beg to differ, if you don't dry roast first, you are selling yourself short in terms of flavour. Each spice is packed full of essential oils, which when GENTLY warmed up release their flavours beautifully, no matter whether half of it disappears into the ether, you are still getting a powerful punch of flavour. Do try it, it really does work.
Liza
Liza thats what I have heard since I started being interested in cooking, but as I said the programme made me think about it a bit more...
Think about it like this... you can dry fry the spices and they release those lovely smells/taste into the air.. or you can put them in "raw" and heat them with the food. If you do the latter surely the released vapour/flavour will be going into the oil/food rather than into the air ?
I hear what you're saying, but I still feel that dry roasting helps. The process of dry roasting takes approx 5-7 min if you do it gently (which is the correct way). So the spices have all this time to release flavour, whereas when you just throw them in you are giving them far less time. You just have to put your nose into a jar of freshly ground, dry roasted spices to know what I mean. You simply do not get this if you grind raw spices. It makes the spices come alive. But hey, that's just my opinion!!
Perhaps we just need to experiment with these alternative ideas.
I only dry roast Szechuan peppercorns, which are perhaps so pungent that it doesn't matter whether there is loss of taste.
Otherwise, I grind them dry, or stir-fry in oil and then grind, which is really pungent.
Phil
When you roast the spices for garam masala, prior to grinding them, they certainly release their flavour and smell lovely. The point though is whether this lets the flavour disappear into the ether too soon?
Even the un-roasted (ground) garam masala, which is what I almost always use, is heated through when added to a hot dish, releasing it's flavour. When I add garam masala, usually at the end of cooking, I close the lid and allow the flavours to rise and infuse back into the dish, rather than disappear through the exhaust.
When using 'whole' ingredients of garam masala, they are almost always added to hot oil in the beginning, which helps them to release their flavours into the oil and thus into the dish. I have known chefs and cooks being absolutely and equally sure about both ways being better :-)! I am sure both ways work.
If one of you conducts some experiments, do let us know.
Mamta
sounds like a job for "Mythbusters" (A programme on Discovery channel, who investigate odd things like this.. last night they were checking if buttered toast always drops butter side down... and it didn't..)
One last word about dry roasting...
My husband put it well when he said to compare a slice of bread that has been toasted with a slice of bread that has been "fried". You get two completely different flavours. Similarly with dry roasting spices first or frying them in the curry itself. I'm not saying one is wrong and one is right, they are just completely different, and I suppose ultimately it depends on your preference, but mine is to dry roast first.
Liza
I actually make toast and then fry it so it doesn't absorb as much oil when I'm making fried bread.. still tastes the same...
Have you tried to gently warm the whole spices in a little oil, Instead of dry roasting which can easily burn? I start by adding about a teaspoon of oil to the pan than adding the whole spices and stirring to coat them, then slowly begin to heat. the oil helps to stop it from burning and once the spices darken in colour , i grind them into a paste. this paste is then ready to use for your curries. just fry your meat with paste at beginning of cooking. I also suffered from burning spices during my earlier stages of curry cooking but i was given the above tip from the asian cookshop and found it works very well. It's worth a try!
Have you tried to gently warm the whole spices in a little oil, Instead of dry roasting which can easily burn? I start by adding about a teaspoon of oil to the pan than adding the whole spices and stirring to coat them, then slowly begin to heat. the oil helps to stop it from burning and once the spices darken in colour , i grind them into a paste. this paste is then ready to use for your curries. just fry your meat with paste at beginning of cooking. I also suffered from burning spices during my earlier stages of curry cooking but i was given the above tip from http://www.theasiancookshop.co.uk and found it works very well. It's worth a try!