Mamta's Kitchen - A Family Cookbook





Green Cardomom Powder

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On 26/12/2006 05:12am, FelafelBoy wrote:

My neighbor from India once gave me a small container of cardomom powder. The powder was of a uniform consistency, finely ground, and green. She no longer lives near me for me to learn of its origin.

How do I duplicate making this powder so I can use it as a topping for desserts, instead of the black powder I get from grinding the seeds inside the green cardomom pods?

I assume that the pods/shells are inedible, so toasting them and grinding them up doesn't sound appetizing to me.

What's the secret to creating this powder so that it is green and sweet, not tinged with the sharpness of the seeds?

On 27/12/2006 04:12pm, Mamta wrote:

Hello FelafelBoy

Ther is no secret to making green cardamom powder. It is made by grinding the small green cardamoms, skin and all. You need to sieve it through a fine sieve, to remove all fibre and to get the fine powder you were given. It is the ground skin that gives them the slightly green/beige colour that you describe.

You can make it with seeds alone, but it will the be brown/black, as you discovered. However, the flavour of ground seeds alone will be more intense.

The skin of green cardamom (and brown cardamom) is edible. They are chewed whole, the small green ones, as an after meal mouth freshners all over India.

Mamta

On 05/01/2007 07:01pm, AskCy wrote:

this reminds me of something that I keep meaning to point out...

If anyone has ever watched those Food Business type programmes where inspectors go into takeaways/restaurants etc they often find what they say are "rodent droppings" I wonder how many places have been closed/made to clean up etc due to cardamon seeds (having kept pet mice in my youth I know that their droppings look incredibly similar to the seeds from inside green cardamon pods)...

I'm sure you are now glad I've shared that... lol

On 18/01/2007 10:01pm, Mamta wrote:

You have a lateral thinking mind, to think of that one Steven!!lol

Mamta from Managua

On 06/02/2007 03:02pm, Phil wrote:

That helps clear up a mystery that dates from 1971 in Edinburgh: my favourite Indian restaurant there (Babar's) was closed by the local council because, we were told, local health inspectors 'found mouse droppings in the fridge'. I could never figure out what a mouse could have survived in a fridge! Could've been cardamom.

Phil

On 06/02/2007 08:02pm, AskCy wrote:

Phil very probably...

I looked around the kitchen floor the other month and spotted at first glance a mouse calling card.. then realised it was cardamon. I doubt health inspectors are that up on what the inside of a cardamon looks like as they are probably taught more about things like droppings/insects etc.. and not specialised spices.

On 03/04/2007 07:04am, FelafelBoy wrote:

Could pistachio nuts be infused with a cardomom flavor?

I recently had a carrot type cake that had in its cream cheese icing little bits of green something or other that were a cross between pistachio nuts and cardomom seeds. They were totally green in color - they had the texture of pistachio nuts but tasted much more like cardomom.

I keep running into food items that taste like cardomom but are totally green in color, and am reminded that the seeds of green cardomom are black.

The only answer I could come up with for this green speckled icing is that somehow the pistachio nuts were infused with cardomom. The only other explanation is that there is a green colored cardomom seed. I've yet to find it though. All I come across are black ones, and when I pulverize them in my coffee grinder, they end up tasting and smelling burned.

On 03/04/2007 08:04am, Kavey wrote:

I would imagine one could infuse pistachios with cardamom by creating a sugar syrup with cardamoms in it - so the syrup is strongly infused with cardomon - and then popping the pistachios into it - I don't know if the flavour would penetrate the pistachio all the way through but it would presumably coat and cling to it quite well.

On 03/04/2007 11:04am, Mamta wrote:

I have never eaten cardamom flavoured pistachios. My guess is that the icing had both, powdered cardamom seed, as well as blanched pistachios. This is quite common for most Indian deserts, specially milk/cream desserts.

Could pistachio nuts be infused with a cardamom flavor? I too have never come across green seeds, but I suppose it is possible.

Making cardamom powder is quite easy in a coffee grinder and I do it all the time. I can?t understand why they smell burnt. Cardamom seeds should be ground raw, not roasted.

For pistachios in desserts, which is quite common in Indian deserts, you just soak the unsalted, un-roasted pistachios in hot water for about 30 minutes, then peel the skin off . Chop them with a knife or nut chopper. To get slithers of it, like they have in Indian desserts, I use my garlic slicer like this one here; http://www.gourmac.com/garslic.html , which I don?t use for slicing garlic, ever. Garlic in cake will not be nice ;-) !

Hope it works for you!

Mamta

On 09/04/2007 05:04pm, kennyliza wrote:

Mamta I must say that I dry roast my cardamom for garam masala and there is really nothing to beat it. I find dry roasting (VERY LIGHTLY, watch it so it doesnt burn - keep turning them in the pan) them intensifies the flavour and gives it a nutty aroma.

Roast and grind them shells and all - especially the really green ones - there is no need to get rid of the shells, in fact they add to the flavour.

liza

On 09/04/2007 06:04pm, AskCy wrote:

I always split the cardamon shells open and remove the seeds as some people find them a little strong if they bite a full one (you know, the fussy people I mean...)

Steve

On 10/04/2007 04:04pm, Mamta wrote:

Hi Liza

I have tried dry roasted garam masala spices. The difference is not worth the trouble me thinks ;-)!

I usually grind the green cardamoms whole, skin and all. I said seeds because we were talking about the seeds at the time :-)! You are quite right, the skins also add to the flavour. I grind them and then sieve them through a tea strainer, to remove any persistent husk.

Hello Steven

Don't you think it is easier to remove the whole cardamom than picking out tiny, little seeds? I usually tell people that cardamoms, bay leaves and even cloves sometimes, are not for eating, they are just to add the flavour. Please feel free to take them out.

Mamta

On 12/04/2007 07:04pm, AskCy wrote:

the Cardamon seeds (the insides of the green shell) I grind up and leave in the curry/sauce/chicken batter mix etc etc... I don't try to pick them out. Its only if I make them with the full pod that some people don't spot them, bite it and complain its too strong... so to save the complaints department at my dinner table getting bombarded I pull them apart.... ;-)

On 21/05/2010 03:05am, John wrote:

Hello

I just made some cardamom cookies last night. First time using cardamom. I've had the bottle capped in the frig for about a year. The seed pods were softer than i expected, and some seeds were brown and some were black. I threw the black ones away thinking perhaps they had spoiled? Or is that a natural variation in color? Thanks

John

On 21/05/2010 05:05am, Mamta wrote:

Green cardamom seeds are brownish black. They were probably all okay Andrew. Shells protect them from loosing flavour. If you store seeds, as opposed to the whole cardamoms, they tend to become less flavoursome.

Cardamom biscuits are nice, aren't they? In India, they sometimes have blanched and slivered pistachios as well.

On 21/05/2010 09:05pm, AskCy wrote:

Sometimes the seeds inside cardamon shells are dry and lighter brown, some are darker and moist... all of them are ok... (but the darker ones have more flavour as I would suggest they are fresher). I find this variation even in the same packet/jar etc.

Steve

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