Tasteless Dishes? Ever heard of Herbs and Spices? Quiz

Answer: Cardamom

"Cardamom", known as the queen of spices, is highly prized in India for it's use in curry blends. In Scandinavia it is used to flavour baking, pastries, meatballs and the mulled wine Glogg. People from Turkey use it to flavour their coffee. The green pods are the most often used as it is more flavourful. The white pods have usually been bleached and don't have the intense flavour that the green do. The black pods are much larger and are used in Asia for meaty curries and stews.

Horace the hungry dinosaur is drooling so I am going to give a recipe for "Baharat" which is a North African mixture of finely ground spices used to season beef, chicken, lamb and stews. It may also be used like salt and pepper.

Ingredients:
3 Tbsp coriander seed
3 Tbsp ground paprika
2 Tbsp black peppercorns
2 tsp dried red chilli powder
1 tsp nutmeg
1 cinnamon stick
2 tsp cumin seed
1 Tbsp allspice
10 cloves
10 green CARDAMOM pods
Open the cardamom pods, discard the seeds and the rusks. Dry roast along with the cumin, peppercorns, cardamom seeds, allspice and cloves. Wait until they cool and grind. Finally grind the cinnamon stick and combine. Kept in a airtight container, Baharat spices should keep for four months. After that I find they lose their flavour.

Answer: Peppercorns/Star Anise/Cloves/Cinnamon/Fennel

Easy peasy to make your own, grind together:

1 tsp. ground Szechwan peppercorns
1 tsp. ground star anise
1-1/4 tsp. ground fennel seeds
1/2 tsp. ground cloves
1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
Store in an airtight container.

Use in any Chinese dish or use to flavour rice, vegetables, pork and chicken. Horace the dinosaur is licking his lips :)

Answer: Basil

Basil is a great herb for soups, tomato sauces and tomato salads. If being used in a cooked dish, fresh basil should be added towards the end as it will lose its flavour.

My Tomato, Feta and Basil Salad Recipe:

2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
1 clove garlic, minced
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon dry (or 1 teaspoon of Dijon) mustard
Generous sprinkling of black pepper
1/3 cup olive oil
4 Italian plum tomatoes
Feta cheese
8 to 10 fresh basil leaves chopped finely

For dressing, combine vinegar, garlic, salt, mustard and pepper in small bowl. Add oil slowly, whisking until it is thoroughly blended.
Slice tomatoes and cut the cheese bite sized pieces.
Place tomato and cheese pieces in large glass shallow bowl and then pour half of the dressing in with the chopped basil (leave a little basil for garnish)
Marinate in a covered dish for at least 30 minutes but the longer the better, turning it every so often.
Sprinkle with left over basil, drizzle with remaining dressing.

Horace the hungry dino says he prefers it with feta cheese and not all those recipes that tell you to use mozzarella. So, try it this way.

Answer: Saffron

Saffron is the most expensive spice in the world and this is not surprising since it takes around 225,000 hand picked stigmas to make one pound of spice.
It's not just used in culinary recipes but also as a dye, making perfumes, potions and ointments.
Cleopatra is said to have bathed in water infused with saffron and Alexander the Great used it to heal his battle wounds.
It is still used in modern medicine for its antioxidant and anti - cancer properties.
Saffron is native to Central Asia, with Iran producing around 90% of the total supply, but it's also grown in Spain, Italy and Greece.
Fortunately, it only takes a very small amount of saffron for to add colour and fragrant flavour to culinary dishes.

Horace says "smelling good" :)

Answer: Oregano

Oregano, a member of the mint family, was originally used for ceremonial purposes and to treat breathing and stomach ailments. The idea of adding it to the cooking pot came later.
The dried herb is actually has more flavour than the fresh and, unlike most Italian herbs, works well with hot and spicy food. Used in tomato sauces, with grilled fish, meat, vegetables, in salads and pizzas this is a truly versatile herb.
Oregano became popular in U.S when soldiers, WWII, brought it back after developing a taste for the 'pizza' herb.

Horace the hungry dino's favourite pizza topping is:

Smear pizza base with some tomato sauce
Cooked spinach, chopped and well drained and added to the pizza base.
Chopped bacon
Onion rings thinly sliced
Feta cheese crumbled and sprinkled over
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano, or, if you are using fresh, a handful sprinkled over

Top with mozzarella cheese and bake in a HOT oven until pizza cooked and cheese all bubbly and brown on top.

Enjoy!

Answer: Quatre Epices

The quatre epices (four spices) are usually white pepper, nutmeg, cinnamon and ginger. Some variations replace the pepper with allspice and cloves are
sometimes added.

My French Spice Bread recipe:

1 teaspoon each baking soda and Ground Cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon each ground Ginger and ground nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon white pepper
3 cups flour
2 tablespoons dried currants
1/4 cup firmly packed brown sugar
3/4 cup honey
2/3 cup whipping cream
1/3 cup milk
1 teaspoon fresh grated orange rind.

Preheat your oven to 325 degrees.
Use a large bowl to mix, baking soda, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, salt, pepper, flour, currants, and brown sugar.
In another bowl mix honey, cream, milk and orange rind and then mix everything together.
Spoon into a greased, lightly floured 4 1/2- by 8 1/2-inch loaf pan.
Bake for 1 hour and 20 minutes to 1 hour and 30 minutes). Let it cool for 5 minutes, before turning it out onto a rack to cool completely. Resist tucking right in, you have to wrap it and let stand for at least 1 day before slicing.

Where has that loaf got to?

OH Horace, have you eaten it already? Tsk, tsk ... Horace is ALWAYS hungry!

Answer: Sesame

Sesame seeds are used in in Eastern, Middle Eastern and Oriental cooking. Tahini is a sesame seed paste most commonly used to make hummus, a chickpea dip.
Sesame seeds can also be used in bread and rolls adding a nutty taste.
Buying Tahini can be expensive and it can be difficult to get hold of so here's how I make mine. This will make around four cups and will keep for up to 3 months, in a closed container, in the fridge.

5 cups sesame seeds
1 1/2 cups olive oil

Preheat oven to 350F degrees. Toast sesame seeds for 5-10 minutes, tossing the seeds frequently with a spatula. Do not allow to brown. Cool for 20 minutes.
Pour sesame seeds into a food blender and add oil. Blend for around 2 minutes. It must be thick, but not so thick that it won't pour. Add more oil if it's too thick.

(With Horace around, I very much doubt it lasting for 3 days, let alone 3 months!)

Answer: All of these things

Dhania is the Indian name for both the fresh plant and the seeds. Cilantro, a Spanish word, is the name used by North Americans.
Whatever you want to call it, It is one of my favourite smells in the kitchen.
Delicious in curries. It can be mixed with plain yogurt as an accompaniment for such dishes as Biryani or lamb kebabs in pita bread.

I fiddled with this recipe for years before getting it just right, for me anyway!

My Meat kebabs with coriander and yoghurt dip recipe


750 g lean minced lamb from the leg
1 tbsp finely chopped mint
2 tbsp finely chopped coriander
3 cloves crushed garlic
4 cm piece ginger, finely grated
2 chopped green chillies or 1 tsp cayenne or red chilli powder
1½ tsp ground cumin
1 tsp cinnamon powder
1 tsp ground allspice
Salt and pepper, to season
Vegetable oil
For the coriander and yoghurt dip:
80g coriander leaves, including the stalks, roughly chopped
3 cloves garlic
2 green chillies
Juice of 2 limes plus the zest of 1 lime
3 tsp sugar
2 tbsp yoghurt
Salt, to taste
Put all the ingredients for the meat kebabs into a bowl and mix thoroughly. Leave this mixture for at least an hour but I find overnight is best.
Shape the meat into 4 cm patties.
Heat oil in a wide frying pan over a medium heat and fry the patties for a couple of minutes on each side, until they are cooked through and have a slightly blackened crust.
Blend all the ingredients for the yogurt dip in a mixer until smooth.
Serve with yogurt and coriander dip and warm pita bread.




"YUM" says Horace, the hungry dino, licking his lips in anticipation.

Answer: Chervil

Chervil is a subtle herb, never overpowering a dish, and often used to compliment the flavour of other herbs.
It goes well with omelettes, fish and poultry.
French fine herbs are a blend of parsley, tarragon, chives and chervil and is best when fresh herbs are used. The dried blend will last around six months before it begins to lose its flavour.

Okay Horace, I'm off to make that omelette just as soon as I've completed this quiz.

Answer: Nutmeg

Nutmeg is the seed from an evergreen tree originally only grown in the Spice islands.
It's always best grated fresh and is used, amongst other things, in cheese sauces, with eggs and in mulled wine.

Egg Custard Recipe:
300 ml (10 fl oz) semi-skimmed milk
1 vanilla pod, split lengthways
3 egg yolks
1 tbsp caster sugar
1 tsp cornflour
Grated nutmeg

Put the milk and vanilla pod into a saucepan and heat until just starting to simmer. Remove the pan from the heat and leave to for 10 minutes.

Mix the egg yolks, sugar and cornflour into a smooth paste in a mixing bowl.

Remove the vanilla pod from the milk. If you want a stronger vanilla flavour, scrape the seeds into the milk. Pour the warm milk onto the egg mixture, stirring.

Pour back into the pan and cook over a low heat, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon, until thick enough to coat the back of the spoon in a thin layer. You must not allow the custard to boil, and remove from the heat as soon as it has thickened. Sprinkle with grated nutmeg. It can be served hot or cold but I prefer mine cold.




Ooooh now Horace, the hungry dino is happy ... dessert at last!