Tag: spices

Kashmiri Masala Recipe

This masala is wonderful, not at all spicy but very tasty.

  • 1″ cinnamon stick
  • 2 black cardamom pods
  • 3 cloves
  • 1 Tbsp coriander seeds
  • 1 Tbsp black peppercorns
  • 1 1/2 tsp cumin seeds
  • 1 1/2 tsp fennel seeds
  • 1 Indian bay leaf
  • 1/8 tsp ground nutmeg
  • a dash of ground mace

Heat a dry saute pan over medium-high heat. Add the cinnamon stick, cardamom pods, cloves, coriander seeds, peppercorns, cumin seeds and fennel seeds. Toast for a few minutes, stirring, until the spices are toasted and fragrant. Transfer to an electric grinder, add the bay leaf and ground into a powder. Mix in the nutmeg and the mace.

Based on this recipe at Archana’s Kitchen

Marga’s International Recipes

Santos Spices Now Delivers!

I found out today that Santos Spices Market now has delivery and pick up. Santos is an amazing store, with a huge variety of Indian spices as well as legumes, flours, sauces and frozen products. Moreover, they seem to have fixed up the store in the last year and it feels less crowded than before. I definitely like going there in person, though I avoided shopping during the pandemic.

Still, my major problem with Santos is that they have so much stuff that it’s sometimes difficult to find what I want. For example, today I went looking for Kashmiri pepper and I couldn’t find it. It was there, but where? Yes, employees are very helpful and you can ask them, but I hate bothering people. Ordering online will make this much, much easier. Plus I won’t have to remember (or write down) the alternative names for the products I want, as I can just look them up as I go.

I still haven’t used this feature but I will soon!

Organic spices @ Grocery Outlet

Grocery Outlet usually carries a selection of spices, though often times they are no-name brands.  Then again, I’m not sure what “name” brands are vis a vis spaces or whether it would make a difference.  Are there lower quality nutmeg trees?  In any case, today I found a number of Nash Brothers Trading Company organic spices at the San Leandro Grocery Outlet.  They had parsley and oregano, maybe ground cloves and definitely ground nutmeg (that’s what I got). I think they were all $2-3 for a “regular” size jar. That’s about 1.7oz in nutmeg, but it’ll vary on other spices.

Nash Brothers is a “premium” brand of the Nash Finch Company, a large distributor of private label food items.  Nash Finch is hoping to develop Nash Brothers as a national branch and place it in large supermarkets.  So far it doesn’t seem to have been too successful, but I guess Grocery Outlet is a start (or is it an end?).  In any case, in addition to spices, GO also is carrying Nash Brothers organic vanilla extract ($5 for a 4 oz bottle).  Alas, the extract is not “pure”, which means it doesn’t have as much alcohol as others, which I imagine means the vanilla flavor is more diluted.  I still got some, though, let’s see how well it works.

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