.: Oishii Curry :. Sri Lanka Calling... Do you like to taste Oishii curry?... It's all about Curries

About the main Ingredients used in Curry Where does it grow , What are the characteristics , Attributes

Coriander:

Coriandrum sativum
Fam Umbelliferae.

Spice Description
Coriander is the seed of a small plant. The seeds are almost spherical, one end being slightly pointed, the other slightly flattened. There are many longitudinal ridges. The length of the seed is 3-5mm (1/8-3/16 in) and the color, when dried is usually brown, but may be green or off-white. The seed is generally sold dried and in this state is apt to split into halves to reveal two partially hollow hemispheres and occasionally some internal powdery matter. Bought batches of dried coriander seed may contain a portion of broken seeds, which may lose their aroma more quickly. Coriander is available both whole ground. Not much used in the West, but very common elsewhere, is ‘green coriander’-the fresh leaves of the plant. This is used as a herb, especially in curries, and may be found in shops specializing in Asian and Middle eastern food and in some super markets.

Preparation and Storage
Coriander seed is generally used coarsely ground or more finely powdered, depending on the texture desired. It is best bought whole as, being brittle, it is easy to mill or to pound in a mortar. Ground Coriander is apt to lose its flavor and aroma quickly and should be stored in an opaque airtight container. Whole seeds keep indefinitely. Their flavor may be enhanced by a light roasting before use. As Corianders mild, it is a spice to be used by the handful rather than the pinch. The leaves can be chopped or minced before use. They do not respond to drying, but may be frozen either blanched or chopped and frozen in ice cubes.

Attributed Properties
Coriander seed oil strongly antibacterial against several organisms. The seed is an aromatic stimulsant,a carminative (remedial flatulence),an appetizer and a digest ant stimulating the stomach and intestines. It is generally beneficial to the nervous system. Its main use is in masking foul medicines, especially purgatives, where it has anti-gripping qualities. Coriander cakes were once taken against ‘St Anthony fire’ or ‘Rose’,a severe streptococcal skin infection called ‘erysipelas’, which caused many deaths (including that of Charles Lamb),before the advent of antibiotics. The Ananga Ranga recommends a mixture of ground ores root, elk horn and Coriander seeds for youthful acne. It continues with another recipe for lightening the skin which includes Coriander seed ‘…..if this be applied to the body for seven days, it will make the aspect clean and brilliant as the moon’. In Asia the herb is used in piles, headache and swellings; the fruit in colic, piles and conjunctivitis; essential oil in colic, rheumatism and neuralgia; the seeds as a paste for mouth ulceration and poultice for other colic ulcers.

Cumin:

Cumin
Cuminum cyminum

Spice Description
Cumin is the seed of a small umbelliferous plant. The seeds come as paired of separate carpels,and are 3-6mm long. They have a striped pattern of nine ridges and oil canals, and are hairy, brownish in colour, boat-shaped, tapering at each extremity, with tiny stalks attached. They resemble caraway seeds, but are lighter in colour and, unlike caraway, have minute bristles hardly visible to the naked eye. They are available dried, or ground to a brownish –green powder. Cumin is freely available in the west, although it is not a traditional European spice.
Bouquet Strong, heavy and warm. A spicy sweet aroma.
Flavor pungent, powerful, sharp and slightly bitter.

Preparation and Storage
The seeds should be lightly roasted before being used whole or ground to bring out the aroma. Cumin may also be pounded with other spices in mixtures such as curry powder. Ground Cumin must be kept airtight, to retain its pungency. This spice should be used with restraint –it can exclude all the other flavours in a dish. Less than a teaspoon of it will flavor a meal for four.

Attributed properties
Cumin is stomachic, diuretic, carminative, stimulant, astringent, emmenagogic and antispasmodic. It is valuable in dyspepsia, diarrhea and hoarseness, and may relive flatulence and colic. In the West, it is now used mainly in veterinary medicines, as a carminative, but it remains a traditional herbal remedy in the East. It is supposed to increase lactation and reduce nausea in pregnancy. Used in a poultice, it relieves swelling of the breast or the testicles. Smoked in pipe with ghee, it is taken to relieve the hiccups. Cumin stimulates the appetite.

Fennel:

Fennel
Foeniculum vulgare

Spice description
Fennel yields both a herb and a spice. The spice comes from the dried seeds. The seeds split in to two, one sometimes retaining the stalk. They are 4-8 mm long, thin and curved. The colour varies from light green to brown, The green being regarded as superior. There are five longitudinal ridges with deepish furrows, giving the appearance of stripes. Fennel is available ground, but best bought whole. It is common and readily found in the west.
Bouquet Warm, sweet and aromatic.
Flavour Resembles a mild anise, although less sweet.

Preparation and storage
Grind seeds in a spice mill or pestle and mortar and store in airtight containers away from light.

Attributed Properties
Stimulative, stomachic and carminative. It is used in ‘gripe water’ given to flatulent children, and is an ingredient of ‘compound Liquorice powder’. It appears to help in chronic coughs. In India many properties are attributed to it, including aphrodisiac, digestive, emmenagogic and galactagogic. The oil is used against hookworms. Anethole, the main constituent of the oil, has demonstrated anti-microbial activity. Fennel should not be used in high doses as it causes muscular spasms and hallucinations.

Dill Seed:

Dill
Anethum graveolens

Spice Description
The part used is the ‘seed’ – actually a tiny fruit dividing in to two carpels. The seed is dried after ripening. It is hard, light brown, winged and oval, with one side flat, the other convex. There arethree ridges on the convex side and three vittae, or oil channels; the flat side bears two ridges . The seed is about 3.5mm long.Although dill is not greatly used in traditional English cooking it is available in most shops where spices are sold. The aromatic leafy plant tops and stalks are also used.
Bouquet Fresh, rather sweet and aromatic.
Flavor Aromatic and slightly bitter. Reminiscent of caraway.

Preparation and Storage
The seeds can be used whole or crushed. They can be ground if desired in a mill. A coffee grinder especially for spices is a good idea in a kitchen where spices are widely used. The dried seeds should keep indefinitely with airtight storage out of sunlight.

Attributed properties
Carminative, stimulant, stomachic. Dill water is given as a digestive to children. It eases stomach upsets and is said to be a cure for hiccups. ‘ The wonder-working Dill… which curious women use in many a nice disease’ (Drayton, Polyolbion, 1612).

Paprika:

Paprika
Capiscum annuum
Fam Solanaceae

Spice Description
Paprika, of paprika pepper, is a fine powder ground from certain varieties of Capsicum annuum.It is not to be confused with the vine peppers which yield the common table pepper. The peppers which yield paprika are various in shapes and size, but are generally pointed or cone-shaped. They are larger and milder than chilli the peppers, flesh being without the extreme fiery pungency of the chilli.The species is variously named as C.a.microcarpum,C.a.tetrago-num or C.a.grossum,but the botany of the entire capsicum family is sometimes called ‘pimento’ (as used to stuff cocktail olives).The powder varies in colour from bright red to a rusty brown. Several grades of flavor are manufactured, though the choice is fairly limited outside Hungary and Spain. Sweet, semi-sweet and pungent varieties are available, depending on the of . Varieties are available, depending on the proportion of the hot seeds need, and on whether the seeds are first macerated to remove their pungency. Hungarian paprika is reckoned the best, followed by that of Soain. Chilli derivatives are summarized under Chilli and remarks.

Preparation and Storage
Except for the most pungent varieties, paprika can generally be used in generous quantities. If it is fried, care should be taken that the sweeter varieties do not burn or caramelize, so cook gently. Paprika must be stored in a dark container as it reacts to sunlight. Being a spice that tends to deteriorate rapidly it should be bought in small amounts, as necessary.

Attributed Properties
Being a rich source of vitamins, paprika is generally healthful.However,it has no specific medicinal uses, its stronger relative,chilli,being used instead. It is said to improve night vision.

Pepper:

Pepper
Piper nigrum Black, White,
Green Piper longum Long pepper
Fam piperaceae
Schinus terebinthifolius
Pink Pepper
Fam Anacardiaceae

Spice Description
Pepper, the ‘King of spices’, derives from several spices of vinous plant, the spice being the whole fruit, called ‘peppercorns. Piper nigrum provides the black and the white pepper commonly used in the West. Black pepper is the dried unripe fruit. The corns are spherical and wrinkled, measuring about 5mm in diameter. White pepper is from the fruit picked when almost ripe, with the dark outer skin removed by wetting in water. These corns are slightly smaller than the black, both varieties containing a gray horny seed with a tiny cavity.
Long pepper, rarely used in the West, consists of a fused mass of minute fruits in the form of a conical spike, 1-3 cm long. Mignonette Pepper or Shot Pepper, Widely used in France, is a rough-ground mixture of black and white corns. Pepper is available whole, partially ground – as steak pepper for example – or in powder form. Green pepper is a recently marketed flavoring. This is the unripe fresh corns, bottled or canned in brine or vinegar or, more recently, freeze dried. Also recently marketed from Reunion is Pink Pepper, the almost – ripe berries of the tree Schinus terebinthifolius – a native of South America – which is not a vinous pepper. It is available usually in vinegar or as dried berries. The latter have a brittle, papery pink skin enclosing a hard irregular seed, much smaller than the whole fruit. The pickled variety is soft and easily mashed. Although attractive in appearance, they are a poor substitute for real pepper. They are used in Mediterranean areas, especially with fish, and by the Indians of South America for making alcoholic beverages. After a brief spell as a chic new gourmet spice its reputation has been damaged by reports of ill effects. If used, do not add more than fifteen ‘peppercorns’ to a dish.

Bouquet Aromatic, pungent
Flavour
Black pepper is vary pungent, fiery and aromatic.
H Scale: 8
White pepper is less pungent.
H Scale: 7
Long pepper is slightly sweeter.
H Scale:7
Green pepper tastes clean and fresh and is milder.
H Scale:6 ½
Pink pepper is bitter, resinous and aromatic.
H Scale :3

Preparation and Storage
Pepper is best bought whole, as freshly ground pepper is vastly superior to the ready bought powder. Ground pepper quickly loses its aroma and is easily adulterated. Peppercorns are quite hard but are ground easily in a peppermill. Their aroma is preserved in hot food if they are added well towards the end of the cooking process. Some dishes demand crushed or cracked pepper- that is, partially broken. This is achieved with moderate effort using a mortar and pestle, but if there is much pepper to crush, simply place the corns in a polythene bag and crush them with a rolling pin. Whole corns keep indefinitely when stored in airtight containers. Pink or green pepper can easily be mashed to a paste. These, being fresh fruit, do not keep well, but will survive some weeks in the refrigerator. Dried green peppercorns can be reconstituted in minutes by soaking them in a little water.

Attributed Properties
Carminative, stimulant, diuretic, diaphoretic, pepper has long been known to improve the digestion. It was used to treat gastrointestinal upsets, flatulence, fevers and congestive chills. It is supposed to be of help in anal, rectal and urinary troubles. Pepper calms nausea and has been used against vertigo. Cubeb pepper has been used in Asia for gonorrhea in its secondary stages. It is little used in modern medicine. A paste of ground white pepper and butter, licked at intervals, is a surprisingly effective cure for sore throats and loss voice.

Garlic:

Allium sativum

Spice Description
Garlic is a bulb of a lily-like plant. It is similar in shape to an onion, but ridged. The bulb is compound, consisting of anything up to twenty segments, called ‘cloves’. Usually there are about ten cloves to a bulb, packed side by side around a thin central core, separated by scaly membranes and enclosed by a brittle parchment-like skin. The flesh of the clove is ivory-coloured, and should be hard and firm though easily cut with a finger nail. The cloves should be tightly packed-loose cloves are a sign of deteriorating or inferior garlic. The skin is usually white, but may have a pale pink or purplish tinge. The peeled clove should be unblemished. Garlic is widely variable in size, some continental bulbs are minute. Garlic is best bought whole, but is also available in the form of granules (minced), powder or garlic salt.
Bouquet Harsh, penetrating and lasting. The whole clove has no aroma.
Flavour Sharp and acid. The powerful oniony flavor can easily become overpowering if used to excess.
H Scale (Raw): 5-6

Preparation and Storage
Separate a clove from the bulb as necessary. Either peel like an onion, first slicing off the ends, or crush the clove with the flat of a knife when the skin will be much easier to remove. The garlic can then be chopped or mashed with the addition of a little salt-this will absorb the juice which would otherwise be lost and also prevent this pieces from slipping about. Although it is usually advised to use the point of a knife to mash garlic, a fork is even better. Wooden surface and utensils are best avoided- a stale garlic odour will cling to them. If using a garlic press, there is no need to peel the clove as the skin will remain in the press and is easily removed after use. When several cloves are to be crushed, use a pestle and mortar with a little salt. Keep heads of garlic in a cool dry atmosphere. Processed garlic must be kept in airtight containers.

Attributed Properties
Garlic has been used since ancient times for innumerable complaints and amongst the properties attributed to it are: diaphoretic, diuretic, expectorant and intestinally antispasmodic. It is a good digestive aid, and used in flatulence. It stimulates blood flow and lowers blood pressure. Garlic juice in a syrup of honey and sugar is used in colds,coughs, influenza and helps to relieve asthma. Today garlic oil is often administered in gelatine capsuals to obviate the unpleasantness of the odour to those susceptible to it. Formerly, garlic was used as a vampirifuge. In moderns times the constituents of garlic have been shown to be bacteriostatic-in world war 1 the juice was extensively used on wounds; a glycoside compound has been proved to be lethal to certain organisms. In Russia allicin is so much esteemed that it is known as ;Russian penicillin’. The Japanese also favour garlic as a cure-all, and one researcher has patented a garlic spray machine that is claimed to provide beneficial therapy for a multitude of ailments. The aphrodisiac properties of garlic have been much praised; however, it is advisable that both partners take the recommended prescription.

Black Mustard:

Mustard
Brassica alba ,B.juncea,B.nigra
Syn Sinapsis alba
Fam Curciferae

Spice Description
Three varieties of mustard exist, deriving from the seeds of three related plants.

White mustard is a round hard seed about 2mm (0.08 in) in diameter, varying in colour from yellow brown to white. It is right outer skin is removed before sale.
Black mustard is a round hard seed about 1.5mm (0.06in) in diameter, varying in colour from dark brown to black.
Brown or Indian mustard is similar in size to the black variety and varies in colour from light to dark brown .The seeds are available whole.

Bouquet The seeds itself has no aroma.
Flavour Sharp and fiery .white mustard is less powerful Indian mustard is cruder.
H scale 6-8

English mustard is fine, bright yellow power made from a blend of white and black seeds with a little added wheat flour and turmeric .blend of the seeds alone is also obtainable.

Bouquet when mixed, mustard has a fiery and pungent aroma ,powerfully aromatic ,irritating and acrid.
Flavour sharp and fiery. Bitter, turning to pungent. For other made-up mustards see under Uses.
H Scale: 7-8

Preparation and storage
Mustard develops its pungent Qualities only after mixing with liquid, which should always be cool. Powdered mustard is made up by adding water, milk grape juice, verjuice, lemon or lime juice,vinegar,beer,cider or wine .for traditional English mustard ,two parts of power to one of liquid are used. Leave to stand for fifteen minutes to allow the pungency develops. When using powdered mustard in sauces, make it up with liquid first to avoid lumps.
Country mustard can be made by pulverizing or crushing the seed and mixing with herbs, spices, and a chosen liquid. Sugar and honey are sometimes added. Stored in an airtight tin, mustard powder should keep almost indefinitely but ready- made mustered should be stored in a cool place and used within six months.

Attributed properties
Mustered is a strong emetic, a counter –irritant and rubefacient. Black and brown mustard are much stronger than white mustard. Although the volatile oil of mustard powerful irritant, blistering tender skins, in dilution as a liniment or poultice is soothes, causing a sensation of warmth and redness. Mustard paper or plasters,’sinapisms’, are made by applying mustard flour to paper coated with rubber solution; these are applied as a contour –irritants. In bath water or as a footbath mustard relives muscular aches. ‘It helpeth the Sciatica, or aches in the hip or heckles bone…….’ (Gerard 1957).(bath mustard is a coarse powder of black and white mustard) mustard is used to treat respiratory troubles ,rheumatism and colic. The mucilage in the seeds absorbs moisture, so seeds are used in laboratories to make test tubes ‘Chemically ‘dry.

Turmeric:

Turmeric
Curcuma domestica
Syn curcuma longa
Fam Zingiberaceae

Spice Description
The rhizome or underground stem of a ginger- like plant provides this spice ,which is available whole or ground. Ready ground turmeric is the most commonly available in the west. It is a deep yellow, fine powder. The whole turmeric is the rhizome, which is tuberous ,and its skin is rough appears segmented-characteristic rhizome features. It is yellowish-brown with adull orange interior, yellow when powdered. The central rhizome measures some 2.5-7cm in length with a diameter of 2.5cm; smaller tubers branch off it. It is always sold dried and smoothed, in rounded or elongated pieces from the central or lateral sections, known respectively as bulbs or fingers. This type is called ‘Alleppy ’or ‘Madras’. A ‘Bengal’type exists, in smaller cylindrical pieces, and is used as a dyestuff rather than for culinary purposes. Fresh turmeric root is also available.
Bouquet Woody, slightly acrid, redolent of a sawmill.
Flavor Warm and slightly aromatic with a bitter undertone.

Preparation and Storage
Turmeric is always ground before used. Although the whole pieces provide a fresher powder, they are rock-hard and consequently difficult to grind at home. The powder, which is more convenient, will keep its colouring properties indefinitely if stored in an airtight container away from sunlight. The flavor of the powder will, bowever, diminish, so it is wise to buy in moderation.

Attributed properties
Turmeric is mild digestive, being an aromatic, a stimulant and a carminative. An ointment base on the spice is used as an antiseptic in Malaysia. Turmeric water is an Asian cosmetic applied to impart a golden glow to the complexion.Formerly,turmeric was used to treat jaundice.Curcumin has been shown to be active against (pus-producing infections).

Chilli:

Fennel
Fenugreek
Trigonella foenum-graecum

Spice Description
Fenugreek is the small stony seeds from the pod of a bean –like plant. The seeds are hard, yellow wish brown and angular. Some are oblong, some rhombic, others virtually cubic, with a side of about 3mm . A deep furrow all but splits them in two. They are available whole and dried, or as a dull yellow powder, ground from roasted seeds. This powder is a common household spice and easily available.
Bouquet Warm and penetrating, becoming more pronounced when the seeds are roasted. Ground, they give off a ‘spicy’ smell, pungent, like an inferior curry powder which would probably contain too much fenugreek.
Flavour Powerful, aromatic and bitter-sweet, like burnt sugar. There is a bitter aftertaste, similar to celery or lovage.
H Scale: 2
Fenugreek leaves are also available fresh or dried. The dried variety is a mass of crushed grey-green leaves and thin stalks.
Bouquet Similar to the ground seed.
Flvour Milder than the seeds.

Preparation and Storage
Dried seeds should be lightly roasted because, if this is overdone, they will be merely bitter, so do not let them darken to more than a golden brown. After roasting, they are quite easy to grind. A small amount will compliment other spices and flavours; too much will overpower the dish. If the seeds are required as part of curry paste, soak them overnight when they will swell, become gelatinous and be easy to incorporate with the other ingredients.

Attributed Properties
Fenugreek is a digestive aid. As an emollient it is used in poultices for boils, cysts and similar complaints. It is also a febrifuge, diuretic and galactagogue. Reducing the sugar level of the blood, it is used in diabetes in conjunction with insulin. As early as 1030, the great Arabian philosopher and physician, Abu Ali al-Husam ibn Abdullah ibn Sina (Avicenna), was prescribing fenugreek for diabetes. It also lower the blood pressure. In the East, beverages are made from the seed to ease stomach trouble. The chemical make-up is curiously similar to that of cod liver oil, for which a decoction of the seed is sometimes used as a substitute. It is used as a hypoglycaemic aromatic in veterinary medicine. Many other properties are ascribed to it in India and East and not surprisingly include aphrodisiac.

Cardamom:

Cardamom- Elettaria cardamomum

Spice Description
Cardamom comes from the seeds of a ginger like plant.The small brown-black sticky seeds are contained in a pod in three double raws with about six seeds in each raw.The pods are between 6-20mm long,the larger variety, known as ‘black’,being brown,and the smaller being green.The pods are roughly triangular in cross section and oval or oblate.Its dried surface is rough and furrowed,the large ‘blacks’ having deep wrinkles.the texture of the pod is that of tough paper.Pods are available whole or split and the seeds are sold loose or ground.It is best to buy the whole pods, ground cardamom quickly becoming neutral.Cheper substitute known as ‘beda elachi’ are the seeds of Afromomum aromaticum (Bengal Cardamom), Amomum xanthoides and subulatum(Nepal Cardamom). Other varieties that enter in to trade are Java Cardamom,Cambodian cardamom and Chinese cardamom.

Bouquet Pungent,Warm and aromatic
Flavour Warm and eucalyptine with camphorous and lemony undertones. cardamom is blunter,the eucalyptus and camphor suggestions very pronounced.

Preparation and Storage
The pods can be used whole or split when cooked in Indian substantial dishes- such as pulses.Otherwise ,the seeds can be bruised and fried before adding main ingredient to the pan, or pounded with other spices as required. Keep the pods whole until use. The pod itself is neutral in flavour and not generally use.

Attributed Properties
A stimulant and carminative, cardamom is not used i western medicine for its own properties, but forms a flavouring and basis for medicinal preparation for indigestion and flatulence using other substances, entering into a synergetic relationship with them. Ancient Indians regarded it as a cure for obesity.It has been used as a digestive since ancient times. A medicinal (Perhaps aphrodisiac) cordial can be made by macerating seeds in hot water.

Curry Leaf:

Curry Leaf
Murraya koenigii
Syn Chalcas k.,Bergara k.
Fam Rutaceae

Spice Description
These are the leaflets of a tree that is common in southern India. They resemble bay leaves in shape but are smaller, mush thinner and not at all leathery. Their color is olive green with a paler underside and they have a delicate appearance. They vary considerably in size.1-4 cm (1/2 – 1 ½ in) in length. When fresh they are very shiny. Curry leaves are available fresh or dried from specialist Indian shops.

Preparation and Storage
Curry leaves are used whole or they can be macerated or minced before adding to stews, curries and marinades. They can be fried, and the spiced butter or fat drained off for further use. Store the leaves in airtight containers.

Attributed Properties
Said to be tonic and stomachic. In India, the young leaves are taken for dysentery and diarrhea. An infusion of the toasted leaves is anti-emetic. A paste of the bark and roots is applied to bruises and poisonous bites. The seeds are used to make medicinal oil called ‘zimbolee oil’.

Cloves:

Eugenia caryophyllus
Syn E. caryyophyllata,
E.aromatica, Caryophyllus aromaticus, Syzgium aromatcum
Farm Myrtaceae

Spice Description
Cloves are the immature unopened flower buds of a tropical tree. When fresh, they are pink, but they are always sold at least partially dried.-some over dried- finally turning to a red-brown or rust brown color. Shape they resemble small nails, with a tapering stem of rounded cross section whose larger end is topped with an open four –pointed crown containing the flower bud. The whole clove measures 12-16 mm in length. The is stem quit tough, but the head should be more fragile and easily crumbled between the fingers. Most cloves are highly flavored and therefore even the inferior ones are acceptable, but the best retain their natural oils even after drying and plump and not brittle or withered. Cloves are sold whole or ground and are freely available at a reasonable cost.

Preparation and storage
Cloves are best bought whole –the powder quickly deteriorates the y are difficult to pulverize in a pastel and mortar so it is best to use the electrical grinder. Another quick way to obtain the powder is by crumbing the heads between the fingers, saving the stalk for future use. Store the spice in airtight containers.

Attributed properties
Eugenol is very strong antiseptic-hence the effectiveness of cloves in preserving preparations such as pickling liquids .clove oil is a powerful stimulant and carminative. It is used to treat flatulent colic,nausea ,indigestion and dyspepsia .cotton wool soaked in clove oil is applied directly to an aching tooth ,bringing immediate relief. Compounded with Zinc oxide, it is employed in dentistry as a temporary tooth felling .externally applied; clove oil is irritant, rubefacient and mildly analgesic .it is used in liniments with a base of clove oil .clove themselves are astringent, owing to the large percentage of tannins present.

Cinnamon:

Cinnamon

Spice Description
Cinnamon is the dried inner bark from the shoots of a small laurel like tree. The spice is in the form of cylinders, known as ‘Quills’ ,consisting of strips of bark rolled one in another .the pale-brown bark strips may be only 1.5 mm thick, the spongy outer bark having been scraped off. Scrolled together, the length and diameter of the cylinder vary, but on average are 75mm and 8mm respectively. The dried bark is hard and brittle, the best varieties being pale and parchment –like in appearance. Cinnamon is readily available in the west, as in the east, and is also sold in powder form. Cinnamon is similar to cassia .these spices are differentiated by law in Britain and some other countries, although others, including the United States, do not make this distinction.
Bouquet sweet and fragrant, the powdered from yielding more aroma.
H Scale :3

Preparation and storage
Like other powdered spices, powdered cinnamon tends to deteriorate, and should be kept dry, airtight and out of sunlight. This is the more common form, however .as the quills are difficult to grind in a pastel and mortar. As its best cinnamon is quiet potent: large amounts will overpower .a mixture of sugar and cinnamon for sprinkling over desserts is the best in a ratio of between 15:1 and 20:1 .in cooking liquids, a whole quill can be steeped and removed when it has imparted its flavor. Cracked sticks may be used in sweet –and-sour pickling mixtures .whole quills will uncurl during cooking.

Attributed properties
cinnamon, one of nature’s most aromatic spices, strangely does not have many properties attributed to it and its uses are minimal .even in India and Africa, where most aromatic are ascribed powers bordering on the phenomenal,it was used only superficially; otherwise it was use violently, as in gonorrhea when oil was injected into the infected parts .perhaps ,being so powerfully aromatic healers were wary and only prescribed it when the very source of life was in peril. However, more mildly, cinnamon is carminative, stimulant, astringent and aromatic. It has been used in diarrhea and stomach upsets. In nausea and occasionally as an inhalation .in various pregnancy problems efficacy is attributed to it. In modern times, oil of cinnamon has been found to be bactericidal against some organisms and ground cinnamon is anti fungal.

Nutmeg:

Nutmeg
Myristica fragrans

Spice Description
The nut-like seed found in the fruit of a large tree , the fresh nutmeg is enclosed in a hard brown shell, enclosed in turn in a crimson cage -like aril. The aril dries to a yellow brown colour, and is the mace of culinary use. Nutmegs are commonly sold without the mace and the hard shell. They are oval, measuring about 25mm in length , with a diameter around 2cm. The dark brown surface is lightly wrinkled; the inner substance is hard and lighter brown. When the nutmeg is cut or grated , the exposed surface develops a waxy sheen. Nutmeg is sold whole or ground to a powder. Sometimes the whole nuts have a thin coating of lime, against worms and fungus, otherwise they are fumigated before reaching thye shops. Nutmegs are freely and constantly available.
Bouquet Sweet, aromatic and nutty.
Flavour Nutty and woody. Warm and gently bitter, both sweetish and slightly camphorous.

Preparation and Storage
As powdered nutmeg deteriorates quickly, it is best to keep whole nuts, which last indefinitely, and grate as required. Special nutmeg graters are sold for this purpose. Nutmeg is slightly poisonous, and should therefore be used in moderation- a pinch will harm no- one. It should be noted that nutmeg increases the potency of alcohols. Store both nuts and powder in airtight containers.

Attributed Properties
In small doses nutmeg is a gastric stimulant, a mild external stimulant, a counter-irritant and anti-nauseant. It is used in flatulence and rheumatism. However, myristicin is a toxic narcotic, and may be the factor causing euphoria and hallucination when nutmeg is taken in excess. Too much nutmeg may also cause epileptic symptoms. Nutmeg extract can be addictive. These effects will not be induced with a culinary-sized dose of the spice. At most, combined with a nightcap, it will act as a mild soporific.

Mace:

Mysristica fragrans
Fam Myristaceae

Spice Description
Mace is the aril of the nutmeg, an aril being a fleshy appendage attached to certain seeds. In its natural state, mace is a bright crimson network up to 35mm (1 ½ in) long, encaging the brown nutmeg in irregular, fleshy tentacle-like lobes. The mace of commerce is dried to a dull yellow-brown, becoming horny and brittle, although superior mace, if not over kept, should retain some degree of pliability and exude a little oil when pressed. It is flattened and sometimes roughly broken, appearing in solid, branched or segmented pieces. Mace is sold also in powdered form, or, more decoratively, still enclosing the nutmeg. It is commonly available, though more expensive than nutmeg.

Preparation and Storage
Dried mace pieces are impracticable to grind at home. Ready powdered mace is acceptable, but tends to deteriorate even when kept airtight, so it is advisable to buy little and renew often. Whole mace pieces can be steeped in liquids during cooking and removed after use. Being quite powerful, one ‘blade’ or its equivalent will suffice to flavor a family-sized dish.

Attributed Properties
Carminative, stimulant, and tonic, mace aids the digestion, is beneficial to the circulation and is used to mollify febrile upsets and in Asia to relieve nausea. Mace butter is employed as a mild counter-irritant and used in hair lotions and plasters. As with nutmeg, large doses of mace can lead to hallucination and epileptic form fits, myristin being poisonous, but dangerous doses are unlikely to be taken in the course of everyday use.

Ginger:

Ginger

Spice Description
Ginger is available in various forms, the most common of which are as follows;
Fresh or ‘green’ ginger; ginger is a bulbous, tuberous, irregularly shaped root. It is sold as whole root stocks or pieces of these in various shapes and sizes, usually 5-20cm (2-8in) long. The larger pieces resemble a hand with knobbly arthritic fingers. It has a pale yellow interior and a skin varying in colour from broen to off-white. Jamaican ginger, which is pale buff, is reckoned the best variety. African and Indian ginger is darker skinned and generally inferior, with the exception of Kenya ginger.
Dried ginger: dried ginger root is sold either ‘black’ with the cork or root skin attached,or ‘white’ with the cork peeled off (an unpleasant task for those involved),and is sometimes bleached or sliced and is usually tough and fibrous.
Ground ginger; formerly the most common manifestation of ginger, the ground spice is a slightly fibrous buff-coloured powder made from dried ginger
Preserved or ‘stem’ ginger ; tender immature rhizomes are preserved by several bolings in ginger solution. The final product, in its familiar Chinese jar, consists of the ginger pieces in syrup, usually yellow-brown in colour.They are soft and pulpy like fruit, but extremely hot and spicey.A spectacular Chinese variety is bright red in a similarly couloured syrup, the ginger being thinly sliced.
Crystallized or candied ginger; this is a confection and baking ingredient. Young ginger is skinned, blanched and steeped in sugar syrup for several days, then dried and coated in sugar. Exceedingly sweet with the characteristic ginger flavor.

Preparation and Storage
In Asian cooking ginger is almost always used fresh. In this form it may be minced, crushed or sliced and is superior to ginger bought as a powder, both in flavor and in aroma. Fresh ginger can be peeled and preserved in dry sherry, or kept for about a month in the salad drawer of a refrigerator. As with many other spices it is best to buy it whole and use pieces of it as required. Ginger bought dried can be ‘bruised’ before use.-that is, beaten strenuously to open the fibres. It can then be infused in cooking or making ginger beer and removed when the flavor has been extracted; drying the root is best accomplished by hanging it in a dry place- a garage or larder, for example. It should be kept dry or it will resume growth and spoil. Store all forms of dried ginger in alright containers.

Attributed Properties
Stimulant, carminative, stomachic, expectorant, rubefacient, counter-irritant.Ginger is used in diarrhea, piles, rheumatism and lung troubles. As an infusion it is taken in coughs and nausea and apparently helps amenorrhea due to cold. It has long been ascribed aphrodisiac powers-taken either externally or internally. It is mentioned in the Kama Sutra, and in Melanesia it is employed ‘to gain affection of a woman’. Conversely, in the Philippines it is chewed to expel evil spirits. It opens the pores and induces perspiration. Ground ginger is said to be a remedy for car sickness.

Chilli:

Capsicum frutescens spp

Spice Description
Chilli is the common name given to a variety of species of capsicum, the number and range of which is astonishing and defines any exhaustive description. Common characteristics of the pod like berries are a thin, shiny outer skin, covering a pithy layer of flesh, the fruit being hollow, often with a central core stuffed with small, white disc-shaped seeds. The fruits generally contain between two and four long interior ridges, often dividing the berry into chambers.Chillis very enormously in size,shape and colour.The distinctions between the various types often becoming blurred.They are usually associated with hotness and pungency, although some relatively mild varieties exist. Perhaps the best known in the west are the hot slender varieties 5-10cm long.Chillies are available whole-either fresh or dried.Fresh chillies are green until they ripen, when they turn red,yellow,brown,purple or black.They should be firm. Dried, they can be dark red,brown or black.Ground and crushed chilli is also available,as is chilli powder and pickled chilli.

Bouquet Hot,acrid pungent. Can cause sneezing and weeping.
Flavour Sharp and fiery,with a characteristics capsicum undertone.The seeds are gegerally the hottest part. The strength varies from fairly mild to nuclear fission.

Preparation and Storage
Chillies can literally burn. While it is not necessary to wear gloves to handle the fresh chillies commonly sold in the west, it is advisable to be circumspect in tasting the raw article.Chillies should be used sparingly. It is best to discard the seeds.Wash hands after touching and do not touch eyes or other sensitive areas.Dried chillis can be whole or ground, or pre-soaked and ground to a paste in a pestle and mortar.To make chilli powder : roast the dried pods till dark ,grind and sieve. Other spices such as garlic, cumin,oregano or (in Mexico) chocolate can be added to the powder.Chilli extract can be made by macerating the fresh or dried fruits in alcohol-sherry is excellent-obtaining a liquid handy for flavouring soups.Should a dish be overseasoned with chilli,the addition of a little sugar may alleviate the hotness.Always store in airtight containers away from sunlight.

Attributed properties
Chilli is healthful in small amounts,being a high vitamin digestive aid.Large doses can cause stomach troubles and internal burns. Medically it is used as a carminative in atonic dyspepsia,and is an external counter- irritant in rheumatism and nervous pains,also a local stimulant and rubefacient.However,excessive use can cause skin burns and blisters.Capsicum oleoresin, used medicinally, contains some 0.8% capsaicin and is highly pungent and irritant. An antiseptic sticking-plaster coating is produced from capsicum and belladonna.Chilli was once used against gout and scarlet fever.

Lemon Grass:

Lemon Grass
Cymbopogon citrates and spp
Syn Andropogon schoenanthus
Fam Gramineae

Spice Description
This flavoring is hardly known in the West. It consists of the base and the white fleshy leaf-stalks and green leaves of a tall tropical grass. The tops of the leaves are usually cut off about 15cm(6 in) from the base.It is normally used fresh, but is also sold in dried form. The dried spice comes in three forms; the whole stem; longitudinally sliced; or horizontally chopped. the seasoning a dish. A powder made from lemon grass,sereh powder, is also available, and an oil expressed from the plant is sold for culinary purposes.

Attributed Properties
The lower part of the plant, 10-15cm (4-6 in).is used the upper blades being discarded. If using dried lemon grass, twelve strips are equal in potency to one fresh stem. The stem can be bruised and used whole or cut across in slices. Store separately as the flavor is imparted to other foods. Lemon peel works very well as a substitute, being virtually identical in flavor. Dried lemon grass should be soaked in water for two hours before use.

Attributed Properties
Lemon grass has sedative properties and was formerly used as a carminative. If features in British, Indian and Brazilian pharmacopoeias. It is a mild insect repellant, diaphoretic and stimulant; as an external liniment it is used in rheumatism, lumbago, sprains and similar complaints. A preparation of lemon grass with pepper is said to be efficacious in menstrual troubles and nausea. Lemon grass tea, to which Queen Victoria was partial, is an effective stomachic for children, also a refrigerant and diuretic. In the form of paste it is applied on ringworm.

Galangal:

Greater : Languas galangal
Syn Alpinia galangal
Lesser: Languas officinarum
Syn Alpinia officinarum
Kaempferia: Kaempferia galangal,
Kaempferia pandurala, Kaempferia rolunda
Fam Zingiberaceae

Spice Description
The galangal are fascinating ginger-like spices used in south East Asia. It is not always clear which is which and we can go back to Gerard (1597) for the clearest delineation between the ‘Lesser’ and the ‘Greater’.
Greater Galangal (laos) : Used as a flavouring throughout Indonesia, Malaysia and parts of India. Orangey- brown skin with pale yellow or white interior. The rhizomes are longer than lesser galangal. Available as slices , 3mm thick, or powder.
Bouquet Gingery and camphorius.
Flavour Pungent but less so than lesser galangal.
H Scale: 7
Lesser galangal (kencur): Used as a flavouring in Indo-China and Indonesia but not in Chinese cooking. The 8x2cm rhizome has a reddish-brown interior. The texture is fibrous. Available as slices or powder.
Bouquet Aromatic and gingery.
Flavour Aromatic and pungent, peppery and gingerlike.
H Scale:6
Kaempferia galangal: Used as a flavouring in south East Asia.
Bouquet Sweet and silkly with pungent undertones.
Flavour Like bouquet but much stronger.
H Scale:5

Preparation and Storage
Use like ginger, powdered, bruised or crushed. One slice of the root is equivalent to half a teaspoon of powder. Generally, small quantities are specified in in recipes, laos being used in larger amounts than kencur. The powders should be stored in airtight containers and used within a short space of time.

Attributed Properties
Resembling ginger in its effects, galangal is an aromatic stimulant, carminative and stomachic. It is used in nausea, flatulence, dyspepsia, rheumatism, catarrh and enteritis. It also possesses tonic and anti-bacterial qualities and is used for these properties in veterinary and homeopathic medicine. In India It is used in Europe and Asia as an aphrodisiac for centuries.

Coconut:

Coconut
Cocos nucifera

Spice description
The coconut is the seed of one of the largest fruits in the vegetable kingdom. The oval fruit, yellow brown when ripe, measures around 30cm long. The nut, also oval, with three small ‘eyes’ at the base, is 15cm or more in length, surrounded by a fibrous mass,’ coir’, most of which is removed before export. The shell of the nut is thickish ,hard and tough. Inside is white layer of hard moist flesh, and the hollow interior is partly filled with a clear liquid, known as ‘coconut water’. Coconuts are widely available in the west. Heavy coconuts are freshest. For culinary purpose coconut is available in the following forms.
Desiccated – small dried flakes of the white flesh.
Crystallized – Chinese confection.
Canned – Thick coconut milk that can be diluted (US)
Frozen – frozen coconut cream in cartons (Australia)
Creamed – Compressed coconut cream which is partly soluble in hot water.
Dried – large pieces known as copra.
Bouquet The aroma of the fresh meat is not as strong as coconut cream, which is sweet and rather cloying.
Flavour fairly sweet and nutty with a crunchy fibrous texture.

Preparation and storage
To extract the flesh from a fresh coconut, pierce the softest ‘eye’ and one other, then pour off the water which can make a refreshing drink or be used to prepare coconut milk. Break open the nut by hitting hard across the middle with a hammer. The flesh may then be prised out with a knife (warming the nut in the oven for ten minutes facilitates this), and then peeled and finery grated. There is a special device which performs extraction and grating simultaneously.

Attributed Properties
Coconut oil is a substitute for cod liver oil, and used in disorders of the lungs. The fermented sap juice is mildly laxative. The meat is a vermifuge. The water from ripe nuts is diuretic,and the ash of coconut palm bark is locally used as an antiseptic and dentifrice

salt:

Salt
Salt
Sodium chloride

Spice description
An inorganic substance, salt is not strictly a spice, rather a mineral. Today, its most common form is an table salt. Block salt, or kitchen salt, is table salt minus the chemical additives which cause it to flow freely, and comes in coagulated bricks or blocks. Less ‘processed’ than table salt, it is generally available in health food shops. Kitchen and table salt come from rock salt- a rarer form is as untreated, separated crystals. Production of this has virtually stopped. The other form of salt is sea salt. This is growing in popularity. Sea alt, or bay salt, appears as small chunks or flakes, brittle enough to be powdered down easily. Saltpetre is chemically unrelated to common salt. It is used in preserving and pickling meats and is available from chemists. The following are some of the best known types of salt.
Bay salt Bay salt is sea salt obtained by evaporation by sun and wind in coastal bays, possibly originally the bay of Biscay- see sea salt.
Black salt This is unrefined rock salt from Asia, available in attractive, crystallized lumps and colours dark blue or red, due to various trace elements.
Common salt Ordinary house hold salt available as coarse cooking salt or fine table salt
Cooking salt Cooking salt can be block salt but now more usually refers to fairly coarse, free running refined salt with added magnesium carbonate.

Fine salt see table salt
Freezing salt A non edible, coarse crystallized salt used for home freezing.
Grey salt This is the same as black salt but of a grey appearance due to other trace elements.
Gros-sel The French name for coarse bay or sea salt.
Halite Halite is the Scientific name for rock salt which occurs in layers from the evaporation of land-locked lakes and seas past geological ages. Sometimes these layers rise up through the overlying sedimentary rocks to form salt domes which can act as oil trapes. Halite is crystalline, transparent to translucent and of various colours such as yellow, red or blue ( these are the grey and black salt of Asia). Rock alt is either mechanically or hydraulically mined.

Lodized salt salt with iodine added at the rate of 0.0025 per cent to supplement iodine-deficient diets (a lack of iodine causes thyroid problems). Sea salt contains iodine but this is lost during storage.
Kitchen salt Another name for cooking salt.
Lump salt Another name for rock salt (halite) or block salt (coarse kitchen salt).
Maldon salt The finest English sea salt from Maldon, Essex . The crystals are small enough to be sprinkled directly on food.
Monosodium glutamate (MSG) Strictly not salt, but a salt of glutamic acid which is added to foods to give a meaty and salty flavor. Very popular in China and with the Western food processing industry. MSG has been found to be dangerous in excessive quantities.
Pickling salt same as block and lump salt (refined rock salt) used for pickling because it is without additives that otherwise discol our the pickling liquid and make the pickles slimy.
Pretzel salt A Mexican salt much used in the USA for pretzels. The crystals fuse during but retain a shiny and crystalline appearance,
Rock salt The common name for Halite. It is hard, crystalline and comes in large lumps. In the US the name ‘rock salt’ is used to describe freezing salt which is inedible.
Saltpeter short for chile saltpeter, potassium nitrate. Also called nitre, saltpeter acts as a meat preservative, usually used with salt a small quantity only is required, otherwise it hardens the meat fibres. Saltpetre is responsible for the fine pink colour of bacon, hams, salamis, other preserved meats and pates.

Sea salt Salt derived from sea-fed salt pans, obtained either by direct evaporation of sea water pans or factory finishing of saline concentrates from these pans. Sea salt sometimes contains traces of other salts and elements. However, any iodine present is lost during storage. Sea salt is considered the best salt because of its appearance, large pure crystals, and flavor. Commercially ground sea salt has magnesium carbonate added to aid flow and inhibit moisture absorption. Sometimes known as bay salt.
Sel Gris Coarse, grey – coloured sea salt used in the kitchen in France.
Spiced Salt Also called seasoned salt. Salt with spices added such as ground celery seed, garlic or onion, These being the most common.
Table salt Any of the basic salts finely ground and with magnesium carbonate or another similar agent added to promote easy flow, used at the table.
Vegitable Salt Salts of vegetable origin.
Bouquet Normally odourless. However, sometimes sea salt has a faint smell of chlorine and some rock salts, especially from the east, have an unpleasant sulphurous smell.
Flavour Salty. Salt is one of the few basic flavours experienced by the taste buds. No domestically used salt is completely pure, so its flavour is always modified by the chemical traces its contains. Untreated rock salt is said to be best flavoured. Sea salt lack the bitter aftertaste of table salt, but is more powerful.

Preparation and Storage
Kitchen and sea salts are powdered before use in cooking or as a condiment. For hard rock salt, a pestle and mortar or a mill are required. The more delicate sea salts can be crushed simply between thumb and finger. Less sea salt than rock salt is required in cooking. Temperature affects saltiness- the cooler a dish, the saltier it tastes. Steaks should be salted just prior to cooking, fish some time beforehand. Being non organic, salt will keep indefinitely and does not always require airtight storage. But it absorbs moisture from the atmosphere and in humid climates will soon become damp and not flow, so silica gel or a few grains of rice will help keep it dry. Cooking salt may be kept handy in a stone crock or wooden box. Table salt, with its chemical additives, should not be used for freezing, salting or pickling nor should it be kept for more than a day or two in silver cellars because chlorine attacks silver, discolouring it green.

Attributed Properties
Salt is essential to life, regulating the osmotic tension of the tissues and blood. Salt deficiency can cause severe illness, and death. Conversely, too much can cause kidney failure and high blood pressure. Among its medical uses are the treatment of burns, saline drips and dialysis. Salt is said to include labour and may be useful as an analgesic. Iodized salt is used in areas with endemic goiter, the malady often being reduced by 50 per cent. Saltpetre is toxic, but the amounts used for culinary purposes are too small to cause any damage.

Onion:

Onion
Allium cepa

Spice Description
The onion is an edible bulb. While it is a vegetable at heart, it also act as a spice inasmuch as it can provide an aromatic undertone to various meat and vegetable dishes, without being a major ingredient. The characteristic appearance of the onion is well known, but there are many variations of colour, shapes and size. The colour varies from white to red to purple, the shape from spherical to almost conical, and the diameter at the largest point from 10mm to 8cm or more. Onions should be firm, though not rock hard. The papery skin should be tight over the surface of the bulb. Spring onions, or scallions, are immature plants where the bulb has not completely formed. They may be cylindrical, the green stem shading into the white bulblet, which may be almost spherical. Onions are also available in processed form, as dried flakes and powdered, or liquid.
Bouquet sharp. Raw onions which cut or bruised may irritate the eyes and nose.
Flavour Generally pungent and bitter with a sweet note. Onions actually cover the whole gamut of aroma and pungency from mild to intolerable.

Preparation and storage
Onions may be used whole, sliced, chopped, diced or liquidized. It is important to observe the cooking instructions carefully, as the flavor of onions is greatly influenced by their treatment. A recipe where onions are to be ‘fired till golden’ will suffer if the onions are browned. Small onions and picklers are easier to peel if they are first immersed in boiling water for ten seconds and then rinsed in cold water before removing the skins. To prevent the eyes from watering, peel onions under cold water or put them in the freezer for ten minutes before chopping. Should onions be excessively strong, boil them whole for five minutes before proceeding with the recipe. An easy method for dicing an onion is illustrated below. Firm unblemished onions should keep for several weeks if stored in a cool airy place. Too much warmth will encourage sprouting. Home- grown onions must be quite dry before stringing. Dried onion flakes and powder should be stored in airtight containers.

Attributed Properties
Antiseptic, diuretic expectorant and rubefacient . Onion’s antiseptic properties as a juice or paste have been used for wounded healing, skin complaints(acne), insect bites, haemorrhoids, boils, toothache, earache, and respiratory complaints. The raw juice is diuretic and the whole
onion is an appetite stimulant and digestant. It has been used as a vermifuge. It is believed to stimulate the liver and is beneficial to the heart and nervous system.

How We eat our Meals In Sri Lanka

In Sri Lanka we eat 3 Warm and spicy Meals a Day. All meals feature Spices, Herbs, Curry and coconut as the main flavoring ingredients. A meal consists of a staple and a few accompaniments. The hotness of the meals differs according to the regions. Breakfast consists of mainly Rice, Bread or rice based products like coconut Milk rice, String Hoppers, Hoppers, Pittu and Roti with one or several curries as side dishes and a sambal. Lunch as a standard consists of rice and several curries and accompaniments like papads pickle or chutney. And dinner could be rice and curry again or String Hoppers, Hoppers, Pittu and Roti with several curries and a sambal.

Being a predominantly Buddhist country and having a wide choice of fresh vegetables growing right through the year, vegetable curry is a regular feature. Sri Lanka is also an island nation surrounded by the Indian Ocean with its rich marine hence Fish is a regular feature in our daily meals too. With the influence of the western cultures since the 15th century Chicken beef and Pork feature in our meals too with a diverse list of spicy fusion receipes.