The World Of 1001 Spices

The miracle of oriental cooking that I’ve got to know during my travels in India and Saudi Arabia left me with a strong love for spices and all the flavors they bring to an ordinary food.

For me, being till then a fan of traditional cooking, with a drop of salt and pepper and maybe occasionally some paprika these strange spices appeared like something out of the Arabian nights and I always have associated them with the rice served steaming on a platter and eaten by hand by a numerous family sitting down on the barren earth.

The cuscus as I have imagined it reading stories about India was so full of a plenitude of taste and the meat served with was dressed in a combination of alluring flavors that a gourmand would have had a wonderful time discovering and identifying them.

The reality was quite the same to my surprise. I have eaten in Indian restaurant in 4 different countries and I must say I loved every course.

I remember seeing movies when the boy and the girl went to dinner and ate a lot of spicy food that made them jump up and down. I did experience the sensation with the Indian chili sauce and it was quite entertaining.

Discussing recipes with my usual friends over a hot cup of tea, we always come by the nasty topic of “what are we making for dinner?”. As you well know, every lady comes to a point when, at list now and then, has no idea what course she can bring up to “ spice“ a bit the usual menu.

Well the new trend in my group of girlfriends passionate about cooking is Indian food. After making chicken masala a few times I thought I should really take under the consideration the sharing of the recipe.

The beautiful color of the meat that I get from turmeric powder is my personal pride and I must say that after a few times my yogurt, curry and tomato sauce got a lot of applause when I have presented it to my lady friends.

My personal favorites from the oriental spices are the cardamom, a powder of joy, the curry – a spice of wonders and the ginger- the grace of taste.

I use all of them and I must say the combination of these kinds of flavors makes the Indian food one of the many wonders of that amazing country.

If someone would have told me a few years ago that the spices will conquer my kitchen and that I will praise them in writing I would have laughed.

The wonders of the Indian kitchen can be much more than just eating something hot to find excuse for a beer.

The spices have a story, one that reminds me of the Arabian nights, close to mystery and perfection, so far away and yet so near, and are the perfect alluring oriental delight.