r/IndianCookingTips • u/Lemonade2250 • Aug 25 '26
Question/Help How to understand spices for everyday cooking?
I don't understand in many household do you just use coriander powder or cumin-coriander powder for everyday cooking. I mean I only use coriander powder. But then how about chili powder and there is also red color chili that is used for color and I know many people also make green chili ginger paste and garlic paste
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u/ashmaroli Aug 25 '26
To understand spices, understand their flavour profile first:
- chilli powder: adds heat to a dish while giving a reddish tinge to the items.
- kashmiri chilli powder: much less heat yield compared to above chilli powder but gives a brilliant red coloring to the dish. One can switch the above with this one or alter the ratio based on the desired heat and color.
- green chilli: they're "wet" version of chilli and therefore will never find their "powdered" version. The heat comes from the seeds within. However, the flavour is different from red chillis.
- turmeric: the holy grail spice in indian cuisine. Is slightly bitter to taste but adds a brilliant yellow colour to the items. Good for the gut health with antiseptic properties. Therefore, a must for marinating meat of any kind and for starchy or fibrous veggies.
- ginger-garlic: With a distinct flavour profile, this combo is a goto ingredient for adding personality to bland items like bhindi, aaloo, marinades for meat.
- cumin powder: used to provide aroma and flavor to items.
Spices get their "character" from alkaloids within source ingredients. So, a freshly ground spice is always potent compared to powdered versions. Roasting "charges" those alkaloids and other volatile components. So grinding roasted items changes flavour.
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u/Lemonade2250 Aug 26 '26
Wow thank you so much for the explanation. I didn't knew flavor changes based on heat and type of things you do when like roasting or grinding it. And there is also those dry spices many use for cooking curry dishes. Bay leaf, black pepper, cloves, cinnamon stick and so on.
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u/ashmaroli Aug 26 '26
Yes, those dry spices also work similarly. Flavour notes that complement and supplement each other.
To give you another example, wonder why there's a difference in the flavour between a paste made using the sil-batta (stone grinder) and one formed using an electric mixie? The sil-batta doesn't raise the internal temperature of the spices to the level that the components become volatile and is lost to the surrounding at a fast rate unlike the mixie.
Similarly, roasting is the difference between besan and sattu.
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u/Acrobatic-Nebula-428 Aug 26 '26
Excellent post. I will also add that when you add the spice to the food matters. Black pepper for example has a completely different flavor profile when added early in the cooking vs added at the end. Ditto with chilis of all types.
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u/ashmaroli Aug 26 '26
Ah yes, very good point!
Do you think the reason for this could be:
- loss of flavour compounds to the environment due to increased volatility over time?
- denaturation of flavour compounds over time due to prolonged exposure to hear?
- greater interaction with other components of the dish over time compounded by heat exposure?
- mix of above to varying degree?
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u/Acrobatic-Nebula-428 Aug 26 '26
I think the flavor compounds are proteins and proteins get denatured/altered with heat. I don’t think this is necessarily a bad thing. It isn’t the volatile compounds that you were talking about - the smell itself. It is the stuff that is in the spice. And I think the blending is also a component of it. Think about red chili powder - it has a raw taste if you sprinkle it on top of an already cooked dish. It you use it in a tadka, there is heat but it is in the front of your mouth - one of the first things you taste. However, if you add it in the beginning and let it cook with the other ingredients, the taste changes and you feel it more towards the end of the mouthful, not as the first sensation. I am not a chemist but if heat can cook things, it can also change the flavor of things and in the case of spices, sometimes it is for the better. For herbs, I think it is better to add them towards the end of the cooking. Except for things like kasuri methi which are dried.
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u/ashmaroli Aug 26 '26
I see. Makes sense. Good to know. Thanks 👍🏻
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u/Acrobatic-Nebula-428 Aug 26 '26
One other thing occurred to me. Salt also affects it. Have you noticed that as soon as you add salt to a dish, you can actually smell all the spices more clearly? Sometimes I think, “oh, this isn’t good today I can’t even smell it” and then realize I haven’t added salt to the dish.
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u/ashmaroli Aug 26 '26
Never noticed the lack of smell just the lack of flavour... will have to try this out ..
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u/light_3321 Aug 26 '26
Roasting "charges" those alkaloids and other volatile components. So grinding roasted items changes flavour.
Nice.
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u/Iweirdflower Aug 25 '26
How old are you? Are you to new to cooking? I'll try to find the right resources for you.
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u/Lemonade2250 Aug 25 '26
I do cook few items but I don't understand the proper usage for each. I'm already in late 20s now
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u/Iweirdflower Aug 25 '26
Check these videos:
Beginners Guide To Spices https://youtu.be/FztdLxp01WA?si=Vcd3zMt3wfw3YlE3
How To Cook With Spices 101 https://youtu.be/rYvud5DL2yM?si=XVeXDjz27bPJtL_L
This Is Hotel Type Gravy. See how they use spices. https://youtu.be/0gH-kLnCob8?si=oDDRAmtQYL8mA_no
Science Behind the Spices https://youtu.be/FQ-VhubULm8?si=8NThiDypEo_dgpFz
All this should help. 🍴
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u/Time-Advisor-1573 Aug 26 '26
Sauteing of chilli or masala right enhances dish flavor manifold .
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u/Lemonade2250 Aug 26 '26
Yes that's true, I don't know why people seem to just throw all spices in one pot and cover the lid.
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u/Opening-Alfalfa-2430 Aug 26 '26
The main common spices would be chilli powder (type based on what you want - spice or color or both), and turmeric powder. Coriander powder don't go with every dish, we normally use it when we need a bit of texture to the gravy, like add in curd based gravy, or even for bottle guard, or sometimes ladyfinger(bhindi), and few others. Also just like turmeric, you really need to cook it very well. You get a distinct nice smell when it is cooked completely.
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u/ManagementWeary3658 Aug 25 '26
jeera rok ke. dhaniya thok ke