The Flavour of Seasoning

The most common link between all Indian cooking is the seasoning, something added to food for the extra flavour. I would say that this is a kind of an after thought to a dish….but what a PS! It can add incredible flavour and aroma to any dish.

The seasoning differs from region to region all over India. The base of the seasoning is a cooking medium—the oil or ghee. It could be mustard oil if it were Bengal. It is most often ghee in the North where temperatures tend to be colder. In the West it would be ghee or peanut oil. In the South each state likes its cooking medium. In Kerala and coastal Karnataka it is coconut oil, in Tamil Nadu it is traditionally Sesame oil (called nalla ennai or good oil) and in Andhra Pradesh it is sesame or peanut oil.

The process of seasoning is to put a spoonful to a generous ladle of oil/ghee in an iron ladle and place it on the fire. When it becomes smoking hot then spices are added and allowed to splutter and then poured hot on to a dish. The dish may then be stirred up to amalgamate the spices or allowed to just float on the top.

Many seasonings in South India start with a red chilli that is immersed in the hot oil/ghee and cooked until red and crispy. Then mustard is added and maybe cumin seeds followed by that wonderfully aromatic spice, asafoetida that acts as a digestive as well as a spice to the cooking. Finally curry leaves are added and crisped and then poured on to a cooked dish. In Tamil Nadu a spoonful of urad dhal (split, broken, husked black gram) is added to the seasoning to give texture to gravies. It is also a source of high protein. Fenugreek is added to tamarind based gravies.

In the North the seasoning is usually cumin seeds and or garam masala ingredients like cloves, cardamoms and cinnamon sticks with a pod or two of crushed garlic. In the west it is mustard seeds, sesame seeds, cumin and asafoetida. The East coast states like Bengal, Bihar and Orissa use the paanch-phoren--five-spice mixture of cumin, fennel, fenugreek, black mustard seeds and kalonji or nigella—the small black seeds of the Love-in-a-Mist plant. With the mustard oil it gives a distinctive flavour to any dish both vegetarian and non-vegetarian.

For special dishes in all homes spice powders of pepper, coriander and cumin are added to the hot oil/ghee and then the whole dish is garnished with chopped coriander leaves and/or mint leaves.

An important feature of an Indian kitchen is the spice box. In olden times it used to be a rectangle wooden chest that would sit in a corner of the kitchen floor near the floor level stoves that used firewood. Then the round brass containers began to be popular shining and adding illumination to the dark kitchens. Today in modern kitchens you can find round stainless steel containers with little cups inside that hold the various spices—urad dhal, chana dhal, mustard, cumin, coriander and fenugreek seeds, red chillies and sesame or ajwain (called Bishop's weed, caraway or carom seeds in the West) and even a mixture of the five-spices ready to be put into the hot oil or ghee. Another box will contain all the powders needed for cooking like turmeric, chilli, cumin, coriander, sambhar powder and garam masala. This container makes life easy with all the spices available at hand for the seasoning. The distinct blue Tupperware spice box is a newcomer to Indian kitchens.

Can you smell the wonderful aroma of the seasoning in an Indian kitchen?