Ground Cardamom - Where in Dublin can you get it?

ixoy

What is it about this spice that's difficult to get? It's easy enough to get whole cardamom, or even black cardamom seeds but I don't always have the time to get the mortar'n'pestle to work and cardamom is too bitter to leave in any sizeable form. Is it so hard to find because those people who are using this spice are taking the time to grind it down first?

Just wondering if any of ye know a good place to get ground cardamom as a spice in Dublin (more specifically the city centre). I've tried Tescos in Jervis Street, Dunnes on Georges Street, a variety of Supervalu / Londis / etc. and both Oriental Emporiums on Abbey Street and Georges Street (no luck). Think I also tried another Asian shop near Parnell street.
Hopefully there's a super spice store that will solve my problems like this..

The Sweeper

I don't think I've ever seen it on sale ground, anywhere now you say it. And when I say anywhere I mean Ireland, the UK or Australia, Asian quarters, speciality stores or supermarkets...

Bah - buy a cheap coffee grinder - like £15 - and use that exclusively for your ground spices. Yeah, so ground cardamom might not last long in bulk, but how much of it are you really going to use that it'd be such a hassle to get the grinder out for five minutes? Fresh ground spices are more pungent anyway, better in your dish...

CJhaughey

I only ever use whole pods and then remove them after cooking, what recipe out of interest uses ground Cardamom?
I have never seen it used or for sale in ground form.

The Sweeper

I've seen them 'cracked' - e.g. smack 'em with the flat of the knife before you chuck em into a dish...

The Hill Billy

I'd go with MAJD on this & get a cheap grinder.
Throw in a few black cardamom pods at a time & blitz them.
I'm sure though that you can get it in asian supermarkets.

ixoy

I know I used to have a little bag of ground cardamom but my mum gave it to me and she doesn't know where she got it. Doing a quick google search shows that it does exist somewhere in the world..

As to the recipe, it was an Indian chicken curry (cardamom, garam masala, chili, sugar, corriander). I actually do recall my mum used to use original cardamom seeds but I used to dread biting into bits that weren't ground down fully, hence the desire to have someone else do the work for me even if there's that lack of freshness.

The Sweeper

I'm having this same conversation on the chicken tikka thread.

Brown the meat off in oil. Remove from pan. In pan, make the sauce - onions, garlic, ginger, spices, whatever. Add liquid - be it tomatoes, stock, again whatever. Cook until reduced. Using a hand blender, blitz smooth so you've got no bits. Then return the meat to the pan to cook through. Bobs your not-biting-on-whole-spices uncle.

BaZmO*

ixoy wrote:

What is it about this spice that's difficult to get? It's easy enough to get whole cardamom, or even black cardamom seeds but I don't always have the time to get the mortar'n'pestle to work and cardamom is too bitter to leave in any sizeable form. Is it so hard to find because those people who are using this spice are taking the time to grind it down first?

Just wondering if any of ye know a good place to get ground cardamom as a spice in Dublin (more specifically the city centre). I've tried Tescos in Jervis Street, Dunnes on Georges Street, a variety of Supervalu / Londis / etc. and both Oriental Emporiums on Abbey Street and Georges Street (no luck). Think I also tried another Asian shop near Parnell street.
Hopefully there's a super spice store that will solve my problems like this..

I'm surpised that you couldn't get them in that Asian shop on the LUAS line at Jervis Street. It has a wide range of spices at ridiculously cheap prices. Was in there last Saturday to get Fennel Seeds that I couldn't get anywhere else and a bag of them cost 69c and there was probably 3 times the amount that you'd get in a one of those little Schwartz jars that you get in a supermarket for about €2.50 each.

Personally I'd prefer to get the pods and crack them in a Pestle and Mortar and remove the husks. The seeds are then extremely easy to crush.

Minesajackdaniels wrote:

Bah - buy a cheap coffee grinder - like £15 - and use that exclusively for your ground spices.

Bought one of these recently and they're the business. I don't mind using a Pestle & Mortar if I'm just grounding a small amount of spices but if you're doing a lot it's very easy to lose the will to live.

Minesajackdaniels wrote:

Brown the meat off in oil. Remove from pan. In pan, make the sauce - onions, garlic, ginger, spices, whatever. Add liquid - be it tomatoes, stock, again whatever. Cook until reduced. Using a hand blender, blitz smooth so you've got no bits. Then return the meat to the pan to cook through. Bobs your not-biting-on-whole-spices uncle.

Would that work for the likes of Cardamom? The husks would still be in bits? Although I suppose they do soften up once cooked.

dudara

BaZmO* wrote:

Personally I'd prefer to get the pods and crack them in a Pestle and Mortar and remove the husks. The seeds are then extremely easy to crush.

Ditto, I just crush the pods, and take out the seeds, then crush them in the mortar. Sometimes, when my SO cooks he crushes the pod and and then cooks with it. I absolutely hate biting into a pod when eating my dindins

Spoony2

if you cant get it theres another way arounf it , u can get these tea leaf strainers that are mor or less the sise of a gold ball crush them stick them in that then dump in to what ever dish your makeing...

so more or less your getting the flavour with ut that crunch ewwwww

BaZmO*

Ioxy, I noticed another Asia shop on the way into town that you might try. It's on Thomas Street beside Vicar St.

ixoy

Got it in the Asia Food Co. on Mary Street - thanks to Alun here on boards for the tip!

I could crush the pods but I'd need to remove the husks first and then crush them. I tried it before but they didn't seem to grind very well. Considered getting the coffee grinder but this bag will do for a good while.

It does make me wonder why anyone would buy the majority of their spices in a shop when these places sell the same stuff (if not better) at prices that are several times cheaper...

The Hill Billy

ixoy wrote: »

It does make me wonder why anyone would buy the majority of their spices in a shop when these places sell the same stuff (if not better) at prices that are several times cheaper...

It's not just several times cheaper. Nana Billy bought a large bag (1 or 2 kg - can't quite remember) of the finest chili powder a while ago for €5 or €6. To buy the equivalent amount of a well known brand in the wee tubs available in your local supermarket worked out at €56.

Granted, it would take the average punter 5 or 6 years to get through the amount she bought, but the Billy family buy in bulk & divvy it out amongst 4 of us. Same goes for buying the large bags of rice they have in the Asian shops. They're cheap as chips compared to the farty 500g bags you normally see in the local shops.

_blank_

Hill Billy wrote: »

farty

Ha, great word there.

My mam uses that all the time.

TScul

Generally cardamom doesn't have a great shelf life once it's ground, loses its flavour far more quickly than other spices, only a couple of days, so that's why you generally don't see it sold already ground.