Spices etc for Indian recipes

flahers

Got a present of a beautifully illustrated cook book from a friend for my birthday. Love Indian so decided I'm going to try my hand at some of the dishes but alas the amount of different spices needed for even one recipe is enormous and I dont know if the ordinary supermarkets stock them. Can anyone tell me where I would go to buy Indial spices, thanks

quaalude

flahers wrote: »

Got a present of a beautifully illustrated cook book from a friend for my birthday. Love Indian so decided I'm going to try my hand at some of the dishes but alas the amount of different spices needed for even one recipe is enormous and I dont know if the ordinary supermarkets stock them. Can anyone tell me where I would go to buy Indial spices, thanks

Are you in Dublin?
If so, there are two Indian food shops behind the Bleeding Horse pub, at the intersection of Harcourt Road and Richmond Street, that are deadly for spices, and all other ingredients needed for Indian cooking (lentils etc.). Most are really cheap, and should last ages.

flahers

I live in Kildare but dont mind making the trip to stock up. Looking forward to some yummy Indial cooking. Thanks

d'Oracle

Also a very good one on Mary Street, at the capel street end.
Asian Food Co.
You can get really big bags of the staple stuff like Cumin, Coriander seed, cloves, bay leaves etc.

Some of the bigger non-subcontinental asian stores (if its not racist to say that, it probably is.) stock a limited range of the more common stuff.

lordstilton

Eurasia on the cold cut road not far from liffey valley is an asian supermarket...aroma foods is another one in clondalkin....very cheap for spices and a hugh range

Swampy

Asian Supermarket on Druiry Street.

It will cost you a fortune to buy them all in a supermarket like Tesco.

Crazyivan 1979

Aroma foods in clondalkin I.E. is brilliant, very cheap, do fresh fish and meat as well as frozen delicacies. You'd pick 30 chillies for under a euro.

olaola

http://www.bombaybazaar.ie/

Here is an online place if you don't want to travel.

The Sweeper

Your supermarket.

Seriously. Sharwoods. In the supermarket. Those little expensive jars.

/edited to add just seen you saying the spices required for some dishes are enormous - can you tell us what book you have? I do have a recipe at home that uses, say, nearly 10 tablespoons of ground cumin in a beef curry (you stir a lot of spice through about 400g of yoghurt before adding that, spoon by spoon, to the dish). However using that much spice is relatively rare - usually dishes for up to four people call for up to two tablespoons of each spice and no more. That's nearly a whole Sharwoods jar, but at the same time if you cook a dish like that once a week every week, your spices will still have deteriorated if you bulk buy, by the time you get to the end of the packet.

The big 500g bags of ground cumin etc. are bulk value for money, but spices go off. They loose flavour and aroma and turn to sawdust quite quickly. The whole ones shrivel and dry out. Unless you're cooking vast amounts of Indian food, even six months in the cupboard is enough to ruin spices left in plastic. It might just keep spices in airtight jars.

Buy little and often, as you need them, and use them quickly. Buy refills for the jars next time around.

Some keep better than others if you store them in really airtight jars (star anise, cinnamon quills, cassia quillls, cloves, black peppercorns, fennel seeds, cumin seeds) and some don't (cardamom pods). Some of the powders and dried spices also seem to keep better than others as long as you put them in airtight containers (chili powder and chili flakes keep, turmeric keeps.)

Ground cumin and ground coriander just don't keep. They turn to sawdust in a matter of weeks if they're not kept in airtight containers, and months if they are.

I used to buy bulk and use relatively quickly (e.g. I'd use up a 500g bag of cumin in <12 months) but even then, I really noticed the difference one day when I restocked and was struck by the state of my jar of cardamom pods (shrivelled and pale) versus the new cardamoms I'd bought (fat and green), and especially the cumin - the scent and colour of the new packet was strong and vibrant versus the poor shadow of sawdust-spice I'd been using up.

The other option if you're going to do a LOT of spice cooking, is buy a cheap electric coffee grinder and a bunch of airtight jars (anything with a rubber seal), and buy your spices whole and grind them in the coffee grinder. Whole cumin seeds tend to keep longer than the powder, and if you quickly roast and grind them before use they pack a real flavour punch, better than buying ground and storing it. You roast spices by putting them in a dry pan over a medium-high heat and keeping a close eye to make sure they don't burn. When they take on some colour and you can start to smell them strongly, pour out of the pan onto a cold plate to stop the cooking process. Allow them to cool, and grind them in the grinder (or a mortar and pestle if you're a purist).

The other angle if you're going to start off doing a lot of cooking is buy bulk packets and write the purchase date on them. You might use a lot for the first two weeks and then get a bit tired of it. Make a pact with yourself to review the packets in the pantry after three months and six months, and throw them out if they're deteriorating - the waste shouldn't be too hard on the pocket if the bulk packs were cheap.

Spice is such a marvellously flavourful thing, it's a real pity to bulk buy and make dishes where you're doing an injustice to good, expensive meat and veg ingredients and great yoghurt, for instance, by stirring in a pile of aging spice dust instead of the vibrant, punchy flavours it should be imparting.

Acoshla

I have found pretty much all my Indian spices in Tesco, for really reasonable prices, I go through a TON of cumin and turmeric and always restock in Tesco. I have about 15 spices on the go the whole time and all of them come from there.

unkel

Spadina wrote: »

I go through a TON of cumin and turmeric and always restock in Tesco. I have about 15 spices on the go the whole time and all of them come from there.

Are you serious? :eek:

You pay at least 10 times as much for the likes of cumin and tumeric in Tesco compared with an Asian shop. As others said, Aroma in Clondalkin is the cheapest I've found for spices, especially in bulk.

Alun

Agree. You can get smaller packs in the Asian shops as well, 100g packs of cumin and coriander seeds for example. You don't have to buy 500g or 1kg bags of everything just because you can.

Acoshla

unkel wrote: »

Are you serious? :eek:

You pay at least 10 times as much for the likes of cumin and tumeric in Tesco compared with an Asian shop. As others said, Aroma in Clondalkin is the cheapest I've found for spices, especially in bulk.

Not everyone lives in or around Dublin, there are no Asian shops near me and my local Tesco is priced quite reasonably if compared to me driving an hour away to get them in an Asian shop. If the person is only trying out these recipes for the first time bulk buying might not suit either. It was just an option if they were looking for different spices to try out for first attempts at recipes.

unkel

Spadina wrote: »

Not everyone lives in or around Dublin, there are no Asian shops near me and my local Tesco is priced quite reasonably if compared to me driving an hour away to get them in an Asian shop.

You're an hours' drive away from an Asian shop? Sorry, I didn't realise that. I thought every major town would have an Asian shop by now, but maybe not. There are about 5 of them within 2 miles from me and I live 10 miles outside Dublin. You said you use loads of cumin and turmeric, so maybe a trip every 6 months or so would still save you money?

boodlesdoodles

unkel wrote: »

Are you serious? :eek:

You pay at least 10 times as much for the likes of cumin and tumeric in Tesco compared with an Asian shop. As others said, Aroma in Clondalkin is the cheapest I've found for spices, especially in bulk.

Actually, Tesco do a fairly decent own brand range now and all for under a euro or at most 1.50. Unless you're using spices every single day of the week in every meal, then bulk buying is a false economy.

unkel

I know, I have several of the Tesco brand spices

In fairness to them, they are a lot more reasonable than most other supermarkets. And I'm not advocating people go to the Asian shops and buy spices in the 5KG bags

But your €1,50 in Tesco buys you say 20g. In the Asian shop you'd get 100g for half that. For spices you use a lot, you'd save a tidy sum over there...

boodlesdoodles

unkel wrote: »

I know, I have several of the Tesco brand spices

In fairness to them, they are a lot more reasonable than most other supermarkets. And I'm not advocating people go to the Asian shops and buy spices in the 5KG bags

But your €1,50 in Tesco buys you say 20g. In the Asian shop you'd get 100g for half that. For spices you use a lot, you'd save a tidy sum over there...

I agree with you though. I use spices a lot so I do buy from the Asian shops. Though, I have to buy sweet paprika in Tesco as I can't find it anywhere else, and nowhere seems to do the La Chinata anymore. I gots to have my smoky paprika!

unkel

boodlesdoodles wrote: »

nowhere seems to do the La Chinata anymore.

Amazon.co.uk do but I've yet to figure out a way to keep the shipping costs down

I haven't used this crowd yet, but it looks very promising for Spanish food / ingredients. They stock La Chinata too. Just noticed they have a collection point in Dublin, so if you collect there, you pay no delivery charges (the same setup as komplett.ie if you're into buying computer parts)

€2.50 for your favourite paprika

arsenal

+1 for the indian supermarkets behind the bleeding horse, on the slip road that goes onto the protobello road.

Asian supermarket on Drury st does a good selection of spices.

There's also a place beside vicar st that has a great range of spices, run by an iraqi guy I think, good for iranian herb mixes!


Just to add to the debate, my indian friend says they might not taste as great as they did the moment you opened them but they don't really "go off" that badly.... I wouldn't be too worried about it! Also, doubt you'd get something like black cardamon in Tesco... although I could be wrong!?!

the beer revolu

These guys have seriously good spices - not cheap, though.
Irish too.

Davey Devil

I've used the Green Saffron spices on many occasions. Can't recommend them highly enough.

the beer revolu wrote: »

These guys have seriously good spices - not cheap, though.
Irish too.

booth70

Eurasia in Lucan is another place that stocks Indian food items

http://www.yelp.ie/biz/eurasia-supermarket-and-travel-agent-lucan

Curry Addict

the beer revolu wrote: »

These guys have seriously good spices - not cheap, though.
Irish too.

their prices are shocking tbh

Alun

I'd be more worried about buying from a site that thinks that black cumin and caraway are the same thing! (Hint: they're not!)

joseph brand

olaola wrote: »

http://www.bombaybazaar.ie/

Here is an online place if you don't want to travel.

http://bombaybazar.ie/index.php

Probably best place for me, they are in Blanchardstown. I'm in Navan. Don't think there's any Asian/ Indian shops in Navan.