Cooking Blog

Today I’m making a lamb tagine in the slow cooker (lamb shanks cooked with chick peas, tomato, sweet potato and Moroccan spices).  I say making, as currently I’m at work and hoping like crazy that it’s all working out.

The preparation was all going well and then it happened.  The recipe required cardamom pods, not cardamom powder, but cardamom pods.  Panic.  There was plenty of powder in the pantry (although it was ridiculously out of date) but NO PODS!  There was nothing that could be done other than to proceed with the powder.  So, in it went, reluctantly sprinkled over the top while I sniffed furiously for a faint hint of cardamom fragrance and some confirmation of freshness.

This was a reminder of the problem with spices in the kitchen.  The trouble is, spices are one of those things where you see the small pack, then your eyes land on the ‘much better value’ large pack.  The value pack finds its way into the shopping trolley, and subsequently the pantry.  Then the next dilemma is there is usually no way the ‘value pack’ can be used up before the expiry date.  And many times it will compact into an unusable block even before the expiry date.

Another problem with spices, is that unlike herbs, it’s not easy to have a spice ‘garden’.  You can’t just duck down to the backyard and snip a few cumin seeds or nutmeg pods.   And chances are if you could, the spices you needed wouldn’t be growing in the back yard anyway as there are that many spice ‘blends’ these days, it can be difficult to know what goes in where.

Spice blends are another breed of their own.  Today there are blends representing all types of cuisines and flavours and it can be hard to keep up.  But you can guarantee that the one spice or spice blend you need won’t be in the pantry – another one to add to the inventory.

Despite their problems, spices are wonderful and cooking would not be the same without the fantastic fragrances and flavours they add.  I just wish they were a bit easier to deal with at times – but that’s just me.

And I bet the lamb tagine is sensational, despite the cardamom.