HERBS & SPICES

Thai sweet basil, which is known as Horopa in Thai. It has pointed smooth green leaves and purplish stems. It is sweet and delicately scented with anise.

Holy basil (kra pao -Thai) is slightly hairy and quite pungent with an almost spicy, peppery taste sometimes compared to cloves .

Pandan Leaves (screwpine) are stiff and long blades of leaves with a pronounced furrow down its centre. Added when cooking rice or deserts for added fragrance. May also be pounded, the green juice extracted to be added to food for colouring in addition to flavouring. Sometime it is also used to wrap around morsels of food before frying or grilling, or fashioned into containers for desserts.

Lemon grass (serai -Malay), a tall grass with very fleshy leaf bases that are used for flavouring food, especially curries. Use only 10-12 cm of the slightly swollen leaf bases. When sliced and dried, they keep well.

Galangal, sometimes known as Thai or Siamese ginger. It has a very pronounced aromatic and a hot ginger-citrusy flavour; used similarly to ginger and garlic as a seasoning and as an ingredients. Fresh ginger can be substituted but flavour of the dish will not be the same.

Kaffir lime leaves are very thick, it look like two glossy dark green leaves joined end to end, forming a round hourglass shape. It can be shredded or added whole to flavoured curries. Kaffir lime leaves keep well when sealed in a plastic bag and frozen. It retain its flavour when thawed; impart a strong citrus flavour. Dried leaves are less potent, so double the number called for in the recipe if substituted with dried.

Curry leaves available fresh and dried. Use leaves to give extra flavour and depth to curries; remove before serving.

Yellow turmeric (kunyit -Malay) must be grated or pounded to release its somewhat acrid aroma and pungent flavour. Known for the golden colour it imparts to food, fresh turmeric can be substituted with dried turmeric powder.

Sichuan peppercorn has a unique aroma and flavour that is not hot or pungent like black or white pepper, or chili peppers, but has slight lemony overtones and creates in the mouth a kind of tingly numbness that sets the stage for these hot spices. Recipes often suggest lightly toasting and then crushing the tiny seedpods before adding them to food. Only the husks are used; the seeds are discarded or ignored. It is generally added at the last moment. It is considered to go well with fish, duck, and chicken dishes, as well as with fried eggplant.

Star anise, a star shaped dried pod whose seeds have an astringent aniseed flavour; used to flavour stocks and marinades.

Cassia bark (kayu manis -Malay) both powdered and in whole, or "stick" form is used as a flavouring agent, for candies, desserts, baked goods, and meat; it is specified in many curry recipes, where cinnamon is less suitable. It is sometimes added to true cinnamon but is a much thicker, coarser product. Cassia is sold as pieces of bark or as neat quills or sticks. Cassia sticks can be distinguished from true Cinnamon sticks in the following manner: Cinnamon sticks have many thin layers and can easily be made into powder using a coffee or spice grinder, whereas Cassia sticks are extremely hard, are usually made up of one thick layer.

Chinese five-spice powder based on a mixture of five spices which represent the five basic flavours at the root of Chinese cooking - sweet, sour, bitter, hot and salty - the powder is traditionally made up of star anise, cloves, fennel seeds, cinnamon and Sichuan peppercorns.

Sichimi togarashi (seven flavour chili pepper) or simply shichimi, is a common Japanese spice mixture containing seven ingredients. It is also known as nanami togarashi. The main ingredient is coarsely ground red chili pepper, to which is typically added mandarin orange peel, sesame seed, poppy seed, hemp seed, nori and ground sansho (a relative of Sichuan pepper) Some recipes may substitute or supplement these with yuzu peel, rapeseed, ginger, or shiso. It is often used in soups and on noodles. Shichimi should be distinguished from ichimi togarashi , which is simply ground red chili pepper. le soup in a mildly flavored broth, in its simplest form as kake udon , served in kakejiru made of dashi, Japanese soy sauce (shoyu), and mirin but it can be use for stir-fry as well.