Cinnamon & Cardamom Powder

Ground sweet spices turn up in both savoury and sweet South Asian cooking. Cardamom powder, elachi, perfumes kheer, payasam, halwa, shrikhand and a cup of chai. Cinnamon and clove powders go into biryani masalas, Sri Lankan meat curries and cakes, while fennel powder is used in Kashmiri gravies and Chettinad dishes, and nutmeg is grated into watalappam, the Sri Lankan jaggery custard.

Each has its own job. Cardamom leads in milk sweets and tea, cinnamon suits both biryani and baking, clove is strong enough that a pinch flavours a whole pot, fennel brings a gentle aniseed sweetness, and nutmeg belongs in custards and rich meat dishes such as nihari. Most cooks keep elachi and cinnamon ground and buy the rest as needed.

These are the most volatile spices on the shelf, and ground cardamom in particular loses its scent within weeks of opening. Buy the smallest pack that suits you and store it in a sealed jar in a dark cupboard. When a recipe depends on the aroma, grind loose seeds from cardamom or snap whole cinnamon sticks. For puddings, you might also want a kheer and payasam mix. For garam masala made at home, you will also want coriander powder and cumin powder from the ground spices.