Desi Remedies
Gharelu totkay and kitchen remedies, explained properly: what each spice, seed and pantry staple is traditionally used for, exact quantities, how to prepare it, and who should go easy. Tradition described honestly, never dressed up as medicine.
36 posts in this series
Asafoetida (Hing): Why It Is Cut With Flour and How to Bloom It in Fat
Hing smells awful in the jar and like fried onions in hot ghee. Why it is cut with flour, how to bloom…
Star Anise (Badiyan): Buying the Safe Kind and Using One Star Well
Only Chinese star anise is food. How to buy labelled whole stars, avoid the toxic Japanese lookalike, and use one star in…
Bay Leaf and Tej Patta: Two Different Leaves With One English Name
Indian tej patta and Mediterranean bay are different leaves from different trees. How to tell them apart, use them, and always take…
Nutmeg and Mace (Jaiphal and Javitri): One Fruit, Two Spices, One Real Warning
Nutmeg and mace come from one fruit. How to grate them, how much is right, and the plain warning that large amounts…
Saffron (Zafran): How to Spot Fakes, Bloom It Properly and Use a Pinch Well
Saffron is the most faked spice there is. How to spot real threads, bloom them properly in warm milk, and why one…
Black Cardamom (Badi Elaichi): Why It Is Not Just Big Green Cardamom
Black cardamom is a different plant from green, not a bigger version. How to buy smoky pods, use them early in fat,…
Haldi (Turmeric): How to Buy It, Use It and Not Overdo It
Haldi is the spice that marks you. It gets on the cutting board, under a nail, into the seam of a plastic…
Adrak and Sonth: Fresh and Dried Ginger, Used Properly
Ginger is two spices wearing one name. Fresh adrak is juicy, hot and green at the edges, while dried sonth is a…
Choti Elaichi (Green Cardamom): Buying, Storing and Using It Well
Crack a good green cardamom pod between your teeth and the whole kitchen changes: sweet, resinous, a little eucalyptus, a little citrus…
Dalchini: Ceylon vs Cassia Cinnamon, and Which One You Actually Have
Most of what gets sold as cinnamon in South Asia, and in a good half of the world's supermarkets, is not cinnamon…
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