Ground cardamom

Can be hard to find. Most recipes in Ottolenghi SIMPLE start, therefore, with whole cardamom pods and work from there (getting you to bash the pods open and gently crush the seeds inside). If you can find ground cardamom, though (and we sell it at Ottolenghi), then do get hold of some and use this instead. It brings an aromatic and distinctive sweetness to all sorts of desserts and savoury dishes. It’s there in the soba noodles in Ottolenghi SIMPLE, for example, and in the salsa to go with the pan-fried mackerel. As a guide, if a recipe talks of ½ teaspoon of cardamom seeds (which you’d then crush yourself), you should use ¼ teaspoon of ready-ground cardamom. Flavour bombs are one thing but you don’t want them to actually explode in your mouth.