Earthiness Acts to Bind other Flavours Together and Give Depth

It will balance sweet spices, like cinnamon, and bring out the woodiness in black pepper. Coriander seed is cumin’s classic companion, the pungent bitterness of the cumin seeds dancing with the floral brightness of coriander. Successful marriages require parallels as well as counterbalances, and this pair share the citrusy compound cymene, making theirs the perfect union.

The foundations of many Indian dishes are laid by a combination of cumin, coriander, turmeric, chilli and ginger. And so, these have been collected together, often with fenugreek added to the mix, to form curry powder. It was a nineteenth-century Anglo-Indian invention, when powders in shades of yellow (mild), russet and red (hot) became widely available in Britain. The nuance of Indian cookery was overlooked. In South Asia, separate spices are ground daily, giving each dish the individuality it demands. Traditionally, they were crushed by hand on a flat grindstone and wealthy households would employ a dedicated spice grinder, called a masalchi; today a mechanical.