How2Day: Asian Spices & Herbs

Used in desserts in western cooking, cinnamon often flavors savory Asian dishes. Ed Freeman/Photodisc/Getty Images
From warm and sweet cinnamon to pungent and aromatic ginger to the bright, citrus flavor of lemongrass, Asian herbs and spices bring rich flavors to any dish in which they are added. While many Asian herbs and spices may be familiar to Western cooking, their use may be completely different, making for an interesting and often surprising taste experience.

Cinnamon comes from the inner bark of the evergreen tree, Cinnamonum zeylanicum. While used primarily in desserts in the United States and Europe, the warm, sweet, and slightly spicy flavor of cinnamon is often used in Asian meat dishes, such as Thai koa ka mu, or pork thigh, and spice mixes, including Indian garam masala. Cinnamon is available in whole strips of bark, called quills, which can be grated or ground into food. Ground cinnamon is also widely available.

Often found in Chinese and Southeast Asian cuisines, ginger adds a pungent spiciness to foods. Derived from the rhizomes of the Ginger plant, these root-like stems, are often described as hand-shaped with knobby "fingers" projecting from a central rhizome. Fresh ginger is often ground and added to dishes to add a spicy and somewhat citrusy flavor in dishes such as Chinese ginger chicken or ginger beef. Powdered ginger keeps well and adds a pungent taste to both savory and sweet foods.

One of the most expensive seasonings in the world, saffron comes from the stigmas of a specific type of crocus plant. The stigmas are collected from the plants then dried. Around 75,000 flowers are needed to yield just one pound of the substance. Saffron adds a light, slightly bitter taste and a bright, golden-yellow color to savory Asian cuisine, particularly in India, were it is used in foods such as kesar chaval, a saffron rice dish.

Turmeric comes from the root-like rhizomes of the turmeric plant. The spice is typically a bright, greenish-yellow color when dried and powdered. It has a slightly bitter and distinctive musky flavor and a warm and rich fragrance. Used in both vegetable and meat dishes as both a flavoring and coloring, turmeric is also used to make curries.

Used in meat, vegetable and rice dishes, the spice coriander is typically ground from the fruits and leaves of the coriander plant. Coriander is best used immediately after it is prepared. It has a warm, woody aroma and flavor with sweet overtones, and is very used in southern Asian foods including Indonesian fried chicken dish called ayam goreng.

Cumin comes from Central Asia. The seeds of the plant are used for flavoring, with a sweet, spicy flavor. The seeds often take on a nutty taste when roasted. Ground to a powder, cumin adds an earthy and rich flavor to savory meat and vegetable dishes. Cumin is one of the primary ingredients in curry powder.

While they originated in South America, chili peppers were brought to Asia in the 16th century. Peppers range in size from small ones with fruits less than 2 inches long to larger peppers up to 8 inches in length. Many chili peppers in Asia are very hot and are used to add heat to spicy foods such as sambal, an Indonesian chili dip. Peppers can be used fresh or dried and used whole or crushed.

Lemongrass is a perennial herb grown for its leaves that possess an oil which impart a fresh lemony taste to Asian foods, such as the Thai soup, tom kha gai. Typically used as a fresh herb, the leaves are bruised before adding them to the dish to release the fragrant oils from the plant. The oil from lemongrass can also be extracted and used separately. Take care when handling lemongrass because the leaves have sharp edges.

While often considered a spice, curry powder is actually a combination of spices such as turmeric, chili powder, cumin, black and white pepper and cinnamon blended together to form the curry powder. The spices may vary greatly from country to country and even region to region. The result is thousands of different varieties of curry powder, each with a specific flavor.

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