Indian spices, these days, are as famous as the Indian cooking itself; in fact, in certain areas of the world, Indian cuisine is known and accepted because of the use of these spices. With a history of more than 700 decades that lured the ancient invaders to India, Indian spices still hold strong among the spices used in world cuisine, making Indian cooking rather unique and distinct from the rest.
Other than the indigenous spices, the invaders who annexed Indian territories from time to time also brought in spices from their homeland thus enriching the Indian cuisine altogether.
Compared to the rest of the world, Indian cooking is considered spicy, in fact, spicier; it is quite normal to find Indian dishes that use ten or more spices! Typical Indian spices like turmeric powder (haldi), coriander powder (dhania), garam masala (all spice powder), red chili powder (lal mirchi), pepper powder etc are usually included as ingredient that add flavor and aroma to Indian cooking. Certain other Indian spices like cardamom, mint, ginger, fennel seeds, garlic, cloves, cumin seeds etc are more of the kind that gives Indian cuisine its typical taste.
It is true that usage of Indian spices slightly vary with the cooking style adopted as well as with regional preferences. Apart from using these spices as fresh, dried or ground/paste, a part of Indian cuisine use such spices along with other ingredients at the time of cooking or as stand-alone ingredients like as in garnishing/tempering.
The usage of Indian spices is quite varied and is not just restricted as culinary ingredients. Many of the Indian spices like turmeric, ginger etc are known for their great medicinal properties, anti-microbial and antibiotic activities are just to name a few.
This article was contributed by content editors at ifood.tv.
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