What hides in the seemingly dull, dry and small flavour firecrackers called spice? We’re unpacking the spice cupboard to understand the heat, flavour and flair that it adds to your winter dishes.   

A spice as old as time 

Ancient recipes contain essential ingredients that make up the foundation of their authentic flavours. Our curry feature showcases the incredible dishes from around the world. Here’s the 411 on some special spices and the role they play: 

Doro wat – Ethiopia  

Berbere is the most important spice blend used in this dish. This unique, fiery mix has a rich flavour that is achieved by using an array of whole spices, which are toasted and added to already ground spices. This mixture is then blended into what we call Berbere.  Coriander seeds, Allspice berries, Fenugreek seeds, dried chillies, paprika, cinnamon, ginger and turmeric are just a few of the spices in this authentic blend.   

A few other unique ingredient elements that might be foreign to us, such as Korarima (Ethiopian cardamom) and Niter kibbeh (a homemade spiced and clarified butter) makes Berbere unlike anything that we have in our spice arsenal.   

Beef rendang – Indonesia

Rendang makes use of two important elements. The first is a complex rendang curry paste made using fresh turmeric, cardamom, galangal, as well as turmeric leaves, garlic, chillies and lemongrass. Galangal resembles ginger in appearance and comes from the same spice family, but it provides a fuller, tangy and earthy flavour. The second is kerisik – a wet coconut paste made by toasting unsweetened dried coconut and crushing it in a pestle and mortar until the oils are released.  

Beef madras – Southern India  

Depending on where you’re from, this authentic dish contains varied spice measurements that has been passed down in families. The spice mix used to season the beef consists of ground spices such as cumin, cinnamon, cardamom, turmeric, ginger and cayenne pepper. Seeds such as cumin, mustard and fennel are also used.  

Recipes and styling: Sjaan Van Der Ploeg
Photographs: Zhann Solomons