Guest Spicy Gal Posted July 17, 2016 Report Share Posted July 17, 2016 I want to know whether anyone here make your own spices at home? I felt that those dried, powdery spices sold in supermarket not quite fresh nor raw. I was planning to buy fresh herbs, chopped them up, let it dry a little and store in a small glass container. It will be cheaper, fresher and aroma remain intact. Have you ever tried doing it yourself and do they last forever? I plan to start with sage, rose merry, thymes, lasksa leaves. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cube3 Posted July 17, 2016 Report Share Posted July 17, 2016 You need, for a start, a large hot wok i.e. like how they dry tea leaves. Hot enough to dry up all the moisture, large enough to keep the fresh ingredients moving and not burn... Any moisture left, the herbs may spoil after some time... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
abang Posted July 17, 2016 Report Share Posted July 17, 2016 Is making my own sambal counted? Well I have not bought bottled chilli for a long time. Normally I put a mixture of fresh chilli, dried chili, dried shrimps, onions (yellow and red), garlic, salt, 5 spice powder, sugar and olive oil into a food blender. Taste and consistency is personal. So far, my friends like it. Cube3 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest OOOOO Posted July 17, 2016 Report Share Posted July 17, 2016 4 hours ago, abang said: Is making my own sambal counted? Well I have not bought bottled chilli for a long time. Normally I put a mixture of fresh chilli, dried chili, dried shrimps, onions (yellow and red), garlic, salt, 5 spice powder, sugar and olive oil into a food blender. Taste and consistency is personal. So far, my friends like it. No blachan inside? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shyc Posted July 19, 2016 Report Share Posted July 19, 2016 On 17 July 2016 at 4:18 PM, Guest Spicy Gal said: I want to know whether anyone here make your own spices at home? I felt that those dried, powdery spices sold in supermarket not quite fresh nor raw. I was planning to buy fresh herbs, chopped them up, let it dry a little and store in a small glass container. It will be cheaper, fresher and aroma remain intact. Have you ever tried doing it yourself and do they last forever? I plan to start with sage, rose merry, thymes, lasksa leaves. This sound more like preserving fresh herbs than making your own spice mixes. For beginners, I think you may have to have plenty of fresh herbs to try before you finally get to do the job right. It is not as easy as it sound. Depending on the method you intend to dry your herbs. By natural sun or by roasting in oven or over a wok? Takes plenty to understand the temperature require to mantainance the freshness of your herbs. Besides the different herbs require different treatments. As for spice mixes, abang's method is a good guide. By varying the amount of ingredients or the omission of certain ingredient could give you a whole list of combinations of spice mixes. If you take note, Indian spices usually uses dry spices/ingredient, while the Thai spice mixes uses fresh ingredients. Again by using only dried spices/ingredients or only using fresh ingredients or combination of both, would also give you another whole set of combinations of spice mixes. Taste is very subjective and personal. Play around with the combination till you find one suitable to your taste bud. As for dry powdered spices that may have lost it's fragrant, try lightly heating it in a dry pan over a low heat. It should help boost back the fragrant. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Cooker Posted July 20, 2016 Report Share Posted July 20, 2016 Anyone don't mind sharing some nice homemade recipe for curry paste? I prefer homemade flavour, not those premixed store bought ones. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
abang Posted July 20, 2016 Report Share Posted July 20, 2016 If I am not wrong, there is a spice mill in Cuff Road, Little India. One may order an assortment of different curry powder there and mix it in varied proportions to your liking. The general rule applies to the different type of curry for poultry, fish, beef, mutton and vegetables. I would normally be a little lazy about curry (for fear of trapping the smell throughout the flat). I carry a tingkat to my favourite stall in a tiny coffeeshop in Hougang and have the curry separated from the meat. I usually ask for extra curry gravy as I can use it to cook other curry dishes myself. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shyc Posted July 20, 2016 Report Share Posted July 20, 2016 4 hours ago, Guest Cooker said: Anyone don't mind sharing some nice homemade recipe for curry paste? I prefer homemade flavour, not those premixed store bought ones. You can actually get the Indian ladies selling spices in wet market (those that display huge bottle of dry spices) to combine for u, just need to tell them what kind of meat and for how many people. 3 hours ago, abang said: I would normally be a little lazy about curry (for fear of trapping the smell throughout the flat). I carry a tingkat to my favourite stall in a tiny coffeeshop in Hougang and have the curry separated from the meat. I usually ask for extra curry gravy as I can use it to cook other curry dishes myself. You are lucky, I once bought 3 packets of mixed rice and dishes from the stall than asked for a small packet of curry gravy so that the rice doesn't turn soggy by the time I return home but got lectured instead. He claimed each dish he cook only come with limited gravy and if I get extra than others who eat the dish will not have any gravy left. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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