Originally Posted by Otter74
I will take a slightly expansive view of what "spice" means to also include interesting, punchy flavor ingredients:
Aleppo pepper - it's fantastic, and I use like black pepper, so I use lots of it.
Pimenton de la vera - spanish smoked paprika, available sweet, bittersweet and hot. I have all three, like hot the best. Best "paprika" ever and I look for reasons to use it.
Berbere - an Ethiopian chile-based spice. I can get this locally, and also have some somewhat different (there's no one recipe) an largely-unground berbere from another place.
Harissa - this usually a paste rather than a dried spice. Moroccan red pepper-based spice, there are, as ever, different ways to make it. I have a couple of versions, both in refrigerated jars
Urfa pepper - this is another terrific pepper. Urfa pepper is a dark, smoky pepper from Turkey. I have flakes that I get locally, and paste that I got in Istanbul.
Speaking of Turkey, Turkish pepper and tomato pastes. You can get this in the US in jars, but it's not as good as what you can get for $$cheap$$ at a market if you happen to be in Turkey.
Za'atar - middle eastern (Egyptian, maybe); different ways to make it (surprise) but generally herbs like thyme and oregano with sesame seeds, sumac and salt
When I want chile powder, I make my own. Easy to get a dozen kinds of dried peppers from a Mexican market. toast in pan, add other ingredients, grind in coffee grinder.
Mint - dried, fresh, whatever. Dried mostly in Turkish stews, fresh in salads and etc.
Pomegranate molasses
Preserved lemons - these pack a fantastic amount of punch for their size.
For sweet-ish spices, I adore cardamom. I use green cardamom pods in savory stuff, too.
Parsley, mint, cilantro, basil, dill, chives growing in the back yard.
I am fortunate to have a terrific spice store near me in Chicago, a great middle eastern market on the north side, and other sources for more or less anything I can think of that I might want. All of the above may correctly suggest that I love (!) to cook and really, really like northern Mediterranean, north African, Levantine, Turkish, Sephardic, Persian, etc. food.
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