Art of Spice Tempering

Indian cuisine tempering is an act of the cooking process initiation or as a final step of a dish preparation.

Tempering is typically done with whole spices but ground spices may also be used depending on the type of food prepared.

Ingredients typically used in tempering include cumin seeds, black mustard seeds, fennel seeds, dried red chilis, fenugreek seeds, asafoetida, cloves, urad dhal, and curry leaves. Chopped onion, garlic, fresh green chilis, cinnamon, star anise, cardamom, and other ground spices may also be utilized, each depending on the dish.

Whole spices get roasted in a pan before grinding to their powdered form in pre-tempering. This method transforms certain dishes from ordinary to extraordinary.

The best tempering oil is Ghee. When hot, the brief encounter of spices in oil has the best ability to extract and liberate the essential oils from the spices, inducing the aroma and flavor of spices.

When using multiple ingredients in tempering, added in succession, those requiring more prolonged cooking are added first and those requiring more negligible cooking being added later. The tempering process is concise and must avoid burning the spices.

Tempering for Indian cuisines varies with the spices being used. It also depends on cultural and regional backgrounds. Some sweet dishes, such as deserts, may also have tempering methods.

The tempered spice is swiftly poured with the entire oil into a dish at the start or end. In many cases, too, the contents are added to the tempered spices.

Tempering spices in Indian food have no relation with the American cooks who are familiar with tempering to heat and cooling chocolate.

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The Spice Route | Spice Dabba | Art of Spice Tempering | Science of Spices | Briyani is Bliss | Spices and Colorado Cultural Connection

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STATE OF THE SPICES is a body of work by fine arts photographer Raj Manickam. The collection of photographs and mixed media artwork investigates the diaspora of spices from their indigenous grounds to worldwide spaces. The Portuguese, Dutch, and Spanish original intentions were to dominate the spice trade. Manickam outlines the early spice routes and colonial conquest of the South Asian and Indian subcontinent. Manickam has a distinct grasp of being an observer in his photography. He has an extensive array of Indian spices and has a passion for cooking authentic South Indian food. Manickam's photographic subjects and mixed media works identify some of the most used and flavorful spices in this collection. Here, he connects aspects of these spices in their present-day use, especially in Colorado's South Asian Indian community.

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