"bruised" cardamom pods?

anar

thanks, janice, you've started a great thread - so much to learn!

tacita

yeah...who knew?

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daverm18

Hi there:
I've found that after I 'bruise' them with a knife as the recipe calls for, I put all the whole seeds in a bit of cheese cloth and tie closed with string. I still heat the bag in a bit of oil to start the seeds releasing their flavour. That way, when you're done, you just have to look for the little bag of seeds which have been allowing the spice flavour to do it's thing. Works quite well. And a pack of cheese cloth lasts forever, not to mention a ball of string.
Dave

Darmabum

as a sometimes-personal-chef (though not of Indian cuisine)(and with fifteen years in restaurants) I would say that 'bruising' would be similar to what happens (as you suggested) to garlic. An unbruised garlic clove will surrender flavor, but not as quickly as if bruised. Simply sauteeing the whole cardomom seed would, of course, eventually release the flavor, though not as quickly, or perhaps as completely, as bruising it would do. For any dish that requires a looooooong cooking time, perhaps whole seeds would do; but, even then, bruising would release the flavors (IMHO) sooner.

I remember drinking black tea, with a whole/floated cardomom pod, in Peshawar, Pakistan . . . the taste of the cardomom was very subtle, VERY, but for that sake, amazing. If cardomom is a flavor that should come to front (and if the dish is not to be simmered for a long time) by all means, bruise it.

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capt_mahajan

Bruised?

I usually pulverise them.

tacita

especially in the late afternoon on a crisp autumn day!

tacita

i think it's hilarious that this thread -- about cardamom pods -- has become a three-pager in just 9 hours. retitled, it better might be: "to bruise or not to bruise, that is the question!"

we are like this only!

PeakXV

.... on a porch with the slight hint of distant chimney smoke scenting the chilled air, and the long rays of fading sunlight illuminating the hues in the surrounding chinar(oops that's kashmir ) errrm red maple/oak leaves.

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shashank.aggarwal

I guess the suggestion of using the cloth is the best one...

and otherwise also just put the whole thing and make it boil, once it start to boil then it releases its flavor...

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tacita

i'm on my way...send mapquest instructions ASAP! i'll bring some nice fresh cardamom pods from patel bros.!

tacita

i consulted a few more indian cookbooks in the bookstore this evening. (unfortunately, i also came home with a stack of books completely unrelated to indian cooking.) 'twas a book binge that began quite innocently enough...but enough about "the bookseller of kabul" and "maximum city", et al.

i looked through four different books and most recipes called simply for whole, unopened pods. in other instances, ground cardamom (which is the ground seeds), are used. i'll stick to whole pods, unbruised, unless the seeds are called for.

pundabee

In some dishes cardamom is used with its shell, in others it is used without.

Are you using Keralan cardamom? Most of the cardamom used in India comes from Kerala, and it has a very smooth flavour. However, in many parts of the western world, cardamom from Guatamala is what is available in shops. This is a particularly harsh variant of cardamom, even in in small doses.

icetea

Janice, I don't know if I qualify for giving expert advice, but it's certainly first-hand, I've been cooking indian food daily for the last 2 years and been tought so by my (Indian) father-in-law. That's how it's done, yes...most of the time you grind all the spices together, cardamom included, right before frying them. Sometimes you use the whole pods, if the recipe is such.

And by the way, frankly in my experience most cooking books are crap, even when written by Indians! (and I think most Indians who cook would agree)

Nick-H

Me to Mrs N... Do you bruise cardamom pods?

Mrs N... What?

Me... Cardamon Pods; do you bruise them?

Mrs N... grunts and gets back into checking the state of the stock market today.

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icetea

lol Nick, I think she would very much agree with captain (see his answer above)