Are there any spices you're not supposed to toast?
As a general rule, I thought it always enhanced the flavor of whole spices to lightly toast them first. I just did this to some fenugreek and it smelled not-so-tasty.
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As a general rule, I thought it always enhanced the flavor of whole spices to lightly toast them first. I just did this to some fenugreek and it smelled not-so-tasty.
2 Comments
Coming to think of it, almost all spice blends that call for fenugreek in Indian cuisine have it in a toasted form. The seeds tend to be very tough otherwise & have a glutinous nature when added to a liquid medium otherwise. (kinda like wet gelatinous chia seeds) toasting takes care of it. Its bitter by nature, toasted or otherwise, but toasting tends to bring out a musky note, indispensable to Indian spice blends. Its never really added alone to any Indian dish. (although you can use the dry leaves)
Looking forward to what others have to say.