About Chef Guru's GoldDust
What's in it?
Mace - javatri
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Claiming centre stage in the best garam masalas, this spice is actually the encasing - or ‘aril’ - which surrounds the nutmeg seed whilst it rests inside its fruit before being extracted, with the aril being picked off by hand. This is then left out to dry, turning a softer orange in colour and becoming what we know as mace blades. The nutmeg tree originates from Indonesia and through colonial trading has branched out around the world to places like Grenada, where the nutmeg fruit sits proudly on their national flag!
These blades are the softer sibling to the nutmeg in both flavour and intensity, making it the ideal spice for baked goods, cocktails, masala chai…
Black Peppercorn - kāḷā marī
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Hot, pungent and technically a dried fruit, this spice gets to make its way to some dinner tables as a staple seasoning. Native to Kerala, India the peppercorn is also grown in Vietnam and Brazil.
Try grinding some over fresh orange slices with a little pinch of salt!
Cumin - jeera
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These are a longtime staple for a lot of South Asian, Latin American and Middle Eastern cooking. They can be used whole as a base flavour for tempering oils or ground into powder to add in at various times throughout, depending on what you’re cooking! It can also be added to coconut yoghurt with salt, red chilli and a little raw onion to make a deliciously complex plant-based raita!
Bay leaf - tejpattā
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A garam masala classic! There are multiple plants from which your final herb could derive from. These particular leaves above come from the bay laurel - their flavour develops over time after being picked and dried, making them ideal for delayed use. Whilst there’s also the Indian bay leaf plant which produces much longer and wider leaves, its flavour notes are actually closer to cinnamon so gets used in a much different way. If you find yourself with some Californian bay leaves, expect to taste way more eucalyptus.
Cinnamon - dalchini
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Warm and fragrant with a naturally sweet taste - native to Sri Lanka and globalised by colonialism, cinnamon was once a marker of social status within Western communities for both its versatility as a cooking ingredient and the exoticism attached to stories of its origins.
In whole form, this spice can be added to a dry roast or tempering oil to become part of the base flavours of a savoury dish, or once ground it could be added towards the end to seal everything off with an aromatic warmth. In Gujarati cooking, some staple curries and dals are only truly complete once cinnamon powder and lemon juice are added (off the heat). Adding cinnamon to our GoldDust helps to stretch out its complexity to include more flavour notes, whilst also allowing it to be applied to even more forms of cooking.
Fenugreek Leaves - kasuri methi
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These smokey leaves are usually a pivotal element when used in South Asian, Middle Eastern and some East African cooking. Their strong earthiness can help to develop a complexity in milder dishes. If you’re a fan of rotis, you may know that they are eagerly folded into methi theplas, a Gujarati staple.
We’ve ground these down and added it into our GoldDust garam masala so that you can add that smoke-like undertone to your home cooking.
Nutmeg - jaiphal
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Nutmeg grows as the inner seed of a fruit, encased in lacings of aril - another spice we know as Mace. It's been a prized possession since the 6th century. After years of West Asian traders bringing over nutmeg to European consumers, the Dutch East India Trading Company began their own trade line, travelling to the Banda islands in present-day Indonesia and bringing back valuables such as cloves, nutmeg and mace. In 1667, the Company successfully traded Manhattan (then called New Amsterdam) with the British, so they could gain full ownership of the Bandanese island of Rhun, allowing them to have monopoly over the nutmeg trade.
Green Cardamom - choti elaichi
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These little complex pods are the saviour for many delicious bits in both sweet and savoury varieties. Super fragrant with lemon and eucalyptus, they’re spicy, citrusy, herbaceous and sweet all at the same time. Whilst native to the Indian subcontinent, they’re also popular in Scandinavian baking with well-known treats such as the Swedish kardemummabulle.
We use this spice to help balance out the other stronger aromas in our GoldDust, such as star anise and fenugreek.
White Peppercorn - safed mirch
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With the berry being left longer to ripen fully (as opposed to black pepper), these are extracted from inside and used as an earthier version of their more popular sibling. Their colour allows for them to added into things which require a little invisible kick.
Due to being more labour intensive, they can be more expensive and a little harder to acquire. And yet, we’ve gone and found the best ones to suit our garam masala blend.
Coriander Seeds - dhania
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Warm, nutty and spicy, these seeds can also produce a citric element when crushed. They’re a staple ingredient for garam masalas and for good reason! According to Ayurvedic studies, these seeds can be a major digestive remedy. Dry-roast them as whole seeds on the stove or add them to your standard tempering oil and notice the slow strength of their flavour, in comparison to using it ground.
Fennel Seeds - variyali
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You may notice jars full of fennel seeds and tiny coloured sugar balls being offered out in some Indian restaurants. This treat, known as mukhwas, is a popular post-dinner mouth freshener and can sometimes include coconut, anise, flax seeds, etc. These more elaborate mixes are thought to also aid digestion.
We chose fennel to be an important part of our garam masala as it adds a certain balance of sweetness and fragrance which is rare to find.
Black Peppercorn - kāḷā marī
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Hot, pungent and technically a dried fruit, this spice gets to make its way to some dinner tables as a staple seasoning. Native to Kerala, India the peppercorn is also grown in Vietnam and Brazil. Black pepper is currently the world's most traded spice and was once referred to as "black gold" due its high value. The spice was historically used as a commodity money,
Try grinding some over fresh orange slices with a little pinch of salt!
Star Anise - chakraphool
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Powerful, punchy and sometimes too much for some, star anise is big favourite of ours as it seems to bulldozer through any cooking technique whilst still looking so great. A big part of Chinese Five-Spice, it’s also a great addition when making Vietnamese pho.
