Nikki Duffy
LATIN NAME
Elettaria cardamomum
MORE RECIPES
Fragrant beef curry; Indian spiced grilled quail; Masala chai doodh
Split open a green cardamom pod and you’ll find a knot of brown seeds, which may not look promising, but it’s their seductive aroma you’re after. The extraordinarily exotic scent, almost minty in its fresh sweetness with a deep background warmth, carries through into the taste. It’s hardly surprising cardamom has held cooks in thrall for millennia, firstly in its Indian homeland and then in Europe and the Middle East.
Cardamom is exceptional with fruit, especially mangoes and oranges – in a frozen kulfi or chilled lassi, for example, while its flavour is essential in a cup of hot chai or Arabic coffee. A rice pilaf is enhanced by the addition of a few pods and they are called for in countless Indian recipes. The Vikings took a shine to cardamom in Constantinople and shipped it homewards. Used lavishly in baking as well as drinks such as glogg and aquavit, it remains a classic spice in Scandinavian cooking.
In savoury dishes, cardamom pods are often used whole. Biting into one halfway through a curry is not to everyone’s taste, but it’s all part of the experience. Ready-ground cardamom is not easy to find but this is no great loss – it lacks the fresh perfume of the whole seeds. It’s easy (though a little fiddly) to grind the seeds yourself: give each pod a light whack with a pestle or rolling pin to split it, then use your thumbnail or the tip of a sharp knife to open the pod and excavate the seeds. Bash the seeds with a pestle until powdered. You’ll need about 20 pods to get 1 tsp ground cardamom.
Black cardamom is the big, brash cousin of green cardamom. The pods are about four times the size, earthy brown and with a distinct smoky scent that comes from the traditional practice of drying them over a fire. The seeds have a strong flavour of camphor so the pods are often thrown whole into curries to give a smoky depth. But the whole seeds can be used in chutneys or ground in small amounts into spice mixes; both black and green cardamom seeds are traditional in garam masala (see Curry powders & pastes).
This cardamom-scented brioche-style bread is made in Finland at Christmas. It’s best the day it is made, but slightly stale slices are great toasted. Makes 14–18 slices
40 cardamom pods
175ml whole milk
50g butter, cubed, plus a little extra, melted, to grease
80g caster sugar
½ tsp salt
Finely grated zest of 1 orange
300g strong white bread flour
125g plain white flour
7g fast-acting dried yeast
1 medium egg
TO FINISH
1 egg white, beaten with a splash of water
10g flaked almonds
1½ tsp demerara sugar
Put the cardamom pods into a mortar and give them a good bashing with the pestle: you want to break open the pods, release the seeds and roughly crush them.
Heat the milk in a pan to just below boiling, then take off the heat. Add the butter, sugar, salt, orange zest and bashed cardamom, pods and all. Stir until the butter has melted, then set aside to cool until lukewarm. In a bowl, whisk the flours together with the yeast.
Beat the egg into the infused milk mixture, then strain into a separate large bowl, pressing the cardamom in the sieve to extract the flavour. Using a wooden spoon, beat in half the flour mixture to form a batter. Mix in the rest of the flour. Turn the dough out on to a lightly floured surface and knead for 10 minutes, until smooth and glossy. (Or use a mixer with a dough hook.) Form the dough into a ball, coat lightly in melted butter and place in a large bowl. Cover and leave in a warm place until almost doubled in size, at least 4 hours.
Line a baking sheet with baking parchment and lightly butter it. Turn out the dough on to a lightly floured surface, deflate it with your fingers, then divide into 3 equal pieces. Roll each piece into a sausage, 40cm in length, and braid into a plait, securing the ends. Place on the baking sheet, cover and leave in a warm place until doubled in size – another 2 hours or so. Preheat the oven to 190°C/Fan 170°C/Gas 5.
Brush the loaf with the egg white, sprinkle on the flaked almonds and sugar, and bake for 25–30 minutes until golden brown. Transfer to a wire rack and leave to cool before slicing.