Badi elaichi
Black cardamom: the big, dark, smoke-dried pod used in savoury North Indian and Chinese cooking.
Also: black cardamom, kali elaichi, moti elaichi, hill cardamom
Badi elaichi means big cardamom. It is a different plant from green cardamom, Amomum subulatum in the Himalayan form, with a larger brown to black wrinkled pod. The pods are dried over open fires, which gives them a camphor and smoke note quite unlike the sweet perfume of the green kind. Cooks use them in meat curries, dal, biryani and garam masala, usually dropped in whole and removed before serving. Sikkim, Darjeeling and Nepal grow most of it, and a related species is used in Sichuan stews and Vietnamese pho. It is a savoury spice, not a dessert one.