Pounding
Crushing spices with force in a mortar, which releases oils and mixes ingredients into a paste.
Also: crushing, bruising spices, kutna, thecha
Pounding is the traditional way to break spices, using a stone or wooden pestle in a mortar. The impact crushes cell walls and releases essential oils, and it can bruise leaves and stalks so their flavour opens without the heat of a grinder. It suits small quantities, and wet pastes such as Thai curry pastes, which are pounded in order from hardest ingredients to softest. Texture is controlled by hand, from coarse crack to fine paste. Many cooks say hand-pounded spice tastes better than machine-ground. The sound of the pestle was once a morning marker in many homes in Asia and Africa.