Spices for dinner
The main meal of the evening: curries, roasts, braises and grills.
Dinner is the main gathering meal in much of the world, and often where the full range of a cuisine's spices is shown, from slow-cooked stews to roasts and curries.
Slow-cooked dishes
Stews and braises use whole and ground spices cooked for hours. Moroccan tagines, Indian curries, Mexican moles, Persian khoresh and Hungarian goulash each use a different spice set, giving each its character.
Roasts and grills
Spice rubs and marinades, such as jerk, tandoori, suya, shawarma and barbecue rubs, flavour meat before cooking over fire. Pepper, paprika, cumin, coriander and garlic are common across them.
Table spices
Beyond the cooking, many tables carry their own seasonings, such as pepper mills in Europe, pepper sauce in the Caribbean, chilli oil in China and shichimi in Japan.
Dinner on EveryMasala
The spices written up so far, best known first.
🇬🇷 Greece and 4 moreParsley
A bright green herb from the celery family, used fresh across Europe and the Middle East.Leaf · Bitter · Herbal and green
🇺🇸 United StatesSpicebush
The dried fruit of a North American shrub, used as an allspice substitute.Fruit · Citrus and bright · Sharp and pungent
🇦🇫 Afghanistan and 5 moreLovageлюбисток
A tall European herb with celery-like leaves and spicy seeds used in soups and broths.Leaf · Sharp and pungent · Herbal and green
🇮🇳 India and 2 moreBay leaf
The dried or fresh leaves of the laurel tree, used to infuse depth into slow-cooked dishes.Leaf · Herbal and green · Sharp and pungent
🇳🇵 Nepal and 1 moreJimbu
A dried wild onion herb from the Himalayas, used to season lentils and meat.Leaf · Sharp and pungent · Herbal and green
🇲🇽 Mexico and 2 morePápalo
A pungent herb from central Mexico to the Andes, used fresh in salsas and tacos.Leaf · Citrus and bright · Sharp and pungent
🇯🇵 Japan and 1 moreSansho山椒
The dried berries and young leaves of a spiny Japanese shrub, prized for their numbing citrus heat.Seed · Citrus and bright · Numbing and tingling
🇲🇽 Mexico and 5 moreCulantroជីរបន្លា
A tropical herb with serrated leaves, offering a deep and pungent coriander flavour.Leaf · Herbal and green · Sharp and pungent
🇨🇳 China and 5 moreShiso紫蘇
A mint-family herb with serrated leaves, used fresh or pickled across East Asia.Leaf · Herbal and green · Sharp and pungent
🇮🇹 ItalyCommon thyme
A woody Mediterranean herb with small grey-green leaves and a sharp, spicy-sweet flavour.Leaf · Sharp and pungent · Sweet and mellow
🇹🇭 Thailand and 5 moreKaffir limeมะกรูด
The bumpy-skinned citrus fruit and double-leafed shrub of Southeast AsiaFruit · Citrus and bright · Sharp and pungent
🇰🇭 Cambodia and 5 moreVietnamese corianderrau răm
The fresh leaves of a tropical herb used in Southeast Asian soups and saladsLeaf · Citrus and bright · Sharp and pungent
🇲🇾 Malaysia and 3 moreKesum
An aromatic herb from Southeast Asia, used fresh in salads and soups.Leaf · Sharp and pungent · Herbal and green
🇵🇪 Peru and 3 moreBlack mintHuacatay
A South American marigold herb used as a paste or dried seasoning in Andean cookingLeaf · Herbal and green · Sharp and pungent
🇮🇩 Indonesia and 5 moreKencur沙姜
A stemless ginger-family rhizome with a peppery, camphorous biteRoot · Sharp and pungent · Herbal and green
🇻🇳 Vietnam and 4 moreHouttuynia折耳根
A heart-shaped herb with a sharp fishy taste used in salads and teas across Asia.Leaf · Sharp and pungent · Citrus and bright
Photo credits on this page
The small pictures above come from Wikimedia Commons under free licences. Some are cropped to fit.
- Parsley: H. Zell, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Pápalo: Wibowo Djatmiko ( Wie146 ), CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Culantro: Maxintaft, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Bay leaf: Χρήστης:Andrikkos / The original uploader was Andrikkos at Greek Wikip, Public domain, source
- Jimbu: CJoshi0, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Houttuynia: Agnieszka Kwiecień, Nova, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Kencur: Hariadhi, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Shiso: Dalgial, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Common thyme: Isidre blanc, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Kaffir lime: David Monniaux, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Vietnamese coriander: Joditran, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Kesum: Fornax, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Black mint: Arthur Chapman, CC BY 2.0, source
- Sansho: Didier Descouens, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Spicebush: Jomegat, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Lovage: 4028mdk09, CC BY-SA 3.0, source