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EveryMasala

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.

PartSeedBarkRootFlowerFruitChilliLeafResinBulbStigmaBlendPasteSeasoning
FlavourHot and fieryWarm and sweet-spicedSweet and mellowEarthy and deepCitrus and brightSharp and pungentSmokyFloral and perfumedBitterAnise and liquoriceSour and tartSavoury and umamiNumbing and tinglingHerbal and green
🇧🇷 Brazil and 5 moreMalagueta peppermalagueta A small, fiery chili from Capsicum frutescens used across Portuguese-speaking regions.Chilli · Hot and fiery · Sharp and pungent 🇮🇹 ItalyPeperoncino A hot Italian chili pepper used in southern cuisine, dried and crushed for heat.Chilli · Hot and fiery · Sharp and pungent 🇵🇭 PhilippinesSiling haba A long, bright green chili from the Philippines, prized for moderate heat in sour and savory stews.Chilli · Hot and fiery · Sharp and pungent 🇹🇷 TurkeyUrfa biber A sun-dried and night-wrapped chili from Turkey with a smoky, raisin-like taste.Chilli · Smoky · Sweet and mellow 🇨🇳 ChinaEr jing tiao二荆条 A fragrant Chinese chili cultivar prized for its deep hue and medium heatChilli · Hot and fiery · Sharp and pungent 🇺🇸 United States and 1 moreDatil pepper A very hot, sweet-sour cultivar of Capsicum chinense grown mainly in FloridaChilli · Hot and fiery · Sweet and mellow 🇨🇳 ChinaXiao Mi La Pepper小米辣 A wild Capsicum frutescens cultivar from southern China, prized for intense heat in spicy regional dishes.Chilli · Hot and fiery · Sharp and pungent 🇲🇽 Mexico and 5 moreCapsicum annuum A flowering plant producing berries of many colors and heat levels, from sweet bell peppers to fiery chilies.Fruit · Hot and fiery · Sweet and mellow 🇲🇽 MexicoSerrano pepper A hot Mexican chili from mountain regions, used fresh in salsas and sauces.Chilli · Hot and fiery · Sharp and pungent

Photo credits on this page

The small pictures above come from Wikimedia Commons under free licences. Some are cropped to fit.

The weekly digest

Every Monday: seven spices you may not know, what is cooking this week, and one blend explained step by step.