The market · Spices · South Asia, The Middle East

Coriander seeds

The dried fruit of the coriander plant — citrusy and warm, nothing like the leaf.

citrusy · warm · floral

What to do with it

Classics built on it

JavaneseGudegYoung jackfruit simmered for hours in coconut milk and palm sugar until brown, sweet and tender, served with rice, chicken, egg and a hot stew of cow's skin.No one here has made it yet JavaneseRawonA beef soup turned black by keluak nuts, earthy and deep, served with rice, short bean sprouts, a salted egg and sambal.No one here has made it yet JavaneseTempeh bacemTempeh (and often tofu) simmered in coconut water, palm sugar and spice until the liquid is gone, then fried until dark and sticky.No one here has made it yet SundaneseEmpal gentongBeef and offal stewed in a spiced coconut broth in a clay pot over a wood fire, with rice or lontong and dried chilli to sprinkle.No one here has made it yet BalineseBabi gulingA whole young pig stuffed with base genep and greens, rubbed with turmeric and spit-roasted over wood until the skin shatters.No one here has made it yet BalineseBebek betutuA whole duck or chicken stuffed and smothered with base genep, wrapped and cooked slowly in embers until it falls apart.No one here has made it yet BalineseBase genepThe complete Balinese spice paste: shallot, garlic, four rhizomes, chilli, candlenut, shrimp paste and warm spices, ground together.No one here has made it yet MalaysianCurry laksaNoodles in a rich, spiced coconut curry broth, with tofu puffs, prawns, chicken, bean sprouts and a spoonful of sambal.No one here has made it yet GoanXacutiChicken or mutton in a dark, complex sauce of grated coconut and a long list of whole spices, all roasted until brown and ground together.No one here has made it yet GoanGoan fish curryFish simmered in a coconut sauce ground with red chillies and coriander seed, soured with kokum or tamarind — eaten with red rice every day in Goa.No one here has made it yet RajasthaniPyaaz kachoriA flaky, deep-fried pastry filled with onion cooked down with fennel, coriander seed and chilli, eaten with tamarind and mint chutneys.No one here has made it yet South IndianChettinad chickenChicken in a dark, fiery masala of freshly roasted spices — pepper, dried chilli, fennel, star anise — with coconut and curry leaves.No one here has made it yet South IndianKori rottiA chicken curry of coconut milk and roasted red chilli, poured over crisp, paper-thin wafers of dried rice that soften as you eat.No one here has made it yet

Goes with

cumin seed gingerlambturmeric

Knowing it

Where to buy: South Asian and Middle Eastern grocers.
Worth knowing: Toast it whole, then grind it. The husks crack easily in a mortar.

Kitchens that keep it in

Rajasthan — the Thar Desert and the Aravalli hills of north-western IndiaRajasthaniDesert cooking: millet, lentils and gram flour, ghee in generous measure, dried beans and berries that keep, fiery red meat from the Rajput courts and sweets made for festivals.9 classics The Western Cape — Cape Town and the country around it, at the south-western tip of AfricaCape MalaySweet, sour and gently hot: curries and bredies, fruit in the pot, pickled fish at Easter and koesisters on a Sunday morning — the cooking of the Cape's Muslim community.8 classics

More spices

SpicesAchiote pasteearthy, peppery2 classics SpicesAjwainthyme-like, sharp, bitter8 classics SpicesAllspicewarm, sweet-spiced, peppery2 classics SpicesAsafoetidapungent, sulphurous, garlicky when cooked12 classics