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Cooking encyclopedia Techniques

Blooming spices

Also called tempering; tadka; frying off spices

Heating spices briefly in fat or a dry pan to release their aroma before they meet anything else.

160โ€“190 ยฐC (320โ€“374 ยฐF)

What it is

Whole spices go into hot fat until they change smell and colour, which takes seconds, not minutes. Ground spices burn far faster and are usually added last, off the heat or with liquid close behind.

Why it works

Most of what a spice smells of is oil-soluble and locked in the seed. Heat drives it out and fat dissolves and carries it through the dish, which is why the same weight of spice bloomed in fat tastes of far more than spice stirred into liquid.

When to use it

The start of most curries, dals, stews and rice dishes; the finishing tadka poured over a dish at the table.

What goes wrong

Fat not hot enough, so the spices stew and taste raw; ground spices left in hot fat, which turns them bitter in seconds; blooming everything together when the seeds cook at very different rates.

Meridian cooking encyclopedia โ€” Watchman Productions

More on this shelf

  • Blanching Brief cooking in heavily boiling water, usually followed by cooling.
  • Braising Browning, then cooking slowly in a small amount of liquid in a covered pot.
  • Deep-frying Cooking fully submerged in hot fat, usually 160โ€“190 ยฐC.
  • Deglazing Dissolving the browned residue in a pan with liquid, to turn it into sauce.
  • Emulsifying Dispersing fat and water into each other so they behave as one smooth sauce.
  • Grilling Cooking over or under direct radiant heat, close to the source.
  • Poaching Cooking submerged in liquid held below a simmer, around 70โ€“85 ยฐC.
  • Reducing Simmering a liquid uncovered to evaporate water and concentrate what is left.
  • Resting meat Leaving cooked meat off the heat before cutting it.
  • Roasting Cooking in dry oven heat, uncovered, so the surface browns while the inside cooks.
  • Sautรฉing Cooking small or thin pieces quickly in a little fat over fairly high heat, moving them often.
  • Searing Cooking a surface hard and fast to brown it, before or after the inside is cooked.