Cardamom pod
Used in 4 recipes on RecipeWiki.
Cardamom pods come in two kinds, both covered here. Green cardamom is small and pale, with a sweet, floral, slightly eucalyptus aroma. Black cardamom is larger and wrinkled, and has a smoky, camphor-like flavour from being dried over fire. Both are used whole in Lamb Rogan Josh, cracked and fried in oil at the start to scent the sauce, and green cardamom is part of the toasted blend in Garam Masala. Press the pods lightly with the side of a knife to split them before cooking. Buy whole pods rather than ground cardamom, which loses its fragrance quickly. Fish the pods out before serving if you can.
Most often cooked with
Clove
Cinnamon
Garam masala
Garlic
Ginger
Kashmiri chilli powder
Yoghurt
Bay leafRecipes with cardamom pod
Butter Chicken
Tandoori-marinated chicken grilled hard, then finished in a sieved tomato and butter gravy emulsified off the heat so it stays satin rather than splitting.
Chicken
Curries
Dinner
Chicken Korma
Bone-in chicken braised slowly in yogurt over deeply fried onions and cashew cream, pale and savoury rather than sweet, with no tomato and no sugar.
Garam Masala
Whole spices toasted one kind at a time, cooled and ground, which is what separates a fresh blend from the grey dust in a jar.
30 minutes
Indian
Lamb Rogan Josh
Lamb shoulder browned hard then cooked for two hours in yogurt and Kashmiri chilli, until the sauce is red, glossy and clinging rather than soupy.
