351213 Thu Dec 14 07:25:53 -0800 2006 19 31 Home Cooking 0 2098719 ok, i bought my first jar of cardamom pods... green.. i am a cardamom virgin.. what do i do now? Thu Dec 14 06:32:39 -0800 2006 52894 RiJaAr 1 2098831 - Make curry: Nigella Lawson had a great recipe for sweet potato and chickpea curry in the NY Times about a year or so ago. I can find and paraphrase this evening if you like--let me know. It was a very simple and quick dish to make, and it included cardamom pods. - Remove the inner seeds, grind, and add some to coffee for a Turkish/Arabic flavor. - Make garam masala or other spice mixtures, if you like Indian food. - One recipe I haven't tried is a cardamom coffee cake from the Moosewood Cookbook. I keep meaning to try it; I love the other recipes I've cooked from that book. Will paraphrase that too if you'd like. Thu Dec 14 10:16:08 -0800 2006 2098719 14139 Kagey 2 2098863 I will vouch for the Moosewood cardamom coffee cake - I've made it a number of times. It's outrageously rich and good! Be advised - it makes a BIG cake. (It can be divided into smaller pans to share if you like.) Thu Dec 14 12:04:13 -0800 2006 2098831 18512 Allstonian 3 2099458 Cool! Thanks for that info. I'll try making it soon, maybe in two tins! Thu Dec 14 16:41:02 -0800 2006 2098863 14139 Kagey 2 2098942 I love that curry recipe too. Many of Madhur Jaffrey's recipes call for adding the pods whole to a variety of Indian dishes, so you might look through some of her cookbooks (or other Indian cookbooks-- there was a recent thread on this). Cardammom is a wonderful spice. You can also add it to sugar cookies. Here is a recipe for a cardamom beef stew I recently got from the NY Times (I think): STEW: - Preheat oven to 350F. - In a roasting pan, combine 1 cup chopped CELERY, 1 cup chopped CARROTS, and 2 cups chopped YELLOW ONIONS. Coat with 2 tablespoons CANOLA OIL. Roast, stirring occasionally, until caramelized, about 10 minutes. - Put 20 crushed green CARDAMOM pods in a piece of cheesecloth and tie with kitchen string to make a bundle. - Season 1 pound cubed STEWING BEEF with salt and pepper. Add it to the roasting pan with 1 head GARLIC halved crosswise, the cardamom bundle, and 6 cups MEAT STOCK. Cover the pan and bake until the beef is very tender, 2 to 3 hours. Remove the cardamom bundle and garlic. Correct seasoning. ROOT VEGETABLES - About 1 hour before the meat has finished cooking, peel the root vegetables and cut into a large dice; you'll need 2 cups POTATOES, 1 cup CELERY ROOT, and 1 cup PARSNIPS. Put the vegetables in a bowl and coat with 2 tablespoons OLIVE OIL. - Spread on a baking sheet. Season with salt and pepper. Roast until golden brown, about 45 minutes. TO SERVE Mound the roasted root vegetables in the centre of 4 shallow soup bowls. Spoon in the stew. Garnish with freshly ground black pepper. Adapted from Charlie Trotter Cooks at Home I also made some really good cardamom apple-quince butter this fall. My in-laws are Scandinavian, so cardamom is a popular flavor chez nous. Thu Dec 14 13:21:50 -0800 2006 2098831 36325 Procrastibaker 1 2098838 put some whole in rice -- if you use a rice cooker, start with 10-12 pods for that size. You don't eat the whole pods in the finished rice; it gives it a great scent and flavor. You can also put some of them in a jar of sugar and set it aside to become scented. For baking or coffee. Thu Dec 14 10:33:50 -0800 2006 2098719 11989 pitu 1 2098947 second the rice, basmati rice with cardamom ground, lemon zest and a dash of nutmeg served with steamed root vegetables and grain bread-that's dinner! Thu Dec 14 13:27:34 -0800 2006 2098719 36312 HillJ 2 2101884 Third the rice. If you fry up some chopped onions until they're golden, toss in some chopped cashews, some whole green cardamom pods, a stick of cinnamon, a bay leaf, 2 whole cloves, and a few raisins or currants and then add the rice - makes a great pilaf (but pick out or tell guests about the pods, etc. left in. Fri Dec 15 06:31:59 -0800 2006 2098947 10245 oakjoan 3 2104119 oakj..great add-ons! Thank you for the ideas. Fri Dec 15 23:42:49 -0800 2006 2101884 36312 HillJ 3 2105052 this sounds great! Question on technique: do you saute and then add rice and water/broth? Sat Dec 16 13:40:28 -0800 2006 2101884 33755 NYchowcook 4 2124412 Yes, sautee onions and then add the spices near the end but let them release some of their flavors into the onions...then add rice, stir around, add the water and cook as usual (basmathi takes less time to cook and you should presoak it). Sat Dec 23 08:24:06 -0800 2006 2105052 10245 oakjoan 1 2099091 When I brew coffee, I sometimes crush a cardamon pod and put in with the ground coffee. I love the smell. I also love it in my rice pudding. Thu Dec 14 14:51:34 -0800 2006 2098719 34604 sweetie 1 2099145 In Ken Haedrich's book APPLE PIE PERFECT, there is a recipe for cardamom apple pie with dried sour cherries. It is THE BEST apple pie I have ever eaten. It is just mildly sweet, the lemon and sour cherries cut right through the cloying sweetness apple pies can have. The cardamom is so delicious in it, I now am obsessed with cardamom... Thu Dec 14 15:12:51 -0800 2006 2098719 11259 Becca Porter 1 2099864 While you are working on some of the more time-consuming suggestions, make Masala Chai - boil some water, add some good Darjeeling or Assam tea (~1 tsp per cup of water), add 2 cardomom pods, a stick of cinnamon, 2 cloves, 2 pepper corns and stir for about 5 min. Remove from heat, add a bit of honey and @5 (or greater - NOT skim) milk to taste. Mmmmmmmm Thu Dec 14 18:24:44 -0800 2006 2098719 17956 jcanncuk 1 2102614 Even if you don't have the time to make masala chai, just throwing in several whole pods when you brew iced tea (let them steep there) adds a really interesting flavor to plain old iced tea.... Fri Dec 15 16:23:59 -0800 2006 2098719 59587 lisenu68 2 2104111 I save the pods and use them to make tea; let them steep and add honey. It's fragrant and very relaxing. Fri Dec 15 23:40:13 -0800 2006 2102614 17508 acme 1 2102837 mm, these all sound really good.. i don't have access to a lot of cookbooks here, could some of you maybe post the recipes? thanks Fri Dec 15 17:27:34 -0800 2006 2098719 52894 RiJaAr 1 2104144 They are so fragrant and keep such a long time. I throw a few in the rice pot when I'm making pilaf. Then take them out before serving. Or it's also great to add, whole, to rice pudding along with some other sweet spices like cinnamon and coriander. Tastes very Indian. Fri Dec 15 23:53:21 -0800 2006 2098719 56215 TonySop 1 2105100 Make Turkish coffee and add them- Sat Dec 16 14:28:50 -0800 2006 2098719 55914 marlie202 1 2124350 A friend gave me a container of ground cardamom -the powder was green and when sprinkled on dairy desserts, had a perfume aroma. I have seen the same treatment done at various Indian restaurants. I tried to make more of this green colored powder, but was unable to do so. I opened each pod, and crushed the black seeds in a blender and came out with a burned smelling black-colored cardamom mixture. Did the sweeter smelling and green color powder I had before come from crushed green pods along with the black seeds? I have read on this thread directions to toast/bake the green cardamom shells and then crush them. I thought only the seeds were edible, that the shells were used for flavoring dishes, not to be consumed. I couldn't imagine how the powder I was given was green, free of any remnant of the black color of the seeds. If the pods are to be ground after being toasted, are the black seeds not to be used in this powder mixture? The green cardomom shells have such an aromatic flavor, whereas the black seeds have more of a sharper taste to them. (I have never seen this green powder mixture sold as a spice mixture at any market.) Sat Dec 23 06:38:56 -0800 2006 2098719 11936 FelafelBoy