547229 Sat Aug 09 23:22:43 -0700 2008 10 31 Home Cooking 0 3944297 I came across a recipe that involves the Persian spice mix advieh. Having come across several different combinations, I was wondering if anybody could give me the tsp by tsp to make my own (I own most of thew spices I have seen called for). one such recipe: * 2 tablespoons dried rose petals * 2 tablespoons ground cinnamon * 2 tablespoons ground cardamom * 1 tablespoon ground cumin Does this seem representative? Thanks Sat Aug 09 23:22:45 -0700 2008 23892 NYChristopher 1 3968139 What have I gotten myself into? OK, while the above comes thru time and again, one page, ONE PAGE and google yielded the follow results: "varies by region, and by use ... may include:" (sotto voce: to say the least) cinnamon (11 mentions) green cardamom seeds (10 mentions) cumin (7 mentions) ginger, rose petals, clove, black pepper (6 mentions each) coriander (5 mentions) nutmeg (4 mentions) saffron (3 mentions) turmeric, mace, sesame (2 mentions each) ground angelica, red pepper, lime powder, lime zest, lemon peel (1 mention each) I even saw one reference to caraway seed for crying out loud. ALSO Recipes I & II (note components are the same, but measure is different) 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon 1 teaspoon ground cardamom 1 teaspoon ground cloves 1 teaspoon ground ginger 1 ts Ground cinnamon 1/4 ts Ground cardamom 1/4 ts Ground cloves 1/4 ts Ground ginger Recipes III & IV (note components are the same, but measure is different) 6 TB coriander seeds 6 TB cinnamon, about three four-inch strips of bark 3 TB cardamom seeds 4 TB black peppercorns 4 TB cumin seeds 2 TB nutmeg, one or two nutmegs 4 1/2 tsp. ground coriander 4 1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon 2 1/4 tsp. cardamom seeds 1 1/2 tsp. ground nutmeg 1 tsp. whole black peppercorns 1 tsp. cumin seeds Blending my own spice mix is not new ... as long as I have a recipe I can trust. Problem is, everything I have seen varies so wildly I don't know what to do. (sniff, sniff) Surely there must be a chowhounder willing to part with a family recipe... <wink> Should anyone be interested, the dish I want to make is this: http://www.vitacost.com/Healthnotes/Recipe/Yellow-Split-Pea-Stew.aspx I get that this mix isn't hot ... it can be sweet, it can be fragrant ... my guess, for this dish I should err more towards fragrant than sweet So, how about this: *** NYChristopher's Advieh Attempt *** * 2 tbsp ground cinnamon * 2 tbsp ground cardamom * 1 tbsp ground cumin * 1 tbsp coriander seed * 1 tsp ground ginger * 1/2 tsp ground cloves (turmeric, excluded here, is included in the recipe, but if it were not, I would add 1/2 tsp; also omitting rose petal which I don't have, while the rest I do) Thoughts? Thanks! Mon Aug 18 22:16:07 -0700 2008 3944297 23892 NYChristopher 2 4863880 Everything I can find says it mostly the ingredients you mention in the most pleasing ratio to you. They are vary greatly. Thu Jul 16 08:31:24 -0700 2009 3968139 197562 Foog 2 4864405 wondering why you dont simply use the spices listed in the recipe your first time round? Thu Jul 16 10:37:04 -0700 2009 3968139 11130 jen kalb 3 4864503 I read tasting the raw spices can be a little rough on the palette here: http://persiankitchen.wordpress.com/ Nice recipes there as well. Thu Jul 16 10:59:25 -0700 2009 4864405 197562 Foog 3 4896119 The recipe called for advieh ... the recipe didn't say what was IN the advieh, hence my question. Mon Jul 27 23:57:04 -0700 2009 4864405 23892 NYChristopher 4 4896485 duh, sorry. If I were doing this the first time, I guess I would pick a standard reliable source for my advieh recipe The first recipe you cited was from Najmieh Batmanglij.Ior at least the same as hers http://www.recipezaar.com/Advieh-253004 so that is an excellent source. Figuring out what your taste is isnt all that until you get inside the cuisine and figure it out a bit using some standard recipes. My only suggestion here is that you want to fresh grind your cardamon to obtain the desired flavor - ground cardamon is a fairly miserable product that stales quickly. You can either peel the seeds out of whole pods or buy decortinated (shelled) cardamon seeds and grind those. Tue Jul 28 06:46:13 -0700 2009 4896119 11130 jen kalb 5 4897374 Thanks for the tip on the cardamom. I have both green and black pods, but have found the black to be too much for me except in the smallest amounts. As for what started all this http://www.vitacost.com/Healthnotes/Recipe/Yellow-Split-Pea-Stew.aspx I hunted down the author and asked his advice. Here's his response (forgive me for not posting this update earlier): The following recipe for advieh is directly from THE best Persian cook book I have ever come across. The book is called New food of life, by Najmieh Batmanglij. 2 Tablespoons ground dried rose petals (unless if you know a source for this, I would skip it!) 2 Tablespoons cinnamon 1 teaspoon ground cardamom 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper 1 teaspoon ground angelica (again, this is a hard one to find) 1 teaspoon ground nutmeg 1 teaspoon ground cumin 1 teaspoon ground coriander 1 teaspoon dried Persian lime powder (you can substitute with a couple of tablespoons of fresh lime juice) He also said that of the two tablespoons to use, use one in the stew, one-half each in the potatoes and tofu. I made it without the Rose Petal, Angelica or Lime Powder (though I used lime juice) and thought it was an interesting dish, I'm just not sure I would rush back to it. 7/10 Tue Jul 28 11:17:52 -0700 2009 4896485 23892 NYChristopher 6 4898980 looks to me that the recipe you used is a meatless modification of Batmanglij's recie for Potato Khoresh recipe from the New Food of Life, which subs tofu for the meat, doubles the yellow split peas, and substitutes roasting for deep frying of the potatoes. Also he deleted saffron and dried orage peel, subbed the fresh lemon for 4 dried persian lemons and added a whole can of tomatoes in place of the single tomato in her recipe. By the way, the second advieh he gives you is her advieh for kouresh recipe - the 2 ingredient recipe is her advieh for rice recipe. All in all the changes, especially the changes probably made the recipe heavier in flavor. you might try it again with less tomato and the citrus flavors for a lighter balance. The way the potatoes are handled, fried and laid on top is interesting Tue Jul 28 20:26:32 -0700 2009 4897374 11130 jen kalb 1 4901799 What a research project, NYChristopher! "Advieh" is just a spice mixture - it's really non-specific, there's advieh for chicken, for kebab, for seafood, for yogurt, etc. All completely according to the whim of the purpose, seller or cookbook author. The seasoning in Najmieh Batmanglij's recipes is more complex than what I have seen my husband's Persian family cooking with. For meat and vegetable stews, the only spices I have seen used are turmeric, cassia cinnamon, black pepper, dried limes, and sometimes a dash of nutmeg in zucchini stew. Dried limes are used in only some stews - they're used whole in some stews, like celery stew and green herb and kidney bean stew (ghormeh sabzi), or ground-up in a lamb and yellow pea stew with fried potatoes on top (gheimeh). I like dried limes a lot, but if you can find them you should use them with caution until you know you like the distinctive sour/bitter/dark flavour. The only time I've seen ground coriander seeds or cumin used, it was in an advieh for fish. I don't think I've seen green cardamom used in a savoury context, although maybe they do that in some parts of Iran as a crossover from Gulf Arab food. They do sprinkle gol-par (ground angelica seeds) over snacks like soaked green almonds, but I haven't seen it added to stews. And I've never seen them touch dried ground ginger, caraway seeds (forsooth!) or black cardamom. Nor ground cloves. Although I have seen water infused with saffron added to stews for a special touch. Personally, I substitute small amounts of baharat from Kalustyan's for advieh, just because it's fragrant and really adds a good note. No one's complained yet! Wed Jul 29 17:41:57 -0700 2009 3944297 10402 plum 2 4915566 Adievh is also known as baharat at least on the packaged version I buy http://www.theepicentre.com/Spices/baharat.html Tue Aug 04 05:03:12 -0700 2009 4901799 197562 Foog