We went to the Royal Agricultural Winter Fair in 1998 and tasted the best mustard we'd had in a long time. The woman at the stand had made it and was handing out recipes. It turns out that prepared mustard has a shelf life and tastes much better if it is freshly made.

Ingredients

½ c ground mustard seeds (brown or Oriental are hotter)
¼ c ICE COLD water
¼ c vinegar (white, cider or wine)
¼ - ½ tsp sugar (to taste)
⅛ - ¼ tsp salt (to taste)
herbs, spices (optional, to taste)

Preparation

Note that brown mustard seeds are preferrable to plain yellow. You can add herbs and/or substitute wine for some of the vinegar for differently flavoured mustards. We usually add tarragon and ground cloves to our mustard.

Chili Powder

Ingredients

3 tsp ground chillies (about 12 dry chillies)
2 tsp ground coriander seeds
1 tsp ground cumin
¾ tsp garlic powder
2 tsp oregano (crushed)
¾ tsp ground cloves

Preparation

Curry Powder

We don't normally use curry powder in Indian dishes - but rather mix up the various spices individually, depending on the dish. But sometimes curry powder can be a useful thing to have on hand....

Ingredients

¼ tsp ground cinnamon
¼ tsp ground cardamom
¼ tsp ground cloves
¼ tsp ground coriander seed
¼ tsp ground cumin seed
¼ tsp ground ginger
½ tsp ground chili pepper
½ tsp garlic powder
½ tsp ground pepper
pinch turmeric (optional)

Preparation

Seasoned Salt

Ingredients

2 Tbsp salt
½ Tbsp sugar
½ Tbsp paprika
½ tsp mace
½ tsp celery salt
½ tsp nutmeg
½ tsp curry powder
½ tsp garlic powder
½ tsp onion powder
½ tsp mustard powder

Garam Masala

Ingredients

3 tsp ground cardamom seeds
½ inch cinnamon stick, ground
1 tsp ground cloves
1 tsp ground black cumin seeds
1 tsp ground cumin seeds
1 tsp ground nutmeg
1½ tsp ground black pepper

Preparation

As well as being used in many curry mixes, this goes well with yoghurt as a garnish. Garam masala is generally added at the end of cooking time.

Bhar

According to Aida Karaoglan in Food For The Vegetarian - Traditional Lebanese Recipes, bhar is

a spice blend made of cloves, cinnamon and nutmeg. It is very similar in flavor to allspice, which may be substituted for it.

But I did a search on the internet of "middle eastern spice mixes" and found reference only to baharat, which has many more than three spices. The Spice House blends "Tellicherry black pepper, coriander, cumin, Ceylon select cloves, Saigon cinnamon, cardamom, Spanish paprika and Chinese Tien Tsin chile peppers." Other sources use dried limes, turmeric... Gernot Katzer's Spice Pages have extensive information on many spices and links to several other spice pages.

Baharat (Middle Eastern Spice Mixture)

Ingredients

1½ Tbsp black pepper
2 Tbsp cloves
2 Tbsp coriander seed
1 Tbsp cumin seed
2 Tbsp ground cinnamon
pinch ground cardamom
2 Tbsp nutmeg
3 Tbsp paprika

Preparation

Herbes de Provence

Ingredients

1 Tbsp dried basil
½ Tbsp dried marjoram
1 Tbsp dried chervil
1 tsp dried tarragon
2 Tbsp dried thyme
1 Tbsp dried summer savory
1 tsp dried lavender
1 Tbsp dried rosemary
1 tsp dried mint
½ tsp dried oregano
1 bay leaf

Preparation

Fines Herbes

Ingredients

½ tsp fresh parsley
½ tsp fresh tarragon
½ tsp fresh chives
½ tsp fresh chervil

Preparation

Three Spice Rubs (the 3rd is "Old Bay")

Ingredients

Preparation

Put the spices onto a tray and dry toast them for a few minutes in the toaster. Alternatively, they can be put into a dry cast iron pan and placed over medium heat. (Be careful not to burn them!) When you begin to smell the spices, they are done. Allow to cool.

Mix spices well (use a pestle and mortar or your ~~coffee~~ dried herb & spice grinder). Of course, as always, the measurements are not written in stone; you will probably want to change the amounts of each ingredient to suit your tastes. Each mixture can be kept in a jar on the shelf. These are dry marinades. Rub generously on chicken or pork about an hour (or more) before grilling. (Refrigerate the meat as it is sitting in the spice rub.)

Grilled chicken is wonderful on spaghettini with mint pesto and sugar snap peas.

Ras el Hanout

4 or 5 dried whole cayenne peppers
1½ tsp ground coriander seed*
2 tsp cumin seeds
1 tsp turmeric
1 tsp ground cinnamon
½ tsp cardamom seeds
½ tsp fennel seeds
½ tsp black peppercorns
½ tsp ground cloves
¼ tsp ground nutmeg
¼ tsp ground ginger
¼ tsp seasalt

preparation

Put everything except the salt onto a tray and dry toast them for a few minutes in the toaster or in a dry cast iron frying pan over medium heat. (Watch for burning!) When you begin to smell the spices, they are done. Allow to cool.
Put everything but the salt into a ~~coffee~~ spice grinder and whirl until the mixture is powdered.
Put the spice mixture into a cast iron frying pan and dry-fry over medium heat until you smell the spices.
Add the salt and pour into a clean glass jar.

Store in a cool dry place. Use as a spice rub before barbecuing chicken or pork. This is the idea spice rub to use when serving couscous, preserved lemons, and harissa.

* N.B. We buy pre-ground coriander seeds in Indiatown. We used to buy whole seeds and grind them ourselves. But they were often infested with tiny flying insects. The creatures appeared to be only interested in the coriander seed but we didn't really want to take chances so stopped buying the whole seeds.

to blog from OUR kitchen: Ras el Hanout (JFI - chillies)
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Herb & Spice Mixes:
flour & herb rub . more herb & spice mix recipes

Roasts and Grilling:
Dry Spice Rubs . Game Hen - cranberry glaze . Game Hen - raspberry glaze . with Garlic & Rosemary . with Ginger & Apricot . Guava Marinade . Roast Stuffed (Christmas) . Tandoori (Indian) . Teriaki Sauce . Texas Barbecue Sauce . Wings

Other Fowl Dishes

Flour and Herb Rub

excellent for Chicken Wings

Ingredients

4 Tbsp all-purpose flour
1 Tbsp Tomato Basil flavoured dry soup mix (we use Knorr)
1 Tbsp Chicken flavoured dry soup mix (we use Knorr)
½ tsp dried savory
½ tsp dried thyme
½ tsp each any other dried herb you like
½ tsp chili flakes
1 tsp pepper

Preparation

Shake ingredients together and store in a jar.

To use, pour some of the flour mixture into a bag. Toss wings to cover entirely. Push each wing around in the bottom of the bag to ensure that each one has herbs as well as flour on it. Bake at 350F til golden brown and crispy. Wings made this way are delicious cold or hot.

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Spice Mixes:
Bengali fish curry paste . bhar . chili powder . curry powder . flour & herb rub . garam masala . mustard . seasoned salt . 3 spice rubs (including "Old Bay") . fennel seed spice rub . Ras el Hanout . rosehip spicerub . za'tar