Spices...

Spices play an important part in almost all Indian dishes. Most dishes contain at least a mild blend of spices, while other dishes use each spice to its full potential, flaunting extreme heat in the process. And that's the true beauty of the way spices are used in Indian dishes...they're versatile. Versatile ingredients are wonderful to keep in the kitchen, because they don't just have to be used for one specific dish. They can be added to all kinds of foods. So, really, that's the beauty of all Indian food. Everything seems to tie together to make one big, richly cultural cuisine.

Let's begin with the seed group: fennel seeds, celery seeds, anise, fenugreek seeds, mustard seeds, pepper, coriander, and ajowan seeds. Fenugreek and mustard seeds both must be cooked or fried to bring out their full aromatic potential. Ajowan is usually used whole, and celery seeds, like mustard seeds, have a slightly bitter taste. Fennel and anise have similar tastes, fennel being a bit more earthy and anise having a tad more zing. Pepper, of course, is spicy, but in a blunt way, meaning its undertones are not easy to recognize. And coriander, on the other hand, is a bit more meek- it really does well to accent other spices, rather than stealing the show.

Now, for some powdery spices (of course, they've been ground to this consistency), cinnamon, ground ginger, asafoetida, nutmeg, and turmeric. Cinnamon, nutmeg and ground ginger both have that slightly sour, slightly spiced taste that you really shouldn't have too much of. (At one time.) They are also nice when used in sweet dishes. Asafoetida, true to its name, is quite fetid, so it must be sealed tightly to ward off the smell. When cooked, however, it develops a garlic-onion taste that is quite nice. And don't forget turmeric: turmeric has a bold taste, one that is pungent, slightly bitter and musky.

Lastly, all you miscellaneous spices out there: cassia, star anise, cardamom, saffron, mace, cumin, and cloves. Saffron and mace can be used in both savory and sweet dishes. Saffron is one of the world's more expensive spices, since it comes (in a very limited supply) from a Kashmiri flower. Cassia is sometimes mistaken as cinnamon, and, like cinnamon, it can be ground and used in both savory and sweet dishes. Both cumin and cloves should be used sparingly because their flavors are extremely pungent in excess. Finally, cardamom. Cardamom has a sweet aroma and is commonly used for a breath-freshener or something to sooth a restless stomach.

Hope this helped! All info was retrieved from this link: http://hubpages.com/hub/indianspices
And, of course, there are tons more spices used in Indian cooking, but this post just covered the basics! Comment if you'd like to see any other spices described, or if you'd like to see others in a greater length.