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Dig-In Meals – A column highlighting Indian spices in recipes that take traditional Indian food and add a western twist!

I come from a family of spice traders. My mother-in-law’s family hails from the Cardamom Hills and Thekkady in Kerala. Their land is beautifully verdant, with cardamom growing in a tropical rainforest-like environment, wild alongside pepper vines, cloves, and lots of unidentifiable wild greens, butterflies, and bees everywhere.

My life has been full of spice, as I witnessed the yearly ritual of sourcing and storing spices for the coming year. My mom and aunts talked endlessly about what was in season, sourcing single-origin spices, discussing how to roast them to perfection, and hiring people to freshly grind everything on the terrace of our building. This of course segued into a discussion about recipes and I couldn’t wait to get my hands on their latest creations. 

Spices play such a vital role in Indian cuisine. The blended use of herbs and spices has been part of our culture for millennia, and that their use had some medicinal and restorative properties is well documented in Ayurveda.

With the resurgence of interest in everything natural, I wanted to explore, along with you, one spice that has caught my fancy and share some recipes using it. This week it is the warm and fruity Cardamom. I love how it instantly elevates every dish into something just a bit more refined and comforting.

I’m a self-taught cook and married to someone who needs dessert every night, so I became a self-taught baker. Homemade desserts are so much healthier than the manufactured versions, additive-free, made with natural ingredients, and you can easily sub the fat and sugar content. I tend to gravitate towards non-fussy recipes, down and dirty, with no special equipment needed.

Here I share two of my current favs, with a generous dose of cardamom in them. The first is a Gulab Jamun Cake recipe created by Hetal Vasavada and the second is a Cardamom Latte. I have tweaked several recipes that I found online and in cookbooks in order to arrive at the perfect balance of flavors.

Tips

I find that home-ground cardamom (both whole pod and seeds only) boasts a much stronger flavor than pre-ground store-bought varieties. Grind them in big batches–take the easy road, leave the husks on–and store them in an airtight container in the freezer for a year.

Gulab Jamun Cake

This cake is a fusion with all the treasured flavors of classic Gulab Jamun without the deep frying or long soak in sugar syrup. What’s not to love?

Ingredients for 1 Bundt cake or 6 mini Bundt-lets

Cardamom Infused Sponge Cake

• 1 ⅓ cups all-purpose flour
• ⅓ cup  dry full -at or non-fat milk powder
• 2 sticks unsalted butter, softened
• ¾ cup granulated or castor (powdered) sugar
• 8-10 saffron strands
• ¾ tsp cardamom powder
• ½ tsp salt
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 4 large eggs

Alternatively, to make it eggless you can:

• 1 ⅓ cups all-purpose flour
• ¾ cup granulated or castor (powdered) sugar
• ½ cup Plain Yogurt/Curd
• ¾ cup Milk
• ½ cup Oil
• ½ tsp salt
• ½ tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• ¾ tsp cardamom powder
• ½ tsp salt

For the Syrup

• 1 cup water
• ¾ cup granulated sugar
• ½ teaspoon saffron threads
• 8 cardamom pods, slightly crushed
• 1 cinnamon stick
• 1 teaspoon rose water
• 2 teaspoons fresh lime juice

Glaze and Garnish

• 1 ½ cups powdered sugar (1 ¾ if you want it sweeter)
• 1 tablespoon dried rose petals
• ½ tablespoon whole and ½ tablespoon finely chopped pistachios
• I garnished with pink/red hearts and some gold sugar flakes 
• Optional: Top with halfmoon gulab jamuns placed an inch apart and serve warm with vanilla ice cream

Preparation

Make the cardamom cake

1. Preheat the oven to 325°F Grease a 10-cup Bundt pan with butter.
2. Whisk the butter, sugar and cardamom powder with a hand or stand mixer till the butter is light and fluffy, about 9/10 mins.  Add salt and vanilla essence and whisk till combined.
3. Now add one egg at a time, till incorporated.
4. Add the milk powder to your flour mixture and whisk till combined. Add these dry ingredients till incorporated. Do not overmix.
5. Pour the batter into your greased Bundt pan and tap on counter to release air bubbles.
6. Bake for 35-40 mins, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean.

While the cake is baking make the Sugar Syrup.

Note: We want the syrup to be warm when pouring on the cake.

1. Add the water, sugar, saffron, cardamom pods, and cinnamon stick to a small saucepan. Bring to a boil over medium heat and simmer for 2 minutes. Remove the pot from the heat and whisk in the rose water and lime juice. 
2. Remove the cinnamon stick and cardamom pods from the syrup and discard. 
3. Reserve 60 ml of the syrup for the glaze.
4. Once the cake is done poke holes all over it with a fork. Pour the warm syrup over the warm, just out of oven, Bundt cake. Rest the cake for 10/15 mins for the syrup to be fully soaked. 
5. Place your serving platter over the bundt pan and invert into the platter. Be very careful during this step. The cake is heavy with syrup and will break or form cracks, so be very gentle during this step.
6. In a medium bowl, whisk together the powdered sugar and reserved syrup to make a glaze.
7. Pour the glaze over the Bundt cake. Sprinkle with the dried rose petals, pistachios and gulab jamun half (if using).

For the Eggless Cake base

1. Preheat the oven to 325°F Grease a 10-cup Bundt pan with butter.
2. In a medium bowl, whisk the milk and lemon juice. Set aside for 10 minutes until slightly thickened. Whisk in the oil and rosewater.
3. In a large bowl, whisk together flour, milk powder, semolina, corn flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cardamom and saffron.
4. Gradually combine the wet ingredients into the dry till incorporated. Do not overmix.
5. Bake for 55-60 mins, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean.

Fall Flavors in my Cardamom Latte

8 ounces strong French press coffee (I used George Howell’s Tarrazu Vienna with hints of Caramel, Dark Chocolate, Walnut)

Optional: 1 heaped tablespoon of Instant Coffee (Nescafe or Bru, with hints of chicory, are optimal)—Add 2 drops of water and beat with a spoon until white and slightly frothy.

1/4 cup milk

2 tablespoons Thyme Cardamom Syrup

Note: Flavor it with whatever spice you have on hand. I’ve used Thyme but rosemary, pumpkin, lavender all work really well

For the Thyme Cardamom Syrup

1. In a small pan over low heat, toast the cardamom pods until fragrant, stirring often. Watch closely to avoid burning them.
2. Using a mortar and pestle, lightly crush the cardamom pods. Pour the pods and any exposed seeds into a medium sauce pan.
3. Add the water, sugar and thyme sprigs. Bring to a boil, stirring until sugar is dissolved. reduce heat to low and simmer for 15 minutes.  
4. Strain solids through a fine-mesh sieve. Store syrup in the refrigerator in a sealed container.

Preparation

1. Heat milk till hot. Use a whisk or a spoon to beat milk until foamy.  
2. Place 2 tablespoons of cardamom syrup in a mug. 
3. Pour hot, strong coffee over syrup. 
4. Top with foamy milk and serve.

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Mona Shah is a multi-platform storyteller with expertise in digital communications, social media strategy, and content curation for Twitter and LinkedIn for C-suite executives. A journalist and editor, her experience spans television, cable news, and magazines. An avid traveler and foodie, she loves artisan food and finding hidden gems: restaurants, recipes, destinations.