Briefly warming ground spices in oil or another cooking fat helps distribute their flavour through a dish. This stage is often called blooming. Powders can burn much faster than onions soften, so have the next ingredients ready before they enter the pan.
Step by step
Measure spices and prepare the next addition
Put the required spices in a small dish. Have the recipe’s tomatoes, stock or other next ingredient within reach so you are not opening a tin while powders fry.
Control the heat under the fat
Cook any aromatics first as directed. Lower the heat if the pan is very hot. There should be enough of the recipe’s fat to moisten the spice powder rather than leaving dry patches against the pan.
Stir in the ground spices
Stir them through the fat or cooked aromatics, reaching the bottom of the pan. Heat briefly until fragrant. Use the recipe’s timing as a guide and stop if the powder darkens too rapidly.
Add the next ingredients carefully
Add the prepared liquid or moist ingredients as directed, keeping your hands and face back from spitting fat. Stir to distribute the spices and continue cooking the dish.
Burnt spices and different techniques
A scorched spice paste usually needs to be replaced; more liquid does not remove its burnt flavour. Whole-spice tempering can use a different order and temperature, so do not apply a ground-spice timing to mustard seeds or other whole spices. Delicate finishing spices may belong at the end of cooking instead.
