Calling all (semi) esoteric foodies ...

January 5, 2008 11:40 AM

What can I do with all these black cardamom pods?

So, I ended up with a fair amount of black cardamom pods (approx. 4oz). While I can toss off a few dozen uses for "real" cardamom--the smaller green pods, the bleached white pods, and the whole and ground seeds--I'm not quite sure how to approach these monsters. Any suggestions? Preferred food/drink recipes? Aromatic uses? Cockroach impersonation?

posted by the luke parker fiasco to Food & Drink (12 answers total)

I think it's particularly good in chai. You'd need other ingredients but they are all extremely common and you probably already have them.
posted by hecho de la basura at 12:16 PM on January 5, 2008

If you like Indian you should try Madhar Jaffrey World Vegetarian. Incredible flavors and you can always add meat. We really like the Chai and all the Punjabi recipes.

Enjoy!
posted by Fuzzy Dog at 12:23 PM on January 5, 2008

Black cardamom (not for use in chai).

As that link points out (and I recommend the whole site), black cardamom is used in long-cooking savoury meat dishes and sometimes in grindings of Chinese five spices or garam masala. If you haven't ground your own spices, making your own combinations is rather fun. Gift idea maybe?

Use in pho. Throw in your stews for a bit of smoky flavor. Cook with your rice and remove it after.
posted by artifarce at 12:31 PM on January 5, 2008

Best answer: Toss in a pot of strong, dark roast coffee while brewing for a smoky beverage. Think lapsang souchong, only more so.
posted by Verdant at 2:53 PM on January 5, 2008 [1 favorite]

Make some korvapuusti buns. They are a sweet bread, from Finland. Very, very yummy.
posted by flutable at 5:01 PM on January 5, 2008 [1 favorite]

Verdant beat me too it. I love black cardamom in coffee.

It is also common in Sichuan cooking. It goes really well in stews or any slow cooked dish along with sichuan pepper, star anise and of course, chilies.
posted by [expletive deleted] at 5:57 PM on January 5, 2008

If you have an ice cream maker, cardamom adds a wonderful subtle flavour to ice cream. Don't have an ice cream maker? Make kulfi!
posted by peacheater at 6:09 PM on January 5, 2008

I have a big bag of black cardamom which I use all the time. I split them and throw the seeds in meat-based curry dishes, especially chicken dansak and that kind of thing. They are also a crucial ingredient in garam masala. Seconding the suggestion to grind your own spice combinations and experiment. The stronger aromatics like cardamom and fenugreek are usually left out of simplified recipes, which is a terrible shame as they are very distinctive and don't blend down too much in cooking.
posted by unSane at 8:52 PM on January 5, 2008

Response by poster: flutable: Does black cardamom work for korvapuusti? All the Scandinavian recipes I've seen that call for cardamom usually want the seeds of the green or bleached pods.
posted by the luke parker fiasco at 11:52 PM on January 5, 2008

Response by poster: (For example, I often make this Icelandic recipe which is a bit similar to korvapuusti, but it's definitely asking for the green pods.)
posted by the luke parker fiasco at 12:15 AM on January 6, 2008

I put whole pods in my chili (then remove them before serving). They add a nice smokiness.
posted by MrMoonPie at 9:45 AM on January 7, 2008

Response by poster: Thanks for all the suggestions, everyone! Lookin' forward to trying ... well, pretty much all of the cooking suggestions (and tracked down unSane's Chicken Dansak recipe, to boot).

The cardamom coffee was great (ever being a lover of brewing stuff into my coffee), and even inspired a suggestion of my own--I found that simmering a split pod in some water and then using the water to brew green tea took off the bitter edge that has always kept me from really liking green tea, and made it like a green variance on lapsang souchong/russian caravan.
posted by the luke parker fiasco at 11:48 AM on January 11, 2008