The Perfect Pantry

Cumin (Recipe: mushroom bhaji/mushrooms in tomato-onion sauce)

Never let it be said that The Perfect Pantry avoids the big issues.

After all, we've taken a stand on Miracle Whip versus mayonnaise, chocolate versus vanilla, chili with beans versus chili without beans, and Fresca versus... well, versus everything.

Today we're tackling another of life's big questions: how to pronounce cumin.

COO-min? COO-men? KEW-min?

Is there one correct way that makes all of the others incorrect?

Turmeric (Recipe: saag aloo/potatoes with spiced spinach)

In days of old, when nights were cold, I used to spend a lot of time knitting.

Yarn shopping replaced clothes shopping as my favorite activity. I bought yarn wherever I found something out of the ordinary -- at a stall in Covent Garden, at a craft fair in New Zealand with Cousin Martin, at hidden-away sales of Uruguayan yarn in Manhattan --and eventually I took up spinning and dyeing my own yarn.

And that's why, long before I ever used turmeric in my cooking, I had some in my pantry. In the world of natural dyeing, turmeric turns everything it touches a golden yellow color; in cooking, it does the same thing.

Chickpea flour (Recipe: salmon tikka)

Ten things I know about chickpea flour (you'll be glad to know them, too):

Curry powder (Recipe: curried green tomatoes)

It's green tomato season here in Rhode Island -- the perfect time to enjoy an updated post from the archives. And if you live in my neighborhood, please help yourself to these green tomatoes from my garden.

On my very first spice rack, in my very first apartment, the most exotic tin, rectangular and red and gold all over, held Madras curry powder.

You know exactly what I'm talking about.

You probably have a tin just like it on your spice rack.

Though I'm 25 or 30 tins down the road from my first spice rack, the tin in my pantry today is exactly the same as the first one: Sun Brand Madras Curry Powder, imprinted with seals of approval so tiny you can't possibly read them, from organizations (or expositions, or governments) you need a microscope to identify. A silver medal from St. Louis 1904 must be from the World's Fair, but whoever bestowed a gold medal from London 1905, the most recent prize listed on the tin, remains a mystery.

However, what's not a mystery is why this particular spice blend is sold in supermarkets everywhere.

Curry powder is the ultimate convenience food.

Ginger root (Recipe: steamed fish in packets)

One horribly hot and humid day last summer, I visited my friend Julia's tiny urban garden.

I didn't go for the copious quantities of iced coffee that we both love, nor for her especially good egg salad, nor even for the effortless conversation we always enjoy.

No, what I really wanted was to dig ginger.

Julia, a chef and restaurant consultant, stores her ginger in the garden during the summer months. She digs it up when she needs a bit for cooking, breaks off a piece, then plants it back in the garden, where it continues to grow.

In the photo above, that's Julia's hand holding a "hand" of ginger, which has sent out new roots. In the front are three "fingers" of new ginger growth, brighter white than the old part, and with new green shoots coming out the top.

Ground coriander (Recipe: curried turkey meatballs)

A favorite post from the earliest days of The Perfect Pantry, updated with new photos, recipe and links.

Once upon a time...

Our granddaughter Sabina knows that all good stories begin this way.

Once upon a time, the Sultan Schahriah, who had caught his sultana cheating on him, resolved to marry a different woman every day -- and to have her beheaded on the following morning, so no wife could ever get the chance to be unfaithful to him again.

(Sound familiar? It's the premise of The Thousand and One Arabian Nights.)

Scheherezade, daughter of the Grand Vizier, begged to become his next wife, so she could put a stop to this nonsense. To forestall her own death and the death of any other unlucky bride, she crafted a story-within-a-story so intriguing that, night after night, the Sultan spared her life.

In one tale, she told of a merchant, childless for forty years, who was "cured" by a love potion containing coriander. And though this story was very old (the tales were first published in Arabic in 850 AD, from stories handed down through generations before that), Scheherazade might have gotten the idea from the Chinese, who for thousands of years had used coriander as an aphrodisiac.

Turmeric (Recipe: saag paneer -- spicy spinach with cheese)

What do margarine, Domino's Pizza grilled chicken, chow-chow relish and monks' robes have in common?

They all get their bright yellow color from turmeric.

What do curry powder, ras-el hanout, hawayij, and tandoori spice rub have in common?

They all get their bright color from turmeric.

Cardamom pods (Recipe: masalawali chai — Indian spiced tea)

Did you know that more than eighty percent of the world's export production of cardamom pods finds its way into cups of coffee?

Not into Starbucks mocha cappuccino.

Not into Peet's cafe au lait.

Not into the Dunkin' Donuts Great One my husband drinks almost every morning.

In Arab cultures, cardamom -- the world's third most expensive spice, after saffron and vanilla -- is added to coffee, as a sign of hospitality. Before guests are served, they are shown the green cardamom pods that will be used. The appearance of the pods is important; the more plump and perfect the pods, the more respect for the guest.