Advieh spice is very fragrant and tries to maintain a balance between hot and mild and sweet and sour.
Advieh is a mix of several spices that are used in various Persian meals and Persian cuisines. It usually consists of five or more spices and is said to be similar to the Garam Masala or Indian curry spice combinations from India.
Some spices most often found in advieh are: Coriander, cardamom, cinnamon, cumin and rose petals. Generally advieh starts with a basic use of five or more spices, but can also include other spices such as cloves, ginger, saffron, nutmeg, black pepper, coriander, sesame, star of anise and turmeric, too.
There are as many different recipes for an advieh spice mix, with varieties of spices and amounts, as there are actual spices, I suspect. Each mix depends on personal taste or the dish it will be used in.
Advieh spice is often used on rice dishes. Advieh spice is very often used for rubs, such as when you are preparing a meat dish and you use spices to rub the various pieces of meat before cooking. Advieh spice mixes are also found in stews, as well. Various advieh spice mixes or combinations, with differing amounts or blends, of each individual spice, make their way into many Persian dishes.
Any spice with dried rose petals and saffron is definitely exotic! You can try to make your own advieh spice mix according to your own personal taste or according to what mix might taste best on different food or meals.
Curry Spices
Curry spices or curry powder is a mix of many different spices with wide variations of those spices depending on the location or region and depending on the type of dish being made.
It is usually a powder but can also be a paste. Its widely used all over south and eastern Asia. Curry powder is based primarily on turmeric, which gives it the yellow tint. But curry powder also includes base ingredients of coriander and cumin as well as an abundance of other spices.
Curry sauces can supplement the flavors in dishes made with meats vegetables, fish and eggs and many other base ingredients. Curry from India is normally made with fresh ingredients and is considered premium by culinary standards. In the Orient curry powders are used on chicken, rice and seafood dishes. It gives what some would say as the "touch of the Orient" when using these mixes of spices.
Garam masala, from India, is very similar to curry powder. It can have peppercorn, cinnamon, nutmeg, star anise, cardamom but is not based around turmeric as much and has a warmer flavor. Its also usually added toward the end of the cooking of the dish or on the finished dish as opposed to curry that is added at the beginning when cooking.
Chinese five spice powder can be made with many variations and you can make it yourself. The key to Chinese five spice powder or when making Chinese five spice is that you must keep in mind the thought behind the mixture.
The spice mix must be a balance of tastes, flavors and aromas. Chinese philosophy is ingrained in cooking and the spice mix is no exception. It must be perfectly balanced as in sweetness, saltiness, spiciness and tartness or sourness. Chinese five spice is similar to India's garam masala spice mixture. Some variations of Chinese five spice powder are the use of cassia, cloves, star anise, fennel and sichuan pepper. Another variation might be cinnamon, cloves, anise and ginger. Sometimes salt and white pepper are also used in the mix.
You can purchase Chinese five spice powder in Asian markets or food specialty stores. You will definitely find it being used in Chinese cuisine in restaurants. It is most generally used in small quantities in meat dishes like pork, chicken and duck. You can make your own Chinese five spice powder yourself! You can get the main ingredients in their basic forms and try various combinations until you find one or a few that you personally like or go well with certain dishes. Lets get cooking!
