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| Fenugreek plants |
Small amounts of fenugreek should be found in any good curry powders (see curry leaves). Fenugreek is also popular in the South of India and appears in the ubiquitous Tamil spice mixture sambaar podi (see cumin). Lastly, the bitter-aromatic seeds constitute an essential part of the Bengali “five spice” mixture panch phoron (see nigella).
Fenugreek leaves are an important spice from Western Asia to Northern India; for example, dried fenugreek leaves appear in the spice mixture from Georgia, khmeli-suneli (see marjoram). In Northern India, they are sometimes found in the typical yeast bread naan (then called methi naan [मेथी नान]); in South India, dried fenugreek leaves are often used as a flavouring for potato curries.
Iran has a particularly rich tradition in cooking with fenugreek leaves; among the most famous examples is ghorme sabzi [قرمه سبزی], a thick sauce made from fresh or dried vegetables (leek, onion, occasionally beans) and herbs (fenugreek, parsley, mint; some recipes also call for chives and coriander leaves). The sauce acquires a characteristic acidic flavour by addition of dried limes. Khoreshte ghorme sabzi [خورشت قرمه سبزی] is mutton slowly stewed in this aromatic herb sauce.
Fenugreek is also known in Northern and Eastern Africa; Egyptian papyri mention the plant as one necessary for the mummification process. The Ethiopian spice mixture berbere (see long pepper) contains small amounts of fenugreek.
The wide-spread popularity of this bitter spice may surprise Western cooks;
although bitterness arises unpleasant associations in most people, culinary
use of bitter taste is a theme found all over the globe. Of the spices discussed
on this page, many have a more or less significantly bitter character.
See zedoary for more on that topic.
