Author Archives: Holly
Mayan Cocoa
Heavenly Mayan Cocoa
The delicious comfort of drinking chocolate is ancient ritual. Both the Aztecs and Mayans believed cocoa to be a gift from the gods. This recipe may have changed a bit in the last 500 years, but the taste is still heavenly. Our Mayan Cocoa mix rests on a deep chocolate base with a mellow chile warmth alongside the intricate flavors of almond, true cinnamon and allspice. Whisk together 2-4 tablespoons of Mayan Cocoa per cup of whole milk and heat to just below boiling. Hold at this temperature for a few minutes, then strain to remove any spice chunks. Sweeten to taste and enjoy!
Tasmanian Pepperberry Vodka
What do you get when you combine some local, hand-crafted vodka with some wild-harvested Tasmanian Pepperberries? Some very happy spice merchants! Flavored alcohols are all the rage right now; we love them and love making our own. So, it was a natural that the minute we received a new shipment of Tasmanian Pepperberries we would slip a few into a bottle in the interest of culinary science. Tasmanian Pepperberries infuse so beautifully; it really doesn’t get any easier than this for flavor and presentation.
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Ingredients
Instructions
- Open vodka bottle.
- Drop Tasmanian Pepperberries into vodka bottle.
- Tightly close.
- Enjoy the visual of the magenta streams of color.
- Flip the bottle slowly twice.
- Allow to sit overnight.
- When the flavor is to your liking, then it's time to strain them out. We typically go 24 hours.
- Serve. We like it straight, on ice, or with a little soda water.
Who’s Cooking? We are!
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That’s right! The World Spice Team is at it again testing new recipes for posting on our blog. Creative, as well as talented, here’s Angelina rolling out some pie crust using a handy Batch 206 vodka bottle as a pin. What kind of pie? Well, we are testing two: Chinese Five Spice Apple Carrot Raisin Pie and Sri Lankan Curry Sweet Potato Pie. Recipe posts coming soon after they pass the palate tests of our stringent taste testers.
Here’s Abel, who picks up our outgoing spice shipments to restaurant customers nationally, participating as a guest tester. Think he got a little heat with that bite?
Panch Phoron Bengali Roasted Chicken
This dish was featured on the cover of Sunset Magazine’s October 2010 issue featuring one-dish dinners. It was a great issue — not just because they lauded World Spice Merchants as their “holy grail for spices” — and this is a great recipe. Enjoy!
Panch Phoron Bengali Chicken
Ingredients
Instructions
- Combine bay leaves, ginger and garlic and have at the ready (they do not need to be mixed). Heat oil over small-to-medium frying pan or skillet over medium heat. Add Panch Phoron, and stir until seeds begin to pop, about 30 seconds. Add bay leaves, ginger and garlic all at once, and stir until ginger softens, about 3 minutes. Remove skillet from heat, and stir in coriander and salt. Let sit until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Add yogurt and flour mixture, stir to loosed browned bits, and let marinade cool.
- Combine marinade with chicken, bell peppers and carrots, stir or toss to coat, and cover (you can use a dish with a tightly fitting lid or a resealable plastic bag). Chill at least 2 hours or overnight.
- Preheat oven to 475°F with rack set in upper third of oven. Arrange potatoes in single layer in large rimmed oven dish or on rimmed baking sheet. Turn out marinated ingredients over potatoes, mix to coat, and pat to single layer. Bake until browned, about 40 to 45 minutes, turning with wide spatula every 15 or 20 minutes and ending with chicken skin-side up.
Notes
Recipe and photo from Sunset Magazine, October 2010.
Quatre Epices Cake
This recipe from our friends at Sunset promises a citrus and sweet taste, followed by a glow or a kick — depending on whether the signature French four-spice blend is made with white or black pepper. Well, our Quatre Epices delivers the best of both, with prized Sarawak White and Tellicherry Black peppercorns!
This French Quatre Epices cake delights everyone who tastes it!
Ingredients
Instructions
- Cake: Preheat oven to 350°F, and butter and flour a 9-inch square baking pan. In large bowl, beat softened butter, brown sugar and zest until fluffy. Add eggs and beat batter until blended.
- In a separate bowl, sift together flour and remaning dry cake ingredients.
- Blend into batter at low speed one third of dry mix and half of buttermilk, alternately. Spread batter in pan. Bake until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean, 25 to 30 minutes.
- Remove from oven and let cool on rack 10 minutes. Loosen cake from pan with slender spatula, and invert gently onto rack, then re-invert onto another rack and allow to cool completely before frosting.
- Frosting: Set medium saucepan over medium-low heat. Cook butter until deep golden brown, swirling occasionally, 10 to 15 minutes. Pour into a mixer bowl and allow to cool.
- Chill butter bowl until butter is firm enough to beat, about 30 minutes. Add remaining frosting ingredients, except for nuts, and beat until fluffy, 1 to 2 minutes.
- Split cake horizontally with long serrated knife. Lift off top layer with 2 large spatulas and carefully set aside. Set bottom layer on platter, and spread upper surface with half of frosting. Replace top layer, and spread upper surface with remaining frosting. Sprinkle with nuts.
Notes
Recipe and photo from Sunset Magazine, October 2010.
Arabic Baharat Lamb Stew in Kabocha Squash
This recipe from our friends at Sunset breaks down the steps to sweet and savory success, using our Arabic Baharat. Don’t be concerned about tricky presentation. This lamb stew is delicious and easy to make.
This recipe from our friends at Sunset breaks down the steps to sweet and savory success.
Ingredients
Instructions
- Heat 1 tablespoon oil in 5- to 6-quart pan over high heat. Sprinkle lamb with 3/4 teaspoon salt and 1/4 teaspoon pepper. Brown lamb in heated oil, stirring occasionally, 6 to 8 minutes. Transfer lamb to a bowl and set aside.
- Reduce heat under pan to medium-high. Add 1 tablespoon oil, shallots and 1/4 cup broth to pan, and stir to loosen browned bits. Cook shallots, stirring occasionally, 7 to 10 minutes, until browned (add a splash of water if drippings start to darken).
- Return lamb to pan, sprinkle with Arabic Baharat, add 2 cups broth, and stir again. Cover pan and bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer 1 hour. (Add 1/4 cup broth if pan starts to dry). Stir in rice and tomatoes, and return to a boil while you prepare the squash.
- Preheat oven to 375°F. Use a short knife to carefully cut a 4-inch lid around squash stem, pry out with a blunt table knife, and scrape out seeds from squash and lid. Brush interior of squash and lid with remaning 1 tablespoon oil. Sprinkle interior of squash and lid with remaining 1/4 teaspoon each of salt and pepper (tip to coat evenly).Set squash on rimmed baking sheet, and print with a fork in a few spots near the top.
- Remove stew from heat, carefully fill squash to capacity, and set lid in place. Bake until just tender inside when pierced, 70 to 90 minutes. Spoon any remaining stew into loaf pan, cover and bake 1 hr.
- Stir chives into squash and loaf pan just before serving. Carefully transfer sqash to serving platter with two wide spatulas (but don't worry if some splitting occurs).
Notes
Recipe and photo from Sunset Magazine, October 2010.
