Cardamom is an important spice in Indian cooking, whatever Indian recipe you make, you must prepare cardamom or best substitute for cardamom. What if you don’t have cardamom? This is a problem in cooking, but now you don’t have to worry because you can use other ingredients to replace cardamom in Indian dishes.
What Cardamom Is?
Cardamom is an important spice for a chef, especially in preparing Asian dishes, but for an amateur in cooking, cardamom may not be important because they don’t know how to use cardamom in cooking. Cardamom comes in various forms, some are ground or whole and it is included in certain recipes to produce a spicy aroma and taste in cooking.
You need to know that green cardamom is one of the most expensive spices in the world. So, for this reason, many people are looking for a substitute for cardamom to add to their dishes. Sometimes they use black cardamom which is cheaper than green cardamom.
Green cardamom has a high price due to limited supplies and has a unique and smoky aroma to your cooking, but it is still refreshing even this is almost the same as mint taste. Green cardamom is usually used to add flavor to meat and nut dishes. Even in preparing pastries as desserts. There are also those who use cardamom as a flavoring for coffee drinks, cocktails and alcoholic beverages.
Black cardamom is different from green cardamom, usually used in cooking to produce a savory taste. The unique taste profile of these two types of cardamom makes it very difficult for us to find the best suitable substitute for the dish. However, you don’t have to worry because we have prepared several cardamom substitutes for your cooking, even though they are not 100% the same, but these ingredients can replace cardamom seasoning when you don’t have it.
The Best Cardamom Substitute for Cooking
Among the best substitutes for this spice are cinnamon and nutmeg mix, ginger and cinnamon mix, coriander, cloves, and allspice. Here we take a closer look at the best substitutes for this cardamom.
1. Cinnamon and Ginger
It is a combination of dried ginger and cinnamon, both of which can produce a scent that is almost identical to cardamom. Mix the two ingredients in equal ratio, then this will be the best substitute for black cardamom. If you are using black cardamom in your recipe then just replace it with these two ingredients (cinnamon and dried ginger). Ginger gives it a nutty taste and cinnamon gives it a sweet and spicy mix, both of which will be natural ingredients for your recipe in place of black cardamom.
2. Cinnamon and Nutmeg
Furthermore, a mixture of cinnamon and nutmeg can also be the right combination to replace cardamom. Cinnamon gives a little heat to the dish, while nutmeg gives a sweet taste to your dish. So, the combination of the two is right to replace cardamom. It is effective in both savory and sweet dishes such as in curries and stews.
3. Allspice
Allspice is a condiment made from a mixture of several spices. It is made from dry ground Pimenta dioica seeds. The taste is so versatile and rich that it responds to a variety of food recipes. It is similar to cardamom used in sweet and savory recipes. To replace cardamom, you can use the same amount of allspice you would use cardamom in recipes.
4. Cumin
Furthermore, the best substitute for cardamom is cumin. Cumin is a spice used in many Asian and Mexican recipes, it gives an earthy bite to your dishes, and gives it a lighter taste. Cumin is also one of the best substitutes for black cardamom.
More: The 5 Best Substitutes for Horseradish
Green cardamom is usually used in making sweet dishes, which is incompatible with cumin.
5. Cloves
Cloves are one type of spice that is quite widely used in cooking, it gives a spicy taste to your dish. Clove is a spice that has a smoky, earthy taste in cooking and imparts a savory aroma to the tongue. Cloves are often used as a spice in sweet and savory foods, so these cloves are also good for replacing black and green cardamom, this depends on how the recipe is.
6. Combination of Nutmeg, Cinnamon, Clove, and Allspice
It’s hard to find the best substitute for green cardamom, we’ve tried these ingredients and gave the best results similar to green cardamom (in our opinion). A combination of spices like cinnamon, cloves, allspice, and nutmeg seems to give it a taste that most closely resembles green cardamom.
But for best results, you should use 4 parts nutmeg and one part other spices (cinnamon, cloves, allspice).
Also see: 7 Best Substitutes of Capers in Your Cooking
7. Combination of Nutmeg, Coriander & Allspice
Furthermore, the best substitute for cardamom is a combination of three special spices, namely nutmeg, coriander, and allspice. If you don’t use cinnamon and cloves, you can use coriander instead. So, the combination is only 3, namely nutmeg, allspice, and coriander.
You can use these three ingredients in equal ratios to imitate the taste of black cardamom. Do not use too many of these three ingredients because it can give an unusual taste. Use the same amount as black cardamom in recipes.
8. Coriander Seeds
Whole coriander seeds have a very pungent taste. So grinding coriander seeds is an important thing, after grinding the aroma of coriander seeds will be different and taste better and better. These seeds contain natural oils that are good for replacing cardamom, you can use ground coriander seeds instead of green cardamom or black cardamom.
More: 10 HEALTH BENEFITS OF EATING VEGETABLES
9. Black cardamom for green cardamom
In many dishes sometimes you have to use green cardamom, but the difficulty of getting green cardamom requires you to use a substitute. Uniquely, it turns out that you can replace green cardamom with black cardamom which is cheaper than green cardamom.
The difference in the price of these two spices makes black cardamom widely used as the best substitute for green cardamom.