Cooking Powders

[flyinglentris]

Flour and Baking Soda certainly qualify as Cooking Powders, but this discussion goes after much more.

Recently, I posted a recipe for Sea Pie, where I created a Cashew powder with Mortar an Pestle. That's a good example.

More recently, I made the dumb mistake of buying a package of Coffee and discovered when I went to use it that it was Whole Been Coffee, not ground. Oops! So I had to go buy a Coffee Grinder.

And I got to thinking ... why not use this thing to grind up other things as well?

And yes, there it is ... an excellent way to source cooking powders, like ground Cinnamon, Cashew Flour, Rice Powder ... any kind of ground Grain, Nut or Seed. Likely some other things I haven't thought of yet. Ground up dried Beans? Why not?

 

[The Late Night Gourmet]

I have a coffee grinder that I never use to grind coffee. Here, I used it to create a "caster sugar" substitute: white sugar pulsed for a few seconds. This makes the sugar dissolve so much better in things like Sweet and Sour Chicken sauce and, say, a mojito.

I've also used it to make my own Chinese 5 Spice blend. I have to hand wash the part with the motor to (try to) remove as much of the previous contents as possible. But, a little bit of spice along with my sweet doesn't bother me.

I do like the idea of making other powders (like the cashew powder you created).

 

[medtran49]

our coffee grinder is used as nothing but a spice grinder. We don't drink s lot of coffee at home, just an occasional Irish coffee so we grind the coffee at the store when we buy it. Besides spices, we grind up dried porcinis for mushroom powder, as well as small amounts of nuts, though those are usually ground up in the mini food processor bowl.

 

[flyinglentris]

I do like the idea of making other powders (like the cashew powder you created).

Apparently, I did not invent that term. People have articles on the web about cooking powders. I just used the Cashew powder in my most recent 'Milk' challenge recipe.

 

[Morning Glory]

And yes, there it is ... an excellent way to source cooking powders, like ground Cinnamon, Cashew Flour, Rice Powder ... any kind of ground Grain, Nut or Seed. Likely some other things I haven't thought of yet. Ground up dried Beans? Why not?

In culinary speak they are sometimes called dusts. I've been experimenting with such things by dehydrating fruit and veg (using the microwave) and then using my spice grinder (which is basically a slightly smaller coffee grinder). See here: https://www.cookingbites.com/threads/strawberry-dust.12019/

 

[flyinglentris]

In culinary speak they are sometimes called dusts.

That sounds applicable. I am becoming a fan of cooking powders and dusts. I like what I have seen you do with fruit dusts.

 

[Morning Glory]

A lot of Indian recipes call for dry frying spices and then grinding to a powder. Here, for example Balti Spice Mix

 

[The Late Night Gourmet]

See here: https://www.cookingbites.com/threads/strawberry-dust.12019/

Wow. Now, all I have to do is get a better plate, table, lighting, and an eye for plating, and I can make things that look this nice.

 

[Elawin]

I have two grinders - one which is only ever used to grind spices, and a second larger one which has a glass goblet and can be used as a mini liquidiser/blender. I do have a pestle and mortar but find it is slightly too rough inside to clean properly. I always buy my coffee ready ground as I can only have decaf.

 

[The Late Night Gourmet]

I do have a pestle and mortar but find it is slightly too rough inside to clean properly.

I've found this when making guacamole and curries, but I still like to use it once in a great while when I want to feel like I'm connecting with the roots of a recipe.

 

[Morning Glory]

Wow. Now, all I have to do is get a better plate, table, lighting, and an eye for plating, and I can make things that look this nice.

I'm sure you could. I'm really sure. As I said in the MasterChef thread - plating up can be learned, a good palate can't.

 

[buckytom]

I used to make my own chili powders, but I can't find the grinder I had dedicated to it since we moved a few years ago.
It was originally my wife's coffee grinder that I used to make a basic mixed dried chili powder, then some ground dried cayenne powder, Thai bird powder, and Ghost chili powder from peppers I grew in my garden.

I thought I had cleaned it well enough, but the next pot of coffee that my wife made was really interesting., shall we say. Lol.

She bought a new grinder, and I kept it for grinding spices, however it really could only be used for chilis after that.

 

[rascal]

I dry roast all my spices and grind them in my coffee grinder, which is only used on my spices. I drink only tea. Earl gray to be precise. These are mainly used in my curries.

Russ

 

[Elawin]

I've found this when making guacamole and curries, but I still like to use it once in a great while when I want to feel like I'm connecting with the roots of a recipe.

This is the one my brother brought back from Thailand - my brother died in February 1991, so it's quite old. It was quite dusty when I inherited it, and I don't think it's ever recovered. It's made of some sort of stone and is very rough inside. It comes in very handy as a holder for my roll of kitchen towels......

 

[SatNavSaysStraightOn]

And yes, there it is ... an excellent way to source cooking powders, like ground Cinnamon, Cashew Flour, Rice Powder ... any kind of ground Grain, Nut or Seed. Likely some other things I haven't thought of yet. Ground up dried Beans? Why not?

Can I point out that chickpea flour is besan flour better known as gram flour and had been around for centuries...

Then there is almond meal, the ground dehydrated remains of almonds processed with water to make almond milk.

Maize flour...