5 Spices, 50 Dishes: Simple Indian Recipes Using Five Common Spices

The premise is simple: with five common spices and a few basic ingredients, home cooks can create fifty mouthwatering Indian dishes, as diverse as they are delicious. Cooking teacher Ruta Kahate has chosen easy-to-find spices coriander, cumin, mustard, cayenne pepper, and turmeric to create authentic, accessible Indian dishes everyone will love. Roasted Lamb with Burnt Onions uses just two spices and three steps resulting in a meltingly tender roast. Steamed Cauliflower with a Spicy Tomato Sauce and Curried Mushrooms and Peas share the same three spices, but each tastes completely different. Suggested menus offer inspiration for entire Indian dinners. For quick and easy Indian meals, keep it simple with 5 Spices, 50 Dishes.

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Turmeric: India's 'Holy Powder' Finally Reveals Its Centuries-old Secret

Scientists have unlocked the secrets of the "holy powder" turmeric. (Credit: Wikimedia Commons, Public Domain Image)
From this source:

Scientists in Michigan are reporting discovery of the secret behind the fabled healing power of the main ingredient in turmeric — a spice revered in India as "holy powder."

In the study, Ayyalusamy Ramamoorthy and colleagues point out that turmeric has been used for centuries in folk medicine to treat wounds, infections, and other health problems. Although modern scientific research on the spice has burgeoned in recent years, scientists until now did not know exactly how curcumin works inside the body.

For those Americans who are not familiar with turmeric as a spicy ingredient if their food, take a look at the mustard you slather onto your hot dogs. The spice which makes your mustard yellow is probably turmeric.