Day 14 - The Search For Strange Spices in Smalltown America

One of the most exciting things about eating vegan is trying new recipes.  I've found that unusual flavors in food more than make up for missing meat and fat and dairy in my meals.  I found a recipe for a Cauliflower Dal on a wonderful blog called FatFree Vegan Kitchen that required an Indian spice mixture called panch phoran, something quite common in a Bengalese kitchen.

I live in a small town, next to a small city, halfway across the world from India.  Though we have a couple of good Asian markets and Mexican markets, I was doubtful that we had an Indian market.  But I did a quick Internet search and was surprised to find one place, an Indian grocery connected to a gas station.  So, off I went in search of panch phoran.  Panch phoran is a mixture of five fragrant seeds -- fenugreek, black mustard, cumin, fennel and something called kalonji.  Kalonji is also known as nigella sativa, charnuska, black cumin, black caraway seed, blackseed, black onion seed or Roman coriander.

When I arrived at the gas station, the clerk showed me to their selection of Indian groceries.  They consisted of four box meals, kind of like an Indian version of Hamburger Helper.  He did gallantly offer to pick up what I needed on his next trip to the big city Indian grocer, but I decided to head to our local natural foods store and see what they had to offer. 

A wall of spices awaited me.  To my disappointment, they only had four of the five spices I needed.  The kalonji was going to be a problem.  The owner had never even heard of it and her vendor didn't carry it.  I could make the dish without it, but I really wanted to try the recipe in its authentic form.  So once again, I hit the Internet and found The Spice Sage.

There are any number of spice vendors on the Net, but I chose this one because they didn't charge for shipping.  Ordering $2.95 worth of kalonji and paying $9.95 in shipping just wasn't going to happen.  The Spice Sage (www.myspicesage.com) does have a minimum order of $10.00 for free shipping, so I picked up some smoked Spanish paprika and some chipoltle chili powder that I needed and that was that.  Obscure and exotic spices are available to those of us living in smalltown America.

Once the kalonji arrives in the mail, I'll report back on the Cauliflower Dal.  I love the Internet.  It makes anything possible!