When you're making something and realise you don't have the ingredients you need, isn't it just the worst? Everyone has undoubtedly been there. You must stop cooking and wait for it to be delivered or dash to the store to purchase what you need.
However, you could merely pick and utilise them in your food if you could grow a few key Indian kitchen garden plants. These spice plants will give your cuisine a lot of taste and may be utilised in many Indian dishes. You may create a thriving kitchen garden and improve your culinary adventures by including these varied plants.
Discover the delight of cultivating spices in the centre of your house. Keep reading!
Various Spice Plants You Can Grow
Chilli Plants
The chilli plays a major role in India's spicy and tasty cuisine. India is home to more than eighteen different types of chilli, each with its unique colour, size, and heat level. They have been shown to increase circulation and metabolism and contain vitamins A, B, E, and C. To cultivate chiles, one needs moist soil, lots of sunlight, and chilli seeds, which take about a week to sprout and need very little water.
Curry Plant
This is a widely used seasoning component in any recipe. It is also utilised for its numerous medical advantages, which include the capacity to relieve stress, enhance hair growth, enhance eyesight, and help people lose weight. Curry leaves require a new cutting of the plant or seeds, lots of sunlight, moist soil, and alternating watering days. They thrive in sunlight and don't require much attention.
Mustard Seeds
Like curry leaves, mustard seeds are a common ingredient in most Indian flavours. The oil is also used in food, and the seeds can be processed into a paste for sandwiches and other uses. Mustard offers many advantages too. Mustard seeds require cool temperatures, two inches of water each week, and good soil with lots of nutrients. A healthy plant requires all these for a healthy produce of seeds during harvest.
Cumin Plants
A staple spice in Indian cooking, cumin seeds, also known as jeera, give a unique flavour to various meals. In addition to its culinary purposes, cumin is well-known for its possible health advantages. Seeds, well-drained soil, and a sunny spot are all necessary for growing cumin. While they don't need a lot of moisture, cumin plants need care during dry seasons.
Ginger Plants
Indian cooking is incomplete without ginger. You can grow and preserve it instead of buying it regularly. This plant needs well-drained soil and warm, humid weather. Ensure the soil is consistently kept moist when planting the rhizomes, either in a pot or a bed. It is time to harvest when the leaves begin to turn brown again.
Turmeric Plants
In Indian cuisine turmeric plants are an essential spice. This crop needs well-drained soil and warm, tropical weather. Rhizomes can be planted straight into the garden soil or in a sizable pot. When the leaves turn yellow and die back, harvest the plants while the soil remains moist.
Fennel
A kind of perennial plant called fennel has a bulbous base and a sweet and nearly anise-like flavour. All components of the fennel plant are edible, including the pollen and seeds, but chefs particularly like the bulb. In addition to being used in salads and slaws, dried fennel seeds are frequently used in savoury recipes. Grow the seeds directly into pots; fennel can be difficult to transplant, so the best soil drains well and is rich in nutrients.
Bay Plant
The bay leaf is a strong, pungent leaf mostly used in cooking. The original bay leaf originated from the Asian side of the Mediterranean, where the bay laurel tree (Laurus nobilis) is native. Today, several varieties of bay leaves are grown worldwide. If you wish to gather leaves rapidly, you can plant a bay laurel tree in your backyard. Bay laurel trees can also be planted from seeds that you can get from your neighbourhood garden centre.