Degchi
Elaichi (cardamom)
Also written: cardamom, green cardamom, ilaichi, elach
- Urduالائچی
- Hindiइलायची
- Banglaএলাচ
Elaichi is cardamom, the small green pod with black seeds inside. It smells floral and a little like eucalyptus, and it sits on both sides of the kitchen: in rich savoury rice and in milk sweets.
For savoury cooking it is a whole spice that goes into hot ghee at the start. Jorda Polao fries cardamom, cinnamon and cloves in ghee for 20 seconds until fragrant, and Chicken Pulao adds it with a bay leaf and cinnamon to the onion and ginger-garlic. Masala Chai crushes the pods in a mortar with ginger, then boils them in water for 4 minutes before the tea leaves go in.
In sweets it goes in with the sugar. Payesh adds cardamom and sugar to the simmering milk and rice, and keeps stirring for about 20 minutes until it thickens. Chomchom boils the sugar syrup with cardamom.
Crush the pods lightly so they split, since a whole closed pod gives up very little. You can bite or leave the husks, but people tend to pick them out. Ground cardamom loses its smell quickly, so buy pods and grind only what you need.
Recipes that use it
42 of our 247 recipes call for elaichi (cardamom). Here are a few to start with.