Masala Velchi, Badi Elaichi, Doda. Black Cardamom

Spice no. 11

My first introduction to Masala velchi was when my mother bought a packet of whole garam masala for making biryani. Biryani is not a Koli dish at all not even a fish Biryani but certainly it is from our Koli-Arab neighbor's repertoire who are known as Konkani muslims. I recollect due to this Velchi being so huge my mother always used a potli to tie the masalas. The resultant Biryani was mildly fragrant and it never got shunned. Masala Velchi has a truly notorious reputation of overpowering the flavours and unappealing physical appearance too. It is overpowering as it is very smoky due to the drying process that blackens and lends smokiness to the spice. It is dried in chambers of woodfire for long hours over days. This Badi elaichi is grown only in Sikkim in India. Sikkim however does never use it in its traditional cuisine. The spice is traded by Marwaris and so no wonder that Rajasthani cuisine uses it liberally and calls it lovingly Doda. This spice however has an association with meats and hence rarely will you find it used in Sattavik food. 

For the Sweets and Sattavik food it is the green Cardamom and even though they belong to the same Zingiber­aceae family the flavor profiles are different. Black cardamon tastes smoky and camphor like while green cardamom is sweet and minty cool. Green cardamom is  grown in Kerala in the hilly regions and is the predominant spice in their sweets. While the green cardamon grows in alternative alignment on the rhizomes Black cardamom is seen in red drupes. The taste of fresh plucked black cardamom is unlike its dried version whereas fresh green cardamom tastes similar.

Black Cardamom has a singular medicinal property, it used for digestive disorders in Ayurved and Chinese traditional medicine.