a spice that knows its place

when i think of cardamom, i think of mornings.

i think of my teta and mom boiling tea in a small pot and crushing green pods between their fingers before tossing them in. i think of the warmth that fills a kitchen before everyone is awake at home. the way the smell lingered, even after the tea was gone, is such a good memory because it gets accessed as soon as i walk into a house that does the same.

cardamom isn’t loud, but it stays with you. it lives in the daily ordinary, but isn't just ordinary by any standard. a daily cup of shai (tea), a tea cake, the rice served when a family welcomes guests. it’s in our sweets, our slow-cooked meat dishes, and sometimes it’s just steeped into milk because that’s what someone’s teta always did. and the thing is, no one ever needed to explain why. we've just always accepted it all because it's impossible to deny what it does and how it belongs.

rooted in our kitchens

in arab cooking, cardamom is one of those spices that doesn’t just flavor food; it grounds it. you’ll find it in nearly every corner of the region, but how we use it changes from home to home. it might be crushed into qahwa arabiyya (arabic coffee) in the gulf, or bloom in the early stages of a braise in the levant. in palestine, it softens the sharp edges of savory dishes and rounds out desserts like ma’amoul and rice pudding.

in every case, it brings something unmistakable and comforting. it’s one of those ingredients that makes food taste like home; even if you're far from it.

always on the counter

at shawarmaji, we offer both whole cardamom pods and freshly ground cardamom - because how you use it depends on what you’re cooking or what memory you're chasing.

some things need the slow release of a pod in simmering tea. others call for a quick spoonful of the ground stuff to knead into dough or stir into yogurt. either way, it's the same spice that’s been quietly shaping our flavors for generations.

this is one of four single spices we’re highlighting this month. we started with cardamom for a reason. it’s steady, familiar, and constant in our lives like the people who raised us. and we’ve got something special on the way to honor them.

thank you to every one of you who continually support our small family business, allow me to share my musings, and give me the opportunity to live my dream by serving our community the food that i love (and live) to eat. 

peace, love, and toum,
chef mohammad abutaha