I've been making a lot of Indian food, and I've repeatedly had problems with certain spices being "overpowering" when you get a bite of them. I'm talking specifically about cardamom and cloves, although cinnamon is also problematic since you can't really eat/chew it.
Usually, recipes have you add them in great enough numbers that you can't really just sift through and pull them out by hand. I saw a recommendation to stick them with toothpicks to make retrieval easier, but I'm not sure that would work with cloves (and I'd be worried about someone accidentally biting down on said toothpick).
I've considered using powdered spices, but I'm not sure if it's the same flavor – and most recipes I've seen call for whole spices, not powdered.
I've tried peeling away the cardamom pod and using the tiny seeds inside, but I end up with the same issue – even the tiny seeds give an overpowering lemon-ish flavor when you eat them.
How can I prevent large spices from overpowering all other flavors when they're consumed?
Best Answer
Simple: spit them out.
You're not supposed to eat whole cardamom pods or cloves, any more than you'd eat whole cinnamon sticks, bay leaves, or slices of dried galangal. Each diner is expected to spit them out, or pick them out of their food, and set them aside on their plate.
Whole coriander seed, cumin seed, and other small spices are meant to be eaten, but these aren't as intensely flavored.