Quick answer: To get started with Madagascar's spices, a curry, turmeric and ginger trio covers plenty of savoury dishes, a black pepper works as a table staple, and vanilla is kept apart on the sweet side. It is best to use each spice on its own before combining them.
Faced with a range of Madagascar spices and peppers, it can be hard to know where to start. This page offers a simple starting point, meant for everyday cooking rather than an already well stocked cupboard: a spice trio that covers plenty of dishes, a pepper for the table, and vanilla kept apart. Our pillar page on Madagascar spices then presents the whole range, for anyone who wants to go further.
Curry, turmeric and ginger: a trio that covers plenty of dishes
With these three references alone, you already cover a large share of everyday savoury dishes: roasted or simmered vegetables, rice, poultry, fish, legumes. Turmeric gives a coloured, slightly earthy base; ginger brings a livelier, fresher note; curry, which is a blend of several spices, brings together a bit of both along with a few other flavours in a single pinch. Each can be used on its own, or combined: sautéing the onion with a little curry and turmeric at the start of cooking, then adding the ginger a little later so it keeps its edge, is a simple gesture to repeat across many recipes.
Curry, a blend rather than a single spice
The curry found in a sachet is not a particular plant, but a blend of several spices put together. The idea comes from Anglo-Indian cooking: a ready-made blend, to recapture the taste of Indian dishes without gathering each spice separately. Our Madagascar curry follows the same ready-made blend logic, put together from several spices in our range.
Black pepper, the staple that turns up everywhere
For anyone who keeps only one pepper in the kitchen, black pepper remains the most versatile: it suits almost everything, from meat to vegetables, and is ground at the last minute to keep as much flavour as possible. The other peppers in our range, white pepper, less visible and a little rounder, and wild pepper, gathered in the forest and more pronounced, are worth discovering once black pepper is already familiar. Our discovery pack brings together three peppers and vanilla, to compare their profiles without buying each one separately.
Vanilla, a world apart
Vanilla does not belong with the savoury spices: it belongs to the sweet side, and is chosen and dosed differently. A pod, an extract or a powder is enough to get started, before exploring the rest of the vanilla range whenever the urge strikes.
Adding one spice at a time
To learn to recognise the taste of each spice, it is best to use them one at a time at first, before combining them. A pinch of turmeric alone in a simple dish, then a pinch of ginger alone in another, gives a clearer idea of what each one brings than if they are mixed together from the start in the same complicated recipe. Once these tastes are familiar, combining them in the trio, or with pepper and vanilla, becomes easier to dose.
Where our spices come from
Our family grows turmeric, ginger and black pepper in Vangaindrano, in south east Madagascar; wild pepper is gathered there in the forest, it is not cultivated. Our curry, put together from several spices from the same region, also comes from there. Our family grows and prepares vanilla in the SAVA region, in the north east of the island.
Frequently asked questions
Which spices to start with in Malagasy cooking?
A curry, turmeric and ginger trio covers a large share of everyday savoury dishes (vegetables, rice, poultry, fish, legumes), to round out with a pepper for the table and vanilla kept apart for sweet dishes.
Is curry a spice in its own right?
No: curry is a blend of several spices put together, on the principle of Anglo-Indian cooking, and our Madagascar curry follows the same ready-made blend logic.
Which pepper to choose when starting out?
Black pepper suits almost everything, from meat to vegetables, and is ground at the last minute; white pepper, less visible and rounder, and wild pepper, gathered in the forest and more pronounced, are worth discovering next.
Should spices be mixed together from the start?
No: it is best to use each spice one at a time at first, to recognise its taste, before combining them in the trio or with pepper and vanilla.
Our products to go further: Madagascar curry, turmeric and ginger trio · Discovery pack, three peppers and vanilla
For the whole range, see our page on Madagascar spices.
The Vanille Désiré team
