Turmeric (haldi) in Poland: what it is called and how to use it

Turmeric is kurkuma in Polish, and turmeric powder is kurkuma mielona. In Hindi it is haldi. It is the yellow-orange powder of a dried root from the ginger family, and it gives curry, dal and rice their golden colour and a mild, earthy, slightly bitter taste.

Turmeric on Polish labels

Every Polish supermarket sells turmeric, usually in small sachets in the spice aisle. The words to look for:

Supermarket sachets are small for an Indian kitchen, where turmeric goes into almost every dish. Indian shops sell larger packs, such as 400 g and 1 kg, with the English name, the Hindi name or both on the label. You may also see the misspelling "tumeric".

One note when you search online: Haldiram's is a brand of Indian snacks. The name sounds like "haldi", but it has nothing to do with turmeric.

What turmeric is

Turmeric (Curcuma longa) is a plant similar to ginger. The part you eat is the root (rhizome): brown outside, bright orange inside. The roots are boiled, dried and ground. That is turmeric powder, one of the most used spices in India.

How to cook with turmeric

Turmeric has a strong colour and a fairly gentle taste. In Indian cooking it almost always goes with other spices, for example cumin, coriander and chilli.

The main rules:

• Fry it briefly in fat. Add turmeric to the fried onion or to oil with whole spices and fry for 20–30 seconds. Raw turmeric added at the end tastes chalky and bitter.
• Do not burn it. In very hot fat it darkens fast and turns bitter. If the pan is very hot, add turmeric together with a splash of water or with the tomatoes.
• Measure carefully. For a dish for 4 people, ½ teaspoon is usually enough. More turmeric does not give more flavour, only bitterness.

Typical dishes with turmeric:

1. Dal tadka: lentils cooked with turmeric and salt, finished with hot fat, cumin, garlic and chilli.
2. Yellow rice: add a pinch of turmeric, a teaspoon of ghee and a few whole spices to the cooking water.
3. Aloo sabzi: potatoes cooked with turmeric, cumin and green chilli.
4. Haldi doodh: warm milk with turmeric, sugar or honey and a pinch of pepper, known in Europe as "golden milk".

Turmeric is also used in Thai cooking, in yellow curry pastes, and in marinades for fish and meat.

Fresh or ground turmeric

Fresh turmeric looks like a small, thin piece of ginger. Peel it with a teaspoon, grate it and add it to a curry, a marinade or a smoothie. Fresh turmeric tastes brighter and slightly citrusy. In India it is also made into pickles. As a rough guide, 2–3 cm of fresh root gives a similar result to ½ teaspoon of ground turmeric.

Keep the fresh root in the fridge, wrapped in a paper towel. Keep ground turmeric in a closed jar in a dark place.

How to remove turmeric stains

Turmeric stains hands, chopping boards, plastic boxes and clothes. A few kitchen methods:

• wash your hands with soap and rub in a little lemon juice;
• rub a wooden board with salt and lemon juice, then wash it;
• leave a white plastic bowl in the sun, the colour fades with time;
• wash a stain on fabric at once, before it dries.

The simplest way is to keep one board and one spoon for turmeric.

Where to buy turmeric in Poland

Little India sells TRS turmeric powder (haldi) 1 kg, TRS ground turmeric 400 g and Shan turmeric powder 400 g. Little India has shops in Warsaw, Kraków, Wrocław and Gdańsk and ships orders across Poland.

Turmeric is one of the spices in our Indian spices starter kit. It is often used with cumin (jeera).