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I plan to make lentil soup for the first time as I've heard it is a lean meal great for fat-burning diets. Anyway, the recipe ingredients I will be using goes as follows:

2 tablespoons olive oil
1 cup finely chopped onion
1/2 cup finely chopped carrot
1/2 cup finely chopped celery
2 teaspoons kosher salt
1 pound lentils, picked and rinsed
1 cup peeled and chopped tomatoes
2 quarts chicken or vegetable broth
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground coriander
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground toasted cumin
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground grains of paradise

What will the coriander, toasted cumin and ground grains of paradise add to the soup?

What will I lose if I neglect to use ground grains of paradise?

Dr. belisarius
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Chris Olszewski
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  • If you have access to a store that sells spices in bulk, so you can buy small quantities, I'd highly recommend just buying some things and smelling them; it's hard to learn what spices do without experiencing it. – Cascabel Jun 24 '13 at 02:10

1 Answers1

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Coriander, toasted cumin and grains of paradise all are spices.

Grains of paradise being the more uncommon spice is similar to black peppercorn and was historically used as a substitute.

They play the role of what spices commonly do which is flavor your lentil soup. Without it, it will just taste different than the recipe intended.

If you cannot easily get a hold of grains of paradise then just use ground black pepper as a substitute.

Jay
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