Designing Your Own Dishes in Different Cuisines by Using Spices

If you would like to make up your own dishes in the style of a different country, one easy way is to use the spices which are commonly used in that country. 

As a guide, Spicery sets out the spices for a number of cuisines in order from the ones used in the largest quantity down.

Indian	Moroccan	African	Middle Eastern	Indonesian
Coriander seed	Coriander seed	Coriander seed	Paprika	Coriander seed
Turmeric	Turmeric	Cumin	Pepper	Cumin
Cinnamon	Paprika	Allspice	Cumin	Fennel seed
Cumin	Cumin	Ginger	Coriander seed	Cassia
Fenugreek	Cinnamon	Pepper	Sumac	Turmeric
Ginger	Ginger	Fenugreek	Thyme	Lemongrass
Pepper	Cloves		Cassia	Galangal
Chilli	Pepper		Cloves	Ginger
Cloves	Chilli		Cardamom	Pepper
Tamarind				Cloves
Cardamom				Chilli
Saffron

Malaysian	Thai	Chinese	Japanese	Mexican
Coriander seed	Coriander leaf (cilantro)	Star anise	Sichuan pepper leaves	Paprika
Cumin	Kaffir lime leaf	Fennel seed	Black sesame	Cumin
Fennel seed	Lemongrass	Cassia	Mustard seed	Oregano
Cinnamon	Green chilli	Sichuan pepper	Salt	Chilli
Turmeric	Garlic	Cloves	Wasabi	Coriander leaf (cilantro)
Pepper	Galangal	Ginger	Dried seaweed
Chilli	Ginger
Ginger
Galangal

After looking at these spices, I decided that I need to up my use of coriander seed!  And I was surprised just how few of these cuisines used lots of garlic! 

Thanks to Auckland Libraries for Spicery by Ian & Elizabeth Hemphill