No one likes eating a spoonful (or handful) of inviting, aromatic biryani and being greeting with a whole green cardamom in your teeth. It can be frustrating fishing them out, and off-putting if you happen to bite into them.
But the thing about Pakistani cooking (and much of the cooking from that region) is whole spices play an integral role in the end result. Whole spices add a dimension of aroma and flavour that can't be substituted.
Here's my advice for going about this:
Option 1 (best option): use a spice infuser
This is a fantastic option for pulao (like my Chicken Pulao) or any curries with a soup-like sauce, like my Chicken and Mutton Korma recipes. A spice infuser allows all the aroma and flavour from the whole spices to infuse into your cooking whilst conveniently keeping the spices all in one place, ready to be scooped out.
I've recently purchased this spice infuser and absolutely adore it. We're inseparable now 🤞🏼
Alternatives to a spice infuser like this include using a disposable tea bag, or a clean muslin cloth (this last option only works for rice).
Option 2: grind them into a powder (t&cs apply)
Okay, so this isn't the best option - it's a compromise if you can't apply option 1.
The problem with following a recipe that calls for whole spices, but grinding that exact quantities of whole spices into a powder and adding it in is it messes up with the recipe and ratios! You're likely to end up with a very potent spice mix that makes your cooking bitter. And if there were a lot of whole spices involved, or if this is a rice-based dish, it makes it gritty too!
The solution?
For curries: grind the spices into a powder, then add half the amount. Taste-test and see if it needs mor oomph - if so, add a bit at a time, until you get a good balance of flavour. This won't lead to the exact same results as if you'd have used whole spices, but it's how to make powdered spices work.
For rice: do NOT use more than ¾ teaspoon of powdered spice per cup of rice. It does NOT work well - the rice will become gritty and dark. You're much better of sieving the whole spices out of the broth, picking them out before serving, or going with option 1.
Option 3: pick your battles (i.e., your spices)
Some whole spices are more tolerable than others. Biting into a bay leaf, for example, is a lot less traumatic than biting into a green cardamom. And it's much harder to miss a long stick of whole cinnamon than an itty bitty clove.
So pick your battles. Grind the spices which will be the most troubling (black pepper corns, cardamoms, cloves would be priority choice for me) and then add them in as per option 2. Allow the less offensive spices (cumin seeds, cinnamon, black cardamom, bay leaf come to mind) to stay whole.
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