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Roast your spices dry - big flavour, zero oil

Roast your spices dry - big flavour, zero oil

Frying spices in oil or ghee adds about 130 to 270 extra calories to one curry, almost all from the fat. Dry-toast them in a hot empty pan instead and you keep the aroma with none of that oil.

12 Jul 2026 · Burnie Academy
dry-roast spices tadka oil-free

Whole spices hide their smell inside tiny oil pockets. Heat wakes those oils up. Most Indian homes fry them in ghee or cooking oil - that fat tastes rich but adds real calories. There is another way. Tip cumin, coriander or mustard seeds into a hot, dry pan. No oil, no ghee, just heat. In about a minute they crackle and fill the kitchen with the same deep smell. Your dal or sabzi tastes bigger, and the oil calories never land on the plate.

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