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Chapter 25

Spicy Riddles

A spice used for making food hot and spicy.

I can be powdered fine
To make food hot and spicy,
If too much of me is added
I make you gasp – shheee… shheee…
Your eyes and nose begin to water
And you cry!
Think and tell me who am I?
Tell me quickly, who am I?


A spice used for healing wounds and making food yellow.

Grind me and powder me —
To make your food look yellow,
I am mixed in oil by granny
And applied to wounds quickly,
I heal all wounds - big and small,
That is why I am loved by all!
 Think and tell me who am I?
Tell me quickly, who am I?


A small, round and black coloured spice.

Small and round like a pearl, I am black when I am whole.
I can be powdered coarse or fine
A sharp and spicy taste is mine,
Whether it is salty or sweet
I am added as a special treat,
 Think and tell me who am I?
Tell me quickly, who am I?


Spice used for adding fragrance to food when roasted.

I am a small and skinny chap
Sometimes I am brown and
sometime black,
Added to hot oil and ghee
I spread my fragrance all around me,
When I am roasted.
Curd and jaljeera are favourite to me.
 Think and tell me who am I?
Tell me quickly, who am I?


It can be used as mouth freshner and looks like zeera, but green in colour.

I look like Zeera though green am I,
To make your stomach
healthy I always try,
Eat me always after your meal
I refresh your mouth, you
surely feel,
 Think and tell me who am I?
Tell me quickly, who am I?


A bud shaped spice used in toothache.

I look like a nail but a bud am I,
Chocolate brown colour and a
strong smell have I.
When your toothache
makes you shout,
I soothe the pain in your mouth.
 Think and tell me who am I?
Tell me quickly, who am I?

Now try and make your own riddles about two other spices. Ask those riddles in your class. Draw pictures of the two spices in your notebook and write their names.

  • Find out which spices are used in your house for cooking. Make a list and look at your friends’ lists too.

  • When your grandparents were young, which spices were used most in their kitchens? Find out from them and write here.

  • Name one spice which is put into both sweet and salty things.

  • Find out what is put into food to make it taste sour.

I am Kuttan. I live in Kerala. There is a garden of spices in the backyard of my house. There I see plants of tejpatta, small and big cardamoms and black pepper grow.

  • Find out whether any spices are grown in your area. Write their names here.

  • Bring some whole spices to class. Write their names in the table. Close your eyes and try to recognise each spice by smelling and touching each one in turn. Put a (✓) mark in front of the ones you recognise. If you do not recognise any, put a (x) mark.

No. Smell Touch Name of the spice
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.

Let us try making a spicy potato chaat!

  • For this you need –

    • Boiled potatoes, enough for everybody in the class.

    • Salt, red chilly powder, mango powder (Amchur) or lemon, according to taste.

For the teacher: Garam Masala : A powder of a mixture of several spices such as cardamom (small and big), clove, cumin seeds (zeera), cinna mon, black pepper, dry ginger, etc.

  • Roasted cumin seeds (zeera), black salt, and garam masala, if it is possible.

  • Fresh coriander leaves.

Boiled potatoes cut into pieces.

Peel the boiled potatoes and cut them into small pieces. Now add salt, red chilly powder, mango powder or lemon juice according to taste. To make your chaat more delicious, add a little roasted cumin seeds, black salt and coriander powder. A pinch of garam masala can also be added at the end. Mix the potatoes well. Sprinkle chopped coriander leaves on top and hurrah! Your spicy chaat is ready to eat!

  • Did you enjoy the potato chaat?

  • Just imagine, if there were no spices to make the potato chaat, how would it taste?

  • Try to learn and make a different kind of chaat and enjoy it with all your friends in class.

  • How do spice-less and very spicy things feel on your tongue?