Aniseed

Saunf, suwa, badi shev or shopa, interchangeable with fennel seeds

It is a golden-brown, tear shaped, aromatic seed with strong sweet licorice flavor. It is believed to have the property to help in digestion and stimulate the appetite. Kashmiri cuisine uses aniseeds. I use it for my masala tea. In India, a spoonful mixture of roasted anise seeds is mixed with roasted dry coconut, rock sugar and poppy seeds are eaten after meals as mouth freshener. Fennel seeds which are slightly fatter versions of aniseeds can easily be used interchangeably. My Kashmiri friend stores it in different forms at her home. The powdered form is often used for makin curries and the seeds are used in the fabulous Kahwa (Kashmiri tea infused with saffron, aniseed, almonds). I will ask her to share her amazing Kahwa recipe in my blog. The other day my Bengali friend told me how he entertained his clients with Kahwa in Kolkata with great trepidations, to his surprise they were so taken in by it that he had to make more and that was the deal maker.