Make Your Own Ingredients

Ree’s Chicken Spaghetti called for seasoned salt, which I now know is not the same as regular salt or Ajinomoto.  Lol.  Seems like in the States one can get these pre-made in a bottle, but I really didn’t feel like going out to some high-end grocer to buy something that may cost me something like RM15 or more just to use 1 teaspoon of it in a recipe I’m not sure I’ll be repeating, and this is assuming I can even find it here in KL.  So I searched around on the Internet and found an MSG-free copycat recipe.  Yay!

Based on the recipe I found here.

Updated on 24 Feb 2018 with new pictures.

This is the recipe for Emeril’s Essence, a blend of spices used in most of his recipes.  Since most of my recipes in this blog are basically Emeril’s, I figured I’d post the recipe here.  I basically double the recipe and keep the whole thing in an airtight jar stashed in the freezer.  Some of the ingredients may not be available in places like Giant or Tesco, but it is definitely well worth the trouble.  The following recipe yields about 2/3 cup.

I saved some money by buying spices and herbs sold in packets (we have Meriah or Singlong here), instead of in those nifty jars (McCormick’s etc).  Onion powder is not as easily found in hypermarkets, so look for them in mid-range or upmarket grocers like B.I.G., Cold Storage or Village Grocer.

In our humid Malaysian weather, I noticed that spices just don’t keep well in my cabinets.  Stuff like garlic or onion powder absorb moisture and harden/masuk angin over time, while dried herbs like oregano and thyme, and even spices like cayenne pepper, have disgusting weevils in them.  While it’s really nice and purty to have identical jars of spices lined on your shelf or kitchen cabinet, better to store them in a way that will let them keep for as long as you can i.e. in the freezer.