Adelaide’s Jackie Singh has drawn on her Anglo-Indian heritage and training in gastronomy to create RubySpice World Spice Emporium.
Singh imports premium-quality spices, then grinds, roasts and blends small batches by hand in a kitchen on Payneham Road, St Peters, to produce a range of spice blends, rubs and chutneys.
“People want to know that these are individual custom blends, that there’s nothing made in a factory, no gluten fillers, nothing artificial,” she explains.
Jackie Singh. Photo: supplied
Born in India, Singh learned to cook from her grandmother. “My mum wasn’t the best of cooks, so I started cooking when I was 10 years old.”
Since opening her business, she says her most popular products have been the Vindaloo Blend, the Memphis Magic BBQ Rub, the Espresso Coffee & Chipotle Rub and the Caribbean Voodoo Jerk Blend. Her range also includes a Tandoori Blend, Chat Me Up Chat Masala, North African Ras El Hanout, Japanese Shichimi Togarashi, Bengali Panch Phoron, Eastern Horn of Africa Berbere Spice Mix, and Chinese Citrus Six Spice Rub, to name a few.
“My personal favourite is the Caribbean Jerk,” says Singh. “We’re not familiar with that type of taste in Australia – we’re only just starting to realise the delights of Caribbean cuisine, which is influenced by Chinese eastern spice blends.”
Below, Singh shares her recipe for Jamaican Jerk Chicken, which uses her Caribbean Voodoo Jerk Blend. She is not giving away any secrets, but Jamaican jerk spice is generally made up of some or all of the following ingredients: allspice, chilli, cloves, cinnamon, nutmeg, thyme and salt.
“My jerk chicken has a tropical Carribean flavour to it – it will never taste the same as if you were sitting on a beach in Barbados because we don’t have pimento wood here to cook with, but if you have a Weber or similar you can use mesquite, apple wood or hickory. This recipe also works well when cooked in an electric frypan or oven.”
Jamaican Jerk Chicken
You will need:
2kg chicken pieces (wings, drumsticks, thighs, breasts)
1 medium onion, quartered
2 birds eye chillies (or a scotch bonnet chilli or two to blow your head off)
3 spring onions, green parts included, chopped
2 garlic cloves
45g RubySpice Caribbean Voodoo Jerk Blend
½ cup soy sauce
1 tbsp vegetable oil
Preparation: 20 minutes + 2 hours (or overnight) marinating
Process or blend the onion, spring onions, chillies and garlic until smooth. Add the Caribbean Voodoo Jerk mix, soy sauce and vegetable oil and whiz again until all ingredients are incorporated.
In a large bowl or ziplock bag, combine the chicken pieces and Jerk marinade and turn to coat well. Cover, zip up and refrigerate overnight or for a minimum of 2 hours.
Bring the marinated Jerk chicken back to room temperature before cooking.
Cooking: 45 minutes
Either barbecue the chicken on a medium heat until browned and cooked through or bake in the oven at 190C for 45 minutes until cooked.
Rest mon, it tek (relax, it’s fabulous).
