Spices and Recipes

Cumin (sometimes written cummin) is a flowering plant in the family Apiaceae, native from the east Mediterranean to East India.

It is a herbaceous annual plant, with a slender branched stem 20-30 cm tall. The leaves are 5-10 cm long, pinnate or bipinnate, thread-like leaflets. The flowers are small, white or pink, and borne in umbels. The fruit is a laterall fusiform or ovoid achene 4-5 mm long, containing a single seed. Cumin seeds are similar to fennel seeds, but are smaller and darker in color.

Cumin seeds are used as a spice for their distinctive aroma, popular in North African, Middle Eastern, western Chinese, Indian and Mexican cuisine.

Today, cumin is identified with Indian cuisine and Mexican cuisine. It is used as an ingredient of curry powder. Cumin can be found in some Dutch cheeses like Leyden cheese, and in some traditional breads from France. In herbal medicine, cumin is classified as stimulant, carminative, and antimicrobial.

Cumin can be used to season many dishes, as it draws out their natural sweetnesses. It is traditionally added to curries, enchiladas, tacos, and other Middle-eastern, Indian, Cuban and Mexican-style foods. It can also be added to salsa to give it extra flavour. Cumin has also been used on meat in addition to other common seasonings. The spice is a familiar taste in Tex-Mex dishes and is the lingua franca of the cuisines of the Indian subcontinent. Cumin was also used heavily in ancient Roman cuisine.

The flavor of cumin plays a major role in Mexican, Thai, Vietnamese, and Indian cuisines. Cumin is a critical ingredient of chili powder, and is found in achiote blends, adobos, garam masala, curry powder, and baharat.

In India and Pakistan, cumin is known as jeera or geera; in Iran, cumin is known as zeera; in northwestern mainland China, cumin is known as ziran. In Arabic, it is known as kamun.

Courtesy: Wikipedia

Ajwain (also known as carom, ajowan, or bishop’s weed), is an uncommon spice except in certain areas of Asia. It is the small seed-like fruit of the Bishop’s Weed plant, egg-shaped and grayish in color. The plant has a similarity to parsley. Because of their seed-like appearance, the fruit pods are sometimes called ajwain seeds, seeds of bishop’s weed, or bishop seeds.

Ajwain is often confused with lovage seed; even some dictionaries mistakenly state that ajwain comes from the lovage plant. Ajwain is also called ‘owa’ in Marathi and ‘vaamu’ in Telugu.

Raw ajwain smells almost exactly like thyme because it also contains thymol, but is more aromatic and less subtle in taste, as well as slightly bitter and pungent. It tastes like thyme or caraway, only stronger. Even a small amount of raw ajwain will completely dominate the flavor of a dish.

In Indian cuisine, ajwain is almost never used raw, but either dry-roasted or fried in ghee. This develops a much more subtle and complex aroma, somewhat similar to caraway but “brighter”. It is used for making a type of paratha, called ‘ajwain ka paratha’.

It reduces flatulence caused by beans when it is cooked with beans. It may be used as a substitute for cumin as well. It is also traditionally known as a digestive aid and an antiemetic.

Courtesy: Wikipedia

Brassica nigra (black mustard) is an annual weedy plant cultivated for its seeds, which are commonly used as a spice. The plant is believed to be native to the southern Mediterranean region of Europe, and has been cultivated for thousands of years.

The spice is generally made from ground seeds of the plant, with the seed coats removed. The small (1 mm) seeds are hard and vary in color from dark brown to black. They are very flavorful, although they have almost no aroma. The seeds are commonly used in Indian cuisine, for example in curry. The seeds are usually thrown into hot oil or ghee after which they pop, releasing a characteristic ‘nutty’ flavor. The seeds have a significant amount of fatty oil. This oil is used often as cooking oil in India.

Ground seeds of the plant mixed with honey are widely used in eastern Europe as cough suppressant. In Eastern Canada, the use of “mouche de moutarde” to treat respiratory infections was popular before the advent of modern medicine. It consisted in mixing ground mustard seeds with flour and water, and creating a cataplasm with the paste. This cataplasm was put on the chest or the back and left until the person felt a stinging sensation.

The plant itself can grow from 2 to 8 feet tall with racemes of small yellow flowers. These flowers are usually up to 1/3″ across, with 4 petals each. Its leaves are covered in small hairs. The leaves can wilt on hot days, but recover at night. Since the 1950s, black mustard has become less popular as compared to brown mustard because some cultivars of brown mustard have seeds that can be mechanically harvested in a more efficient manner.

Courtesy: Wikipedia

Sesame (Sesamum indicum) is a flowering plant in the genus Sesamum. The precise natural origin of the species is unknown, although numerous wild relatives occur in Africa and a smaller number in India. It is widely naturalised in tropical regions around the world and is cultivated for its edible seeds.

It is an annual plant growing to 50-100 cm tall, with opposite leaves 4-14 cm long with an entire margin; they are broad lanceolate, to 5 cm broad, at the base of the plant, narrowing to just 1 cm broad on the flowering stem. The flowers are white to purple, tubular, 3-5 cm long, with a four-lobed mouth.

Sesame is grown primarily for its oil-rich seeds, which come in a variety of colors, from cream-white to charcoal-black. The small sesame seed is used whole in cooking for its rich nutty flavour (although such heating damages their healthful poly-unsaturated fats), and also yields a cooking oil. Sesame seeds are sometimes added to breads, including bagels and the tops of hamburger buns. Sesame seeds may be baked into crackers, often in the form of sticks.

Sesame seeds can be made into a paste called tahini (used in various ways, including in hummus) and a Middle Eastern confection called halvah. In India, sections of the Middle East, and East Asia, popular treats are made from sesame mixed with honey or syrup and roasted (called pasteli in Greece). Sesame oil was the preferred cooking oil in India until the advent of groundnut (peanut) oil. Sesame flavour (through oil and roasted or raw seeds) is also very popular in Korean cuisine, used to marinate meat and vegetables. Sesame seeds are also sprinkled onto some sushi style foods. East Asian cuisines, like Chinese cuisine use sesame seeds and oil in some dishes, such as the dim sum dish, sesame seed balls. Ground and processed, the seeds can also be used in sweet confections.

Japanese cuisine uses sesame seeds in many ways. One is to make goma-dofu which is made from sesame paste and starch. Whole seeds are found in many salads and baked snacks as well. Chefs in tempura restaurants blend sesame and cottonseed oil for deep-frying. Tan and black sesame seed varieties are roasted and used for making the flavoring gomashio.

The seeds are rich in manganese, copper, and calcium (90 mg per tablespoon for unhulled seeds, 10 mg for hulled), and contain Vitamin B1 (thiamine) and Vitamin E (tocopherol). They contain powerful antioxidants called lignans, which are also anti-carcinogenic. They also contain phytosterols, which block cholesterol production. Sesame contains one lignan unique to it called sesamin. The nutrients of sesame seeds are better absorbed if they are ground or pulverised before consumption.

In general, the paler varieties of sesame seem to be more valued in the West and Middle East, while the black varieties are prized in the Far East.

Sesame oil is used for massage and health treatments of the body in the ancient Indian ayurvedic system with the types of massage called abhyanga and shirodhara. Ayurveda views sesame oil as the most viscous of the plant oils and believes it may pacify the health problems associated with vata aggravation.

Courtesy: Wikipedia

The Tamarind (Tamarindus indica) is the only species of the genus Tamarindus in the family Fabaceae. It is a tropical tree, native to eastern Africa, including parts of the Madagascar dry deciduous forests. It grows wild throughout the Sudan but has now been introduced into most of tropical Asia as well as Latin America and the Caribbean.

The tree can grow up to 20 m in height, and stays evergreen in regions without a dry season. Tamarind timber consists of hard, dark red heartwood and softer, yellowish sapwood. The leaves consist of 10-40 leaflets. The flowers are produced in racemes. The fruit is a brown pod-like legume, which contains a soft pulp and many hard-coated seeds. The seeds can be scarified to enhance germination.

The fruit pulp is edible and popular. It is used as a spice in both Asian and Latin American cuisines, and is also an important ingredient in Worcestershire sauce and HP sauce. The pulp of a young fruit is very sour and acidic and is most often used as a component of savory dishes. The ripened fruit is sweeter and can be used in desserts and drinks, or as a snack.

In temples especially in Asian countries, the pulp is used to clean brass shrine furniture, removing dulling and the greenish patina that form.

The wood is a bold red color. Due to its density and durability, tamarind heartwood can be used in making furniture and wood flooring. A tamarind switch is sometimes used as an implement for corporal punishment.

Tamarind trees are very common in South India, particularly in Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh. They are used as ornamental trees and to provide shade on the country roads and highways. Monkeys love the ripened tamarind fruit.

The pulp, leaves, and bark also have medical applications. For example, in the Philippines, the leaves have been traditionally used in herbal tea for reducing malaria fever. Due to its medicinal value, tamarind is used as an Ayurvedic Medicine for gastric and/or digestion problems.

Tamarind is a staple in the South Indian diet, where it is used to prepare Kuzambu or Sambhar (spicy lentil soup vegetables and tamarind), a soupy preparation called pulikkuzambu popular in Tamil Nadu, Puliyodarai rice, and various types of chutneys. In another south Indian State Andhra pradesh ‘Pachi Pulusu’ is a famous dish made of tamrind syrup diluted with water then boiled with spices, salt and Chopped onions, other dish pulihora and for coastal districts of this state enjoy the Chepa Pulusu and Royya pulusu.

In Egypt, there is an acidic chilled drink made from tamarind which is popular in summertime.

Tamarind is available in Indian stores worldwide. It is also sold as a candy in Mexico (see for example pulparindo), and in various snack forms in Southeast Asia (dried and salted, dried and candied, as a cold drink). Pad Thai, a dish popular in Thai restaurants in the U.S., uses tamarind as its dominant flavor.

Tamarind-based sauces are not common but can be used as a condiment on meat or fish.

In Latin America, especially Mexico, and Latin American immigrant communities in the US, the fruit is wildly popular and is fashioned into many kinds of treat. Many popular Tamarindo concoctions are hard candies and suckers and one of the most popular aguas frescas is flavored with tamarind. Tamarind is a popular food in Mexico and is used in many Mexican candies. Likewise Sino-Peruvian food uses tamarind-based juice for its distinctive sweet flavor.