Cumin?

[minoanmiss]

Do you like cumin? Do you have tasty ideas for uses of it? My coworker wants to learn how to use it and I'm not help because I don't like it. So I thought I'd ask.

Comments

[ellenmillion]

Jake uses it in EVERYTHING. It is a major staple in our house - it's a base for Indian, Mexican, and Middle Eastern cooking.

[baranduin]

I don't like it much myself but I have liked this brussels sprouts preparation where you heat up some olive oil, when it's hot add cumin seeds so they splutter a bit, then add brussels sprouts and stir around for a bit, add a little water, cover and let cook to desired doneness.

[ride_4ever]

I use it in so many things that if I listed my recipes here it would be TL;DR. I suggest just doing an Internet search "cumin recipes".

[hitchhiker]

cjsmith and i make this cumin-heavy chicken a lot. it's really good if you like cumin.

recipe is from "the best ever curry cookbook", which i heartily recommend.

[jtthomas]

For me, it often fits nicely into the slot where liquid smoke would go if it actually tasted good, used sparingly with a bit of spicy something-or-other. It blends very well with most herbs.

[anna_wing]

It's not usually used by itself, but in a blend with other herbs. Most Middle-eastern or Indian recipes will involve cumin. This is a usable summary for a Westerner.

https://www.thespruceeats.com/what-is-cumin-995638

[naraht]

Spicy cumin lamb noodles are the best thing ever. Or indeed anything involving cumin and lamb.

Here's one recipe, although I've only eaten this in restaurants: https://www.platingsandpairings.com/cumin-lamb-noodles/

[lunabee34]

Josh puts it in all the rubs he puts on meats that we bake or grill.

[claudia603]

I make Indian and Middle Eastern food a lot so it is a constant staple in my kitchen! I even put a pinch in my homemade hummus!

[sabotabby]

Cumin can go in anything (I guess not sweet things, but anything savoury). I mainly use it in curry. I've also used it in things like pumpkin seeds to nice effect.

[goss]

Here are two local dishes that feature cumin:

I'm not a huge fan of cumin generally speaking, but I do like it in specific dishes like dhal / daal (split pea soup).

Also, geera pork (we call cumin "geera") is extremely popular round these parts. I don't really eat pork, but this dish is a favourite of lots of friends and family. :)

ETA: Agreeing with comment below - toasting the whole seeds really brings out the flavour.

[lomedet]

in my experience, lentil soup *loves* cumin

[clevermanka]

Mel Joulwan loves cumin and a search on "cumin" results in a bounty of recipes on her site.

[ex_flameandsong751]

I like it in chili.

[libitina]

I agree with what everyone else has said.

But I'm generally dissatisfied your ground cumin. I buy it in whole seeds, so if I feel like it I can toast it before using. And it grinds up easily in even my smallest mortar and pestle.

Often I'll leave it whole because it softens enough and I'm lazy, but you coworkers mileage may vary.

[purlewe]

I use it in a lot of mexican and indian cooking. I think it smells like feet by itself, but it smells fine mixed with other spices and tastes fine (to me)

https://www.veganricha.com/vegan-carnitas-with-mushrooms/#recipe

[xenacryst]

What everyone else said - Mexican, Indian, Middle Eastern, and whateverthefuck else I feel like at the moment (I'm a spice anarchist). I heartily agree that cumin and lamb are very good together if you like either of them. And fresh ground cumin is a thing of wonderment if you've been used to store bought ground. Also, I have been known to make mild chili flavor pancakes with frozen corn, spiced with a touch of red chili powder and enough cumin to taste it, and then drizzled with either honey or maple syrup they're really, really good.

[totient]

- whole and ground cumin have very different effects in a dish.
- as others have mentioned, it's common in Indian food, but not usually as a primary flavor. Instead, a little bit of it brings some depth to some other flavor. I recently wrote a South Indian recipe that calls for a quarter teaspoon of it to balance out a quarter cup of green peppercorn.
- roasting the cumin (and often other spices) is a key Indian food technique to shift the profile. I like to cook the whole seeds in a little bit of oil to bring out a different set of flavor notes.
- unroasted cumin as a primary note, to me, usually says East or Southeast Asian to me more than South Asian. I've used it to good effect to overpower fennel in sausage when I wanted to make thai food but only had Eastern European ingredients.
- cumin, especially roasted cumin, also makes a good undernote for other strong flavors outside of the spicing complexity of South Asian cuisine. For instance, it's pretty common to put a little bit of it in gazpacho, to give some depth to the Worcestershire sauce. I even have a ceviche recipe that calls for a tiny bit of it.

[vettecat]

I strongly dislike cumin (which is part of why I don't like falafel and many other Middle Eastern foods that people have come to see as Jewish in recent years). I can use very small amounts (e.g. less than a teaspoon) in recipes when called for, but if the flavor is pronounced in a dish I won't be able to eat it.

[mdlbear]

I use it ainly in hummus, chili, and guacamole.

[dhampyresa]

Chiliiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii

I recently made chili con carne where the "carne" was ~1/6 ground beef to ~5/6 lentils and cumin + paprika were used to excellent effect.

[pameladean]

I love cumin. Black bean soup is really good with cumin in it; there are lots of recipes. Cumin seeds are also very good in a mixed vegetable curry or in a cabbage curry, along with mustard seeds for the latter, or for both depending on the vegetables involved. There are a lot of recipes online. It's also used in various bean curries like black-eyed pea masala, kidney bean curry, black bean curry, and chana masala. It's often found in company with coriander, and often turmeric and cayenne pepper as well, or with garam masala. I could recommend a couple of websites if the information in earlier comments is not more than sufficient.

P.

[med_cat]

It's good in rye bread :)

[cellio]

I use it in chili, in black beans, as part of curries, and as part of a rub on chicken, among other things I'm not thinking of right now.