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The Spice is Right #1: Cumin

The first new spice I discovered after leaving home and living on my own was cumin. It's possible my parents had some in the cupboard at home in Dallas, but I don't remember hearing about it until I was living in Austin and my housemate Risa told me that's what they put in pinto beans to make them taste so good.

So I bought some and played with it. It was strong and smoky and tasted a little burnt, and a little went a long way. I hadn't yet mastered the subtle nuances of cooking with spices and tended to use equal amounts of everything without really knowing which spice was contributing which flavor. It made my beans taste too smoky, so I decided I didn't know how to make beans and pretty much stopped making them at home. But I always had cumin on hand for the occasional recipe that called for it.

Fast forward to a couple of years ago when I was visiting my brother in Austin. He had cooked up a bunch of pinto beans and they were really good. I think it was a combination of they way he cooked them and the fact that, living in Chicago for many years, I hadn't had beans in a long time. They were so good, in fact, that I decided to try making them when I got back home (I recently posted about them here).

What I discovered this time around is that with cumin, less is more. I started using a scant teaspoon that was gradually whittled down to about 1/2 a teaspoon. Having used cumin in some Indian cooking, I also learned to add the cumin to the onion and garlic saute before adding the beans and liquids. It made all the difference in the world.

At about the same time I found a recipe in Madhur Jaffrey's World Vegetarian for a spicy eggplant stew that called for cumin seeds, so I trekked on down to The Spice House and picked some up. They had a sharper, more pungent, less smoky taste than ground cumin, and imparted a wonderful nutty flavor to the dish. From that time on, cumin (both seeds and ground) has been a staple in my kitchen. And while I now knew cumin had been around a lot longer than I had known, I never thought about how long it had been around, or wondered at the significance of its presence in Indian cuisine.

When Barbara over at Tigers & Strawberries announced that the first Spice is Right challenge is Ancient Spices, the first spice that popped into my head was cinnamon. But I wanted to choose something that had some meaning to me, so I decided to do some research. And one of the first spices I encountered in my search was cumin.

I was surprised to learn that cumin has been around for a long time. According to The World's Healthiest Foods, it has been developed in the Middle East, India, China and Metiterranean countries for milennia, and was used in ancient Egypt for embalming. It was used in both Greek and roman kitchens, partly because its peppery flavor served as an alternative for pepper, which was expensive and scarce. Cumin seeds were used to pay tithes to the priests.

Cumin use flourished during the Middle Ages, and became recognized as a symbol of love and fidelity. In some Arab cultures, a paste made of cumin, pepper and honey was thought to have aphrodisiac properties. In Central and South America, ground cumin is commonly used in almost every beef and stew dish.

Cumin has many healthy properties as well. It's high in iron and helps keep the immune system healthy. There is evidence that it has some anti-cancer properties, and it has potent free radical scavenging abilities that may have more far-reaching benefits to overall health. You can find more information on all things cumin here.

While I have several recipes that call for cumin or cumin seeds, I wanted to honor the spirit of the challenge and find a new recipe. It was a challenge to find a recipe by searching for cumin, but I finally found something that looked good. I wanted to focus on the seed rather than ground cumin, so I wanted something Indian rather than Latin American. When I found this recipe for Red Kidney Bean Curry (Rajma Masala), I was happy to find that it called for both cumin seeds *and* ground cumin. It seemed perfect.

There are a lot of other spices in this dish that blend extremely well with the ground cumin, but the cumin seeds, which are toasted in oil at the beginning, stand above the rest and impart their nutty bite to each mouthful. It's delicious with brown rice.

Some notes:

1. Asafoetida is a nasty-smelling spice that is used in Indian cooking. I only have some because the spicy eggplant stew I mentioned above calls for it and I was curious. If you don't have any or don't want to bother with it, you can omit it. Garlic is often used as a substitute and this recipe already has garlic in it.

2. I used a 14.5-oz. can of diced tomatoes instead of fresh.

3. I wasn't sure what red chili powder is, but I had regular chili powder on hand and used that. I thought about cayenne, then thought about how spicy 2 teaspoons of cayenne would be and decided the chili powder seemed more prudent. It worked for me.

4. I'm not sure what "Fry until the oil separates" means after the tomatoes are added. I just let it go until everything was cooked down, between 7-13 minutes.

Home Cookin 4.9 Chapter: Beans and Vegetables

Red Kidney Beans Curry (Rajma Masala)
=====================================
2 c. red kidney beans soaked overnight
4 c. water
2 medium onions, finely chopped
2 bay leaves (optional)
1 Tbsp finely chopped ginger
1 Tbsp finely chopped garlic
1/2 tsp asafoetida
1/2 tsp turmeric
1 tsp cumin seeds
2 tsp red chilli powder
2 big tomatoes finely chopped
1 tsp garam masala
1 tsp ground cumin
2 Tbsp coriander
3 Tbsp oil
salt to taste
finely chopped cilantro for garnish

Style: North Indian Vegetarian (Punjabi)

Drain the soaked red kidney beans and wash them well. Place them in a medium saucepan and cover with the water. Bring to a boil. Lower to a simmer and cook half covered, for approximately one hour or until tender.

Heat the oil in a heavy-bottomed pan on medium heat and add cumin seeds and cook until the seeds begin to pop and crackle. Add the bay leaves, asafoetida and chopped ginger and garlic. Fry briefly. Add the chopped onions and fry till they are golden brown. Add the rest of the spices except the garam masala. Add the chopped tomatoes. Fry till the oil separates.

Add the cooked red kidney beans along with its stock, sprinkle salt, mix well and cook on medium level for about 15 minutes.

Add the garam masala. Cover and cook over medium heat for about 5 minutes.

Garnish with finely chopped coriander leaves.

Recipe courtesy of Syvum.com. According to their homepage, they provide "Online Education, Interactive Learning and homework help to over 180 countries." I've never heard of it before, but I plan to explore it some more; it looks pretty cool.

I'm Everywhere!

Woohoo! Two posts in the same day. Check out my post over on Foodbound.

Little Bits

Not much time to post. I'm working on a couple of things for Wellfed.net, and I have to post the results of my Tigers&Strawberries Ancient Spice event, *and* I have to finish Alan Hollinghurst's Line of Beauty before this Saturday. Where does all the time go?

My post on how to cook brown rice is up on Fitfare. Go read it

Global Etiquette Quiz

How's your global etiquette?

I scored 6 out of 11.

Maybe if I travelled more I'd know more . . .

Spizuchi

How's that for a name? Too cutesy? It's a truncation of spinach zucchini and chickpeas. I'm trying to be a little more imaginative in naming my dishes.

But the bottom line is that, no matter what you call it, it tastes fabulous (if I do say so myself). There's room for tweaking, for sure, but so far this is a total winner.

I originally bought the zucchini for some pasta sauce I was going to make with the tomatoes I opened to use with the pinto beans. Then I remembered that I had bought a bag of spinach to do something (can't remember what) with. Then I made the chickpeas and was trying to decide what to do with them. Chickpeas . . . zucchini . . . spinach . . . tomatoes . . . soup just seemed like the thing to do. Some cumin and curry powder and you're on the way.

I did not put garlic in this; for some reason it didn't seem right. I think I'll keep it that way, too. I love garlic, so when I use it I really use it. It's impossible for me to stop at less than six cloves (I usually use at least half a head). So sometimes I think it's good to just omit it altogether. Kind of like when I don't put onion in my quick pasta sauce.

I was determined not to overcook the zucchini. What is it with me and zucchini? I set the timer for ten minutes after I added the zucchini but the dang thing didn't go off so it cooked a little longer than it should have. Luckily it held its shape ok, but next time I *will* get it right . . . ha ha.

This makes a lot. It's somewhat substantial, but not so hearty that it feels like a winter soup. It's actually kind of nice for spring.

Home Cookin 4.9 Chapter: Soups and Stews

Spizuchi
========
2 Tbsp. oil
1 med. onion, chopped
2 tsp. curry powder
1 tsp. cumin
2 c. vegetable broth
1 c. water
1 28-oz. can chopped tomatoes
3 zucchini, chopped
3 c. cooked chickpeas, or 2 14.5-oz. cans, drained and rinsed
10 oz. fresh spinach, chopped
salt and pepper to taste

Heat oil in stockpot and saute onion until translucent, approximately 5 minutes. Add curry powder and cumin and stir once. Add tomatoes, vegetable broth, water, and zucchini. Add salt and pepper. Bring to a boil and simmer for approximately 10 minutes, until zucchini is just tender.

Add chickpeas and spinach and bring back to a simmer. Cook 5-10 more minutes until spinach has wilted.

Makes 6-8 servings.

Beans and Rice

The cookies are all out of the house and I had lunch with Lynda at Tuscany on Taylor Street so it's time to get back to healthy eating. I had some pinto beans in the freezer so I defrosted them and made one of my standbys. It's really good over brown rice. I'm writing a post on how to cook brown rice for Fitfare. I'll point you to it when it's up. The cookbook site is supposed to be up, too, but I don't know if it has made its official debut yet.

I usually add tomatoes to my beans (as much for the extra vegetable as for the taste), but the beans weren't totally defrosted when I needed to add them so I couldn't drain them. I thought there might be too much liquid if I added the tomatoes. It tastes good either way. I adapted the recipe based on some pinto beans I had at my brother's house over the holidays a couple of years ago.

I've been cooking beans from "scratch" for the past couple of years now and I've gotten pretty good at it. They're tender but hold their shape well. They freeze well, too, so I get two meals out of one pound. I actually bit the bullet and bought a two-pound bag of pinto beans last time I was at the store. I cooked some chickpeas over the weekend: half are going into a chickpea spinach zucchini soup I'm working on and the other half are in the freezer.

The chickpea zucchini soup is starting to smell really good. I'll let you know how it comes out.

Home Cookin 4.2 Chapter: Soups and Stews

PINTO BEANS AND BROWN RICE

1-2 Tbsp. olive oil
1 onion, chopped
5-6 cloves garlic, minced
1 jalapeno, minced*
1/2 tsp. cumin
1 tsp. oregano
3 cups cooked pinto beans with or without liquid, or 2 15-oz. cans, rinsed and drained
1 28-oz. can tomatoes (optional if you use liquid from the beans)
1/2 c. chopped cilantro
salt and pepper to taste
3 c. cooked brown rice

*Fresh or canned, although lately the fresh have had no heat to them so I pretty much always use canned.

Heat oil in saucepan. When oil is hot, add onions and cook for a minute or so, then add garlic and jalapeno. When onions are translucent, after about 5 mins., add the cumin and oregano.

Stir once and add the pinto beans, tomatoes (if there is no bean liquid), cilantro, salt and pepper. Adjust for cumin and oregano.

Bring to a boil, lower heat, and simmer for 30 minutes.

Get the rice started just before you add the beans to the onions and garlic. The beans simmer while the rice is cooking, and are done at about the same time.

Perfection

What we have here is the perfect chocolate chip cookie. And why is it perfect? Elementary, my dear Watson. There are no chocolate chips in it. Everyone knows that the perfect chocolate chip cookie is the one that has no chocolate chips.

At least, that's how I feel about chocolate chip cookies. It's the dough I love--that dark sweet caramelly crunch that melts in your mouth. And as much as I love chocolate, the chips kind of get in the way.

But I can't eat more than one. Which is why I always only make just one chipless cookie at the end of a batch.

Here are some with chips:
I don't know why I decided to make cookies tonight, but around ten o'clock I took some butter out of the fridge and put it in a bowl to soften. Around eleven o'clock I started mixing up the batter. I ran into a little bit of trouble after I had mixed all the ingredients except for the chocolate chips--I misread the recipe and only used half a cup of butter instead of a cup. I didn't have time to soften up more butter, so I decided to use oil instead. I figured it would be healthier, and I really didn't have a choice anyway.

The end result is good, but the dough was a little greasier and looser than usual. They also cooked up about four minutes faster than the recipe called for and my oven was at the right temperature so I figure that's on account of the oil, too.

But they taste good. It's been a long time since I've had Toll House cookies. I'm always surprised at how good they are.

It's not pretty when I get the urge to bake late at night at the beginning of the week. I'm already feeling a little sick from eating too many and I still have about five dozen cookies left. Hmmm. Who's feeling lucky?

G'Day, Mate!

When I was rooting around for a pasilla salsa recipe, I discovered a new recipe source. It's called Food Down Under, and they have over 200,000 recipes. I haven't spent a whole lot of time there yet, but they have a lot of recipes from all over the world.

I don't remember what key words I used to find the above recipe. I don't know if it looks all that appetizing, but I have to tell you it is delicious. It's a Brown Rice, Lentil and Spinach Curry. It has a lot of spices that all blend together in the nicest way and the lentils and brown rice go really well together.

I used the French green lentils I got in Austin over the holidays. Boy, those are good. I didn't realize I could become such a lentil afficionado, but it just goes to show that anything's possible. These are similar in consistency to the black lentils, but have more of the shape and size of brown lentils. I'm glad I got so much--I have enough for at least two more dishes.

I don't believe I showed you what those look like. I must rectify that at once!

I don't know if you can tell from the picture, but they're light green with tiny little specks of dark green. They're a little less flat than their brown counterparts. I wish I had some regular lentils so I could show the contrast. Maybe I'll do that in another post.

At any rate, this dish is really good and filling. It makes quite a bit, too--it will last me for the week. I don't know if it would freeze all that well. I might test a portion.

I didn't make many changes to the recipe. I forgot my new rule and bought a fresh jalapeno, which once again didn't have any kick to it whatsoever. But I kind of liked it without heat. Instead of using the pickled, hotter ones next time, I think I'll just omit them. The spices are so subtle here that the heat might drown them out entirely.

A couple of notes:

I wasn't completely sure what they mean by saute liquid, so I used a couple of tablespoons of canola oil.

I used my pasta pot for this recipe, which has a steam hole on the lid. The rice did not cook in the time suggested and I realized this was probably why. I replaced the lid with a solid one and cooked it another 20 minutes and it came out perfectly.

Home Cookin 4.9 Chapter: Pasta and Grains

Brown Rice, Lentil, And Spinach Curry

3/4 c. lentils
1/4 c. saute liquid
1 small Onion, chopped
1 stalk celery, chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 med carrot, shredded
1 small green chile, minced
2 tsp. ground cumin
1/2 tsp. ground coriander
1/4 tsp. turmeric
1/4 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp. ground cardamom
1/8 tsp. ground cloves
1 c. long-grain brown rice
salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
2-1/4 c. vegetable broth or water
1/2 lb. Spinach leaves, chopped
1 tsp. cumin seeds
1 Tbsp. freshly squeezed lemon juice

Wash lentils and put them in a saucepan with 1 1/2 cups of water. Bring to a
boil. Cover, reduce heat to very low, and cook 20 minutes. Remove from heat
until ready to add to the rice.

Heat the saute liquid in a large heavy saucepan or Dutch oven. Add onion and
celery and cook 5 minutes. Add garlic and cook 3 minutes. Add carrot and
chile. Cook, stirring, 1 or 2 minutes. Add ground spices and cook, stirring,
about 1 minute. Add rice. Cook, stirring, about 5 minutes, until grains turn
translucent, then opaque, but not scorched. Stir in the lentils and any
unabsorbed water in the lentil pot. Add salt, pepper, and broth or water.
Cook at a low boil for 15 minutes. Add the spinach, pushing it down into the
rice mixture. Cover, reduce heat to very low, and cook 30 minutes.

In a small skillet or saucepan, cook the cumin seeds until they begin to
darken and pop. Pour over the lentil-rice mixture, add the lemon juice, and
serve. Serves 3 or 4 as a main dish.

Servings: 4

from http://fooddownunder.com Recipe 37348 of 281476
Note: Edited 02/13/11 with actual source: from Pilaf, Risotto, and Other Ways with Rice, by Sada Fretz (Little, Brown 1995).