Cumin - description
Cumin is a wonderful spice, an amazing supplement with which food becomes more lively and appetizing. Its tart pleasant taste and smell adorns spicy compositions. Mostly seeds are used for food. The plant itself belongs to the umbrella family, it came to us from Asia. A few millennia ago it was already eaten in the region of Mesopotamia. And now it can be found even in the wild. In mass production, caraway is grown in much of Europe and Asia, India and Pakistan. It also grows in North Africa and New Zealand. The world leader today is the Netherlands.
Caraway seeds are most often used in bakery, as well as for flavoring confectionery products and as part of sets of spices for cooking meat, vegetables and other dishes. There are several recipes for kvass with caraway seeds and some low-alcohol drinks, such as beer. This is an indispensable ingredient in pickles for salting, gravy and sauces. In food, you can use not only seeds, but also young leaves and rhizomes, following the example of celery and carrots, they are added to salads and pastes. Essential oil with a peculiar spicy aroma is prepared from caraway seeds.
Caraway seeds - properties
What is attractive Cumin? This plant is used not only in cooking, but also in traditional medicine, as part of medicinal fees. The popularity of spices is explained, first of all, by the fact that it activates the secretion of gastric juices and causes appetite, relieves intestinal cramps, and facilitates the digestion of food. Cumin also has a diuretic and mild laxative effect.
It is useful for mothers during breastfeeding, so it is useful to eat it to increase lactation. Together with other drugs, it helps in the treatment of hepatitis and as a sedative for cardiovascular and nervous diseases. With a head bolt use caraway tinctures. Essential oil is also used in perfumes and soap making. It helps with neurosis and the treatment of eye diseases. There are no contraindications to its use.
Caraway seeds - use in cooking
Bread spice is widely used in all categories of dishes. It helps especially when digesting fatty meat (pork, lamb), as well as in legumes. Everyone loves sauerkraut or soaked apples with caraway seeds. It is rarely added to sweets, but in unleavened dough it is used in all countries. Fragrant caraway seeds add spice to many bakery products. Good mashed soups. We all know herring or sprats of spicy salting, salads from fresh vegetables, as well as Asian pilaf and porridge. In India, it is customary to fry it in oil or in dry pans, German and Austrian cuisines are famous for their stewed vegetables and much more.
Examples of recipes with caraway seeds
Recipe 1: Caraway Cheese Sticks
We offer the recipe for the fastest and most delicious pastries from ready puff pastry with cheese. There is nothing complicated - just one teaspoon of caraway seeds will make our tea dish interesting: spicy and gourmet. Defrost the finished dough, cook the cheese and proceed immediately to baking.
Ingredients: puff pastry (250 grams), cheese (200 grams), caraway seeds (to taste, about 1 teaspoon), egg (1 pc), salt.
Cooking method
Roll out a layer of dough and cut out rectangles, sprinkle abundantly with grated cheese and caraway seeds. Grease a baking sheet with vegetable oil, spread the sticks not too close. To give the original shape, they can be twisted in the form of pigtails. Bake for 15-20 minutes at 180 degrees.
Recipe 2: Pork with Caraway Seeds
Sausage with caraway seeds - what could be more beautiful? Only baked pork with caraway seeds.
Ingredients: pork (2 kg), onions (2 pcs), boiled chicken egg (2 pcs), lard (100 grams), mustard, cumin, salt.
Cooking method
Lubricate the meat with mustard and leave for a couple of hours in the refrigerator. Salt, pepper, cut the onion and put it in a pan. Fry with chopped onions. Sprinkle the meat with caraway seeds after it becomes golden brown, and fill it with half a glass of water. We put in the oven and bake, pouring juice every 10-15 minutes. Ready meat should cool. We cut it into pieces and put it on a dish, decorate with egg circles and vegetables with herbs. Pickled vegetables and fruits are served along with meat - plums, cucumbers, mushrooms or beets.
Recipe 3: Bean paste with caraway seeds and herbs
Cumin in bean dishes goes very well. This dish can be used for sandwiches, especially when cold. There are many spices and seasonings, herbs, which means it is very useful.
Ingredients: frozen beans (1 pack, 300 grams), garlic (4 cloves), red pepper, olive oil (2 tablespoons), juice of one lemon, ground cumin (1 teaspoon), salt to taste (1/2 teaspoon), ground pepper (to taste), dill, mint, cilantro or parsley.
Cooking method
We put a pot on the stove and boil water in it. We spread lima beans, garlic, red pepper and cook for about 10 minutes. Beans should become soft. Remove from heat and cool. We drain the water, the beans on a colander should become almost dry. We load the products into a combine or blender and mix to make a paste mass. Add lemon juice, cumin, salt and pepper. Mix until smooth. Done!
Recipe 4: Sauerkraut with Caraway Seeds
Sauerkraut by its healing properties is several times superior to fresh. Especially if you cook it with a wonderful spice - caraway seeds. During fermentation, these products retain all the beneficial properties, plus lactic acid and vitamin B12 are added. Kvasim!
Ingredients: cabbage (4 kg), carrots (2 pcs), dill and caraway seeds (in a tablespoon).
Brine: water (1 liter). Sugar (1, 5 salt), coarse salt (2 tablespoons).
Cooking method
Spread cabbage on a table on leaves, let it lie down, chop thinly. Carrots are cut or chopped in length. Mix with cabbage, caraway seeds and dill seeds. We shift everything into an enameled pan or glass bottle, fill it with warm water and salt. Leave warm for fermentation. The next day we pierce the cabbage for the release of gases. On the third day, drain the brine, mix well, add sugar and pour in a new sweetened brine. After a day, put in a dark cool place.
Cumin - useful tips from experienced chefs
- It is better to store spices in glass jars, closing them tightly. Shelf life reaches 7 years. Caraway seeds are added to a hot dish 15-20 minutes before the end of cooking.
- With caraway seeds you can cook not only pastries and meat dishes, but also drinks. For example, make bread kvass. Cut stale bread into pieces, dry in the oven. Pour 2 liters of boiling water and pour a spoonful of caraway seeds. Sourdough - grind the yeast with a spoonful of sugar, pour in a spoonful of flour and dilute everything in a glass of warm water. Pour in the leaven, let it wander. Add to taste sugar and raisins, honey. Leave in the refrigerator for 3-5 days.
