Cumin or mustard?
By serenidity
@serenidity (641)
India
August 11, 2008 5:52pm CST
For those of you who are familiar with Indian cooking, what do you use more, cuin seeds or mustard seeds in everyday cooking?
For those who aren't, let me give some basic information. Indian food usually consists of some curry or lentils which has an interesting preparation. Once the dish is ready, a little oil or butter is heated in a small pan and cumin or mustard seeds or both are added. Once they start cooking in the oil, it is taken off the heat and sprinkled on the dish which is ready to eat. This process adds a whole lot of flavor and aroma to the dish.
3 responses
@capirani (2840)
• United States
12 Aug 08
I learned how to cook Indian beginning with having roommates in college who were from India. It progressed to my marriage to a man from India/Pakistan. I occassionally use the cumin seeds when I am frying my onions, sometimes I don't. It depends on my mood at the time I guess. The mustard seeds I don't use as much. The cumin seeds I might use with any dish I have to fry the onions for. The mustard seeds I have only used with dahl, and I put them in at the end because the flavor is much better that way, and sometimes with chicken curry also at the end for the same reason. I was told by some that I shouldn't use the mustard seed with the chicken, that it was only for vegetables, but we liked it used in the chicken. I have also used it for fried cabbage, I think. One of my roommates made a lot of uppma and she always used mustard seeds for that. I wish I had her recipe because I really liked it. And all this mustard seed is the black mustard seed.
@capirani (2840)
• United States
12 Aug 08
Oh, I also use cumin seed, dry fried, and crushed, to mix in the dough for puri made with besan.
