This week's ingredient is cumin, brought to you by my favorite Aunt Laura. Aunt Laura is my go-to guru for all things homemade. She, like me, is always up for learning and loves a challenge.
Cumin is a flowering plant native to the east Mediterranean up and into India. The fruit is cultivated, dried, and the seed extracted and often ground. Cumin is normally purchased in seed form, or already ground. For the purpose of this challenge, I bought both.
The ancient Greeks kept cumin on the table much as we keep salt and pepper, and this is still a rather normal custom in Morocco. Today, it is the second most often used spice next to black pepper. It is commonly used in Indian, Northern African, Middle-Eastern, Spanish, Italian, Brazilian and Cuban and other Latin American cuisine. It is commonly used in Americanized versions of Mexican food, but apparently, not very common in Mexico.
Cumin is also believed to have medicinal and health benefits. In Sanskrit, the word for cumin is "Jiraka." "Jira" literally means "that which aides in digestion." This is also a very important matter to me and Aunt Laura. ;-)
Planning this week's menu has been interesting. I wanted to honor Aunt Laura in the choices, but also branch out and try something new. Really, buying cumin in seed form was a first for me, so new is written all over this menu.
On this week's menu:
Starter: Black bean and papaya salad
Main course: Ropa Vieja with yellow rice and fried plantains
Dessert: Lemon and Cumin Butter cookies
Stay tuned.
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