Cumin (Zeera)

Cumin seeds bear a slight resemblance to caraway seeds but are quite different in terms of flavour and aroma, especially when cumin is dry roasted. It is sold either whole or ground and can be bought in all Asian grocery stores.

Cumin is a popular spice in all types of Asian cooking, for example in ‘tarka daal’ as well as also being used as one of the spices when making garam masala.

Black cumin seeds are a darker, smaller and finer variety of the ordinary cumin seed. They are often used whole, especially when making rice dishes, for example, pilau rice.