Cumin has to be one of my favourite spices

Cumin has to be one of my favourite spices. I love its wonderful flavour that goes with so many things. 

A quick keyword search through my Evernote trove of recipes came up with 68 that include cumin. From carrot fritters to marinated olives, from white bean soup to a spiced chickpea and potato fry-up, it’s found its way into recipes featuring a diverse range of ingredients including mushrooms, avocado, spinach, eggplant and lentils.

Here are just a few of my quick fave ways to use cumin seeds.

Slice up some steamed or roasted butternut pumpkin (butternut squash). Toss some cumin seeds in oil in a fry pan, then throw in the sliced butternut and cook over a medium-high heat until it gets crunchy bit. This is great with leftover steamed or roast potato too – or a mixture of both.

Fry some cumin seeds with onions in oil. Toss in some chopped carrots, a potato and cover with vegetable stock. Simmer until vegies are soft then blitz with a stick-blender. Serve the soup with a spoonful of natural yoghurt.

Or for really special cheese on toast, toast ½ teaspoon of cumin seeds in a dry frypan over a medium heat until it smells gorgeous (chefs and cookbook writers seem to say until it’s ‘fragrant’). Grind the seeds until fine then add to 50 g of grated Emmental cheese. Pile onto toast and whack it under the grill until the cheese melts and goes bubbly. If you want to you could use this on top of soup too. Delish!