Using Up: Cumin

After exploring Coriander in the first episode of my new series “Using Up”, I asked which spice you’d like to cover next, and Cumin was one of the top requests. So today we are looking at all the different ways you can use up Cumin and add an earthy flavor to anything you’re cooking.

Pre Order my new cookbook: Kung Food by Jon Kung – https://sites.prh.com/jon-kung-cookbook?ref=PRH3C29B61BE911&aid=39984&linkid=PRH3C29B61BE911

00:00 – Intro
00:43 – Toasting
01:36 – Grinding
02:20 – My New Cookbook
03:42 – Stir Fry
04:08 – Seafood
04:42 – Rubs
05:06 – Rice
06:25 – Cumin/Jeera Rice

Using Up: Cumin

#chefjonkung #cooking #cumin

Cumin it is a somewhat polarizing Spice in the west but in South Asia as well as some parts of East Asia it is very common and very much loved it has a bold and earthy flavor some might describe it as having something along the lines of Rye after

Orienter video I asked you what was the spice that you wanted us to cover next in using up and it was a tie because nothing can ever be easy you guys chose star anus and aniseed as well as cumin but I had already done the preparations

For cumin because it was in the lead at one point in time so we are gonna go with this let’s get started To prepare cumin for grinding all you need to do is take a small Skillet or a small frying pan and toast them inside you’ll know that the cumin is ready once they start releasing almost like a slight lemony Aroma and some of them might even start to pop

I will note that even though I did say that none of these popped but it’s ready the Wisps of the white smoke is also an indicator that the spices have been toasted now before you put these through the grinder of any kind it’s really important to let them cool there’s a

Little bit of residual moisture in all spices and once it’s hot it’s brought to the top which means if you grind them while they’re hot they can get to be a little sticky and pasty so letting them cool completely will make sure that your ground is nice and fine

All right well now that that’s over and done with let’s grind it you can either use a hand mortar and pestle or you can use a machine spice grinder this is actually a great one this is a professional one you don’t have to go all out with this but they do make

Consumer versions of this the best feature of them are that the bowls themselves have the grinder element built in and these are dishwasher safe highly recommended if you grind a lot of spices but since this way is more cinematic we’re gonna go with the hand grinding way Have you ever thought to yourself that maybe you would like to write a book but just don’t have the time hi I’m John Kung and no I am not tired that is just my face here to share with you the latest in time saving Innovation don’t write a book buy mine instead

My book Kung fued by John Kung features the latest in book technology including pages words and introducing jpegs on paper Kung Fu by John Kung is not yet available in stores but if you pre-order now you can get your copy the same time as everyone else except I will like you

More specifically click the link in the description and pre-order your copy today and now we return to whatever terrible video you might have been watching before thank you now that we know how to prepare cumin here are a bunch of ways that you can actually use it in whatever it is you’re cooking

Powdered cumin is a really easy thing to add for any kind of sauteed vegetables or stir fries not just vegetables actually you can also do it for mushrooms and meat It’ll add a nice little earthy flavor to anything that you’re cooking and all you really need to do is just put it in the pan and take your roasted cumin and just add it in just like that as much or as little as you want and

Then just stir it around and that’s how you can use it in your sautes and secure fries When incorporating cumin into Seafood there is a pretty reliable flavor combination that you can use whether you are baking a trout or sauteing shrimp or even like making a seafood stew cumin combined with a little bit of garlic and a splash of lemon works amazingly for a variety of seafood choices thank you Roasted cumin is also very good for adding into rubs this is going to be a mustard rub that I’m going to add onto a cauliflower before roasting and because cumin itself is so easily edible on its own you can trust that it won’t overpower your rub or come out bitter

It’ll only add its deep toasted earthy flavor to it the reasons why we wash rice is to get all of that excess starch out of there if you cook rice without removing the starch it will be kind of like gummy and pasty and not really in a way that is

Pleasant because even though sticky rice might exist it’s not sticky in the way that like anybody really likes so we have to get this starch out whether or not you’re making sticky rice or regular rice it doesn’t matter just wash it one of the other reasons and probably

The more important reason is that you don’t really know how this rice was processed and stored initially before you bought it and there is something called like I think they’re called rice weevils or rice mites and their eggs will just stay on the rice until they get hit with a

Little bit of moisture and then those eggs will hatch and then you’ll have like bugs all up in your rice and you want to wash those eggs out they don’t exist in every batch of rice but you definitely don’t want it in your rice another way of preparing your cumin is

To fry it this is very useful if you’re braising it or use it in any kind of like wetter or stewing applications and this way actually happens really quickly make human rice or jira rice you take your rinsed rice and then you add it to the frying cumin

Add a little bit of salt to it oftentimes when making gyro rice you would add in diced onions to this and then after everything has cooked together add in your liquid and allow it to steam that way but I’m just going to use the oil and the spices themselves

Because I want to try doing this in the rice cooker after this part so now that the rice has been fried and Incorporated with the cumin we will add it to the rice cooker and cook it as you normally would So there you have it a bunch of ways to help you use up your cumin and keep your rotation fresh if you like what you saw today obviously like And subscribe that always helps and I will see you next time