Cumin adds a fragrant aroma to any dish, especially barbecue, lamb chops, and various meat dishes. Learn more about cumin and its benefits, and don’t miss out on making homemade cumin powder and other flavorful seasonings.

Cumin Uses and Benefits: Removes fishy smells, enhances flavor, and stimulates appetite.

Cumin is often mixed into marinades, but you rarely get a close look at it, right? Cumin is small, slender, brown-green in color, and has fine stripes. Its spicy aroma is very unique! Cumin has a distinctive flavor. This spice has a bitter and slightly pungent taste, and its flavor is most fully developed when cooked with oil or other materials.

Because of its strong flavor, it naturally removes fishy smells from meats. It’s excellent for enhancing the aroma when used in marinades, stir-fries, or as a topping. The aroma can also improve your appetite and stimulate cravings.

Representative Cumin Dishes: Cumin Lamb, Tajine

Cumin lamb, a Xinjiang specialty, is a classic dish that fully showcases the spice. Cumin is particularly effective against ingredients with a strong fishy smell. In Xinjiang, where lamb is a staple food, adding cumin to meat marinades and grilling effectively removes the fishy smell, transforming it into a pungent and fragrant flavor.

In Middle Eastern regions like India, and North African regions like Morocco, cumin is also used in meat dishes like tagine, making its use widespread.

Cumin-marinated meat is highly recommended.

Whether it’s Mid-Autumn Festival, New Year’s Eve, or a barbecue party, don’t just smother it in sauce; using cumin can create a new level of flavor. This time, marinate the meat with cumin and season it with cumin and pepper salt to enjoy.

When using cumin, simply sprinkle it with garlic, peppercorns, rice wine, salt, and a little oil, then marinate the meat. Refrigerate the meat for a few hours to help the flavor absorb. Alternatively, you can make your own cumin powder! It’s convenient, absorbs the flavor, and easily seals and preserves.

Homemade Cumin Powder

Toast the cumin in a dry pan to develop its aroma. Remove from the pan and let it cool slightly before grinding it into a powder.

Besides marinating meat, cumin powder can also be sprinkled on stir-fries, curries, beef soup, or hot pot to enhance the flavor.

Finally, let’s try homemade cumin and pepper salt powder. This is a great seasoning for barbecued meats, perfect as a sprinkle or as a dipping sauce.

Follow these simple steps:

• Toast the cumin in a dry pan.
• Remove from the pan and let it cool slightly before grinding it into a powder.

• Add pepper and salt to the cumin powder (different salts, such as sea salt or rose salt, will produce slightly different flavors).
• This is your basic cumin and pepper powder.
• Add variations: Mix cumin and pepper salt with Italian spices, shichimi funghi, and other ingredients for even more flavorful creations.

*Note: If you purchased cumin powder directly, you can simply add the following seasonings.

Nutritional Value

Cumin contains a good amount of minerals, such as calcium, phosphorus, magnesium, sodium, and iron, as well as vitamin E, which provides beneficial health benefits. While not everyone likes the aroma of cumin, if you can tolerate its flavor, be sure to try it. Knowing how to use it can create a variety of combinations.