Spices - roast and grind your own
Submitted by KitchenBarbaria... on November 25, 2013 at 10:10 am

Freshly ground cumin and coriander are MUCH MUCH better than the pre-powdered stuff. It also means you only have to buy the spice once in the whole form instead of twice, in whole seeds and as ground powder.
Source: My South Indian mother-in-law, and thousands of years of Indian culinary tradition.

The spice of your choice:
I do this most often with soft woody seeds like cumin, coriander, and fennel. Such seeds have a lot of flavor in their more volatile components which quickly dissipate once ground. Because of this, the ground spices have a very short shelf-life compared to the whole seed and are usually badly degraded by the time you buy them and get them home. Coriander seed, in particular, is virtually useless when pre-ground at a factory as many of its most flavorful components are particularly volatile and rapidly degrade once exposed to oxygen.

The procedure is simple - take a frying pan and preheat it over a moderate heat. Pour enough seed into it to cover the bottom about one-seed thick. Roast the seeds, shaking the pan gently to stir them around and turn them a bit so they brown somewhat evenly. They are done roasting when you can smell them roasting - you can just tell, I don't know how to explain it better than that. Dump them onto a cool ceramic plate to help cool them - they will continue roasting even after you remove them from the heat, I've found doing this helps to keep them from burning in case your heat was just a tad too high. From there, dump them into a coffee grinder (that you don't use for anything but spices) and grind them up. Let them cool in the grinder and let the "dust" settle, as it were; then store in a tightly sealed spice jar. You can also grind them up in a mortar and pestle if you are more dexterous and energetic than I am!

Roasted and fresh ground cumin has a strong nutty aroma and a better flavor than the pre-ground. For coriander seed, there just is no substitute for roasted and fresh ground - the flavoring elements in coriander seed are so volatile that no pre-ground can last long enough through production, packaging, shipping, and then sitting on a grocer's shelves to be any comparison. There are two things I won't buy at all - one is dried curry leaves, they are useless bits of dusty plant material - and the other is pre-ground coriander. The freshly ground roasted seeds have a strong citrus element that is totally lacking in any pre-ground. I bought pre-ground coriander for years and thought it was a useless spice - until I finally got around to roasting and grinding my own. I am totally converted to grinding my own spices whenever possible now.

I usually make no more than 1/4 c at a time. It doesn't take that long once you get the hang of it and at the rate I use it, it holds up well. The less time it hangs around after roasting/grinding, the better!

SOME TIPS AND TRICKS:
Do not cover the ground spices any longer than you need to to let the dust settle. There is considerable moisture in these seeds and you want to let that "air out" as it cools.
Dump the powder out on a ceramic plate and spread it around, similarly to when you take the seeds off the hot stove, to cool it faster.

I've found using the very smallest Lock 'n Lock containers - which you can only get off the Lock 'n Lock website, and not always there at that - is the best storage method for the ground spices. It helps preserve the volatile flavor components that are so short-lived once you've ground the seed. Any very tightly sealing container should help. Keep it small - you want as little headroom for air space as possible.

Coriander seed is more delicate than cumin seed - it will need a slightly lower temperature than cumin seed. Coriander seed will burn QUITE QUICKLY if the temperature is a little too high.

The best way to handle coriander seed is to use a 2 or 3 step grinding process.

1) Grind it all up - there will be large chunks of seed coat left.

2) Use a small-mesh strainer, use a spoon to stir it around to get the finer grind stuff to fall through. Retain the coarser stuff.

3) Put the coarser stuff back in the grinder and grind it up again.

4) Depending on your sensitivity, you can stop here or put it through steps 2 and 3 again for an even finer final grind.

5) Alternatively, you can stop after a single grind and sifting, and use the coarser stuff in soups and dals. The sharper pieces won't be so obvious and annoying when they've softened in all that liquid.
comments

Submitted by Marshview on Sun, 2013-12-29 17:28.
Many thanks. Many long years ago my family and I lived in Pakistan and we love the spices. I have not been good cooking the food but with your help I shall try again.

Submitted by KitchenBarbaria... on Mon, 2013-12-30 10:23.
There are many good Indian cookbooks out there to help you along on your way these days also. Try 660 Curries - I can't remember other titles off the top of my head ... but check out Amazon ratings for "Indian Cookbooks".

Submitted by broosed on Thu, 2014-03-13 13:00.
Where can I buy Cumin Seeds?

Submitted by KitchenBarbaria... on Fri, 2014-03-14 17:24.
You can usually find them at any grocery store, but they will be MUCH MUCH cheaper from an Indian or Asian grocer. Google "Indian grocery" with your town name and state - unless you are in a very small or isolated town, there will usually be at least one somewhere not too far.
Some groceries will have them in bulk bins for a better price - in my area HyVee has bulk bins, or try a local health food store. They often have things in bulk. Also places like Whole Foods or similar "natural" grocery store will probably have them in bulk.

Or you can buy them online - though with shipping it may not be cheaper than the stuff in the grocery store.

Here are some places that might help you locate a nearby grocer:

http://www.thokalath.com/grocery/index.php

http://www.searchindia.com/search/groc.html

Here are some online sources:

http://masalas4less.com/store/advanced_search_result.php?keywords=cumin+...

http://www.ishopindian.com/spices-title-up-c-38-p-7.html

You want regular cumin seed - aka white zeera or jeera.

Black cumin - kala jeera is a different though closely related spice

Royal jeera is caraway seed