Kala jeera ✦

Cumin noir de l’Himalaya (kala jeera)

What it is

It is neither cumin nor nigella, though English calls all three black cumin: this is a Himalayan umbellifer, still largely gathered wild, with seeds thinner and darker than cumin’s. Mughal court kitchens used it where an ordinary household reached for cumin, which is why it also answers to shahi jeera, royal cumin.

In the kitchen

Toast it dry in a bare pan until it smells of woodsmoke, then grind. Bloomed in fat the way cumin is, it stays flat and you lose what you paid for.

Goes with

Lamb Rice Yogurt Onion Black cardamom Ghee Saffron Clove

Same species

Earth chestnut

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