cumin | sel et sucre

Turkish Red Lentil Soup

Posted on March 5, 2012March 4, 2012 by Claire

turkish red lentil soup

I’ve been really enjoying red lentils lately. They fall apart when cooked which can help thicken soups and stews, and they’re great at absorbing flavors. They’re a fundamental piece of this Turkish red lentil soup which tastes amazingly complex for a dish with so few ingredients. I haven’t eaten a lot of Turkish food, and I was skeptical at first of the combination of paprika, cumin, mint, and sumac, but the flavors work perfectly together. Rich and hearty but with a freshness from the herbaceous mint and tart sumac, this soup would be a great start to a meal or a filling meal in and of itself.

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Ethiopian Berbere

Posted on February 27, 2012February 27, 2012 by Claire

ethiopian berbere

Growing up in DC (home to the largest Ethiopian population outside of Ethiopia), I’ve gotten used to a city with a plethora of cheap and delicious Ethiopian restaurants. My favorite place is a mere half mile from me and offers up a vegetarian platter big enough for two or three people for ten dollars. So it’s understandably difficult for me to motivate myself to try cooking Ethiopian food. But I might not be in this city forever, and the flavorful filling stews and spongy sour bread has become somewhat of a comfort food for me so I recently decided to try my hand at making them.

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Madras Curry Powder

Posted on February 20, 2012February 26, 2012 by Claire

madras curry powder

The more I cook, the more I love customizing the dishes I make. And one of my favorite ways to customize my food is by making my own spice mixes. Madras curry powder is the perfect example for this. No two versions of this South Indian blend are alike; every brand, every family, every person adjusts the spices to their liking. Making your own curry powder gives you the opportunity to get exactly the combination of flavors you want (not to mention the amazing difference using freshly ground spices makes). My personal blend is heavy on coriander and cumin with warmth from curry leaves, cinnamon, and nutmeg.

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Chipotle Black Bean Soup

Posted on February 13, 2012February 12, 2012 by Claire

chipotle black bean soup

On Sundays, I love making huge pots of hearty soups to have for lunch throughout the week. Having this food stockpiled feels like a secret arsenal, a little extra something for a healthy midday energy burst. And many soups actually improve after sitting in the refrigerator for a couple days as the different flavors have a chance to meld together. This black bean soup is simple but delicious, meaning that even on my lazier Sundays, it’s an easy option to give me a head start for the week. I nearly always have all these ingredients on hand in my kitchen, too, so this is a good recipe for when I’ve gone a little too long without grabbing fresh groceries.

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Spicy Chickpea Stew

Posted on December 26, 2011December 25, 2011 by Claire

spicy chickpea stew

This blog probably makes it pretty clear that I have a great fondness for simple and flavorful one pot meals. This particular stew is perfect for warming up on a cold winter night. Roasting the cauliflower and carrots adds a great sweetness, and the spices provide a nice heat (and delicious flavor). I’m typically hesitant when it comes to fennel (and I did cut back on the amount here), but I think it really adds a lot. I served this stew with a good dollop of yogurt on top (sour cream would also work) to cut the spiciness of the cayenne pepper and add an extra tanginess, but it is still quite tasty without this addition.

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Pulled Pork

Posted on December 21, 2011December 20, 2011 by Claire

pulled pork

When I started looking for a slow cooker pulled pork recipe, I thought at first that I was doomed to heavily douse a pork shoulder in barbecue sauce and call it a day. But then I found this amazing recipe which instead uses a spice rub and only a minimal amount of liquid, with outstandingly flavorful and tender results. There’s even a little smokiness from the smoked paprika (using smoked salt in the rub and/or a dash of liquid smoke in the slow cooker could get you even more). And there’s all the slow cooker beauty here of getting it started in the morning and coming home to a fragrant house and dinner ready to be served.

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Chili Powder

Posted on December 5, 2011December 4, 2011 by Claire

chili powder

I’ve found that making fresh spice mixes is surprisingly easy and yields incredible flavor – much more than with store-bought mixes. This recipe for chili powder can be adapted to your tastes; it currently uses equal amounts of three dried chiles: guajillo, ancho, and arbol. Like your chili powder a little smokier? Add more ancho chiles, toss in some dried chipotles, and/or add extra smoked paprika. Like your chili powder on the milder side? Use more ancho and guajillo chiles and less arbol chiles, and discard the seeds before toasting. Or, conversely, like your chili powder extra spicy? Up the number of arbol chiles.

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Sri Lankan Curry Powder

Posted on October 31, 2011October 30, 2011 by Claire

sri lankan curry powder

In honor of Halloween, let me regale you with a tale of cooking horror: It was a (dark and stormy) Wednesday night, and after a long and stressful day at work, I was determined to make a Sri Lankan curry that night for dinner. I stopped by an Indian grocery store to pick up some curry leaves (an ingredient for which there is really no substitute – if you buy fresh leaves, any leftover leaves will freeze quite well), and by the time I made it back to my empty house (none of my roommates were home – and have I mentioned that my house is over 100 years old?),

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Thai Red Curry Paste

Posted on October 17, 2011October 9, 2011 by Claire

Thai Red Curry Paste

Anyone who’s a regular reader of this blog has probably figured out that I cook quite a lot of Asian food. I’ve long been a lover of the flavors found in Asian cuisine, and I somewhat recently began doing most of my shopping at an Asian supermarket (H&A Supermarket in Langley Park for anyone who’s in the area) and thus have easy access to many rarer ingredients for ridiculously cheap prices. When I discovered this store, I knew immediately what I had to make first: Thai curry. Thai food plays around a lot with mixing salty, sweet, and sour, and this curry paste is the first step in building a delicious curry with those flavors.

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Chaat Masala

Posted on September 19, 2011October 30, 2011 by Claire

Chaat Masala

I recently had the pleasure of dining at Rasika, a very popular DC Indian restaurant, and trying their famous palak chaat. This dish is an amazing medley of textures and flavors, with crispy spinach playing off a sour-sweet chutney and sweetened yogurt, and I knew almost immediately that I had to try my best to recreate it. I’ve dedicated this week to a series of posts on recreating all the pieces of Rasika’s palak chaat. This post is the first in a series of three. See post 2: Date Tamarind Chutney and post 3: Palak Chaat.

Chaat masala is a classic Indian spice mix with some unusual ingredients.

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