lentils

We all know that eating dried legumes — also known as pulses — is great for your health: They’re packed with fiber, protein and vitamins including thiamin, riboflavin and Vitamin B6. Pulses are even getting their own International Year from the United Nations! Continue reading →

The amazing world of Indian cuisine can be summed up to tantalizing aromas, colorful flavors and exotic textures that work in harmony to create signature dishes like curries, tandoori chicken and chicken tikka masala.

One of our favorite Indian dishes is dal (daal or dahl) which is actually a split version of a number of pulses such as lentils, peas, mung beans, chickpeas and more. When they are split into half, it is considered to be dal; an example would be mung beans split in half is mung dal.
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I love sharing what I have discovered about certain spices and blends, and the myriad ways in which to use them. One such spice I find quite unique is ajwain (pronounced AHJ-a-wahn).

Ajwain or ajwan (also referred to as Bishop's weed and or carom seeds) looks like small caraway or cumin seeds, but tastes like a pungent version of thyme. While thyme is floral and sweet,ajwan is much stronger with a bit of a kick.
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In most Arab cuisines, you will taste an intensely flavorful spice mixture called baharat which in Arabic simply means spice. This aromatic blend is widely used in recipes in the Arabian Gulf States as a meat rub or marinade. The ingredients can vary according to different regions, but it usually contains warm, hot and sweet spices with resinous herbs. The most common blend includes black pepper, cardamom, cinnamon, cloves, coriander, cumin, nutmeg and paprika.

A few fabulous way to use baharat would be to add it to soups, stews and/or sauces. I like using baharat when making rice dishes and sometimes just as a table condiment.
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