Spice May issue ipad LR

Top: An assortment of pickles.
Bottom: Paneer Achari
FOOD
NIGELLA
Egyptian and Mediterranean cooking is
the interesting flavour-profile it has
that ranges from mild pepper and
oregano to onion.” How you treat it, adds
Chef Kohli, “determines which taste
profile it will lend to a dish.” An excellent
nigella seeds and vegetable pairing is
with squash and in salads all fruits with a
citrus zing to eat, he adds.
A usual practice, says Vikas Pant,
Executive Chef, Radisson Blu Paschim
Vihar, New Delhi, “is to roast the kalonji
and use it. The way you roast it and the
time taken ensures the kind of taste the
dish will get.” One of the favourite uses
of kalonji for Chef Pant is as a garnish.
“When you need to add that extra oomph
to a dish that may look and taste simple,
kalonji comes in pretty handy vis-à-vis
mustard that can be too pungent and
spoil the taste.”
Concurs Chef Vikas Seth, who uses a
mix of part roasting and frying to add
different flavours not only to the bread
and relishes and dips he makes but also
to the wide variety of tikkas,
especially those made of
seafood and sometimes
chicken as well. Frying in oil,
adds Chef Seth, “gives it that
little sweetness that we often
correlate with onion, and
hence it can be used to bring
an interesting palate taste in a
dish.”
What really works for
nigella seeds, add the experts,
is the spice’s in-built nature to
pair easily and fabulously
with a variety of herbs and
other overpowering spices
like fenugreek and coriander.
This easy marriage ensures
that kalonji is often present in
most of the potato dishes
where one needs to work out
different flavour layers
without the use of too many
masalas or herbs.
The aromas, easy pairing and
versatile nature could be one of the
reasons why nigella seeds whose debut
into civilization was as a remedy for
toothache, digestion and treating
depression, soon became an emperor’s
favourite. Legend has it that so fond were
Egyptians of these holy black grains that
their kings and queens’ bodies were
embalmed with the oil. Nigella seeds,
according to Domestication of Plants in
the Old World, by Daniel Zohary and
Maria Hopf, were first spotted in
Tutankhamen’s tomb.
Such was the wonder of this spice
that it could add flavour to even the
simplest of dishes (think lentil soup,
salads and savoury porridges) and thus
keep you happy that prophet Mohammed
reportedly declared that nigella seeds
could cure “anything but death”. And in
some way, says Chopra, “It can too. Come
to think of it, from naan to pakori, curries
to dal and even your buttersquash potato
sabzi has kalonji!”
VIKAS SETH
82
MAY 2017