Spice (40 page)

Most supermarkets carry blue poppy seeds; you can find the white variety in many Indian or Middle Eastern markets or online at www.penzeys.com.

N
İGELLA
S
EEDS

Grown mostly in Egypt, the Middle East, and India, nigella seeds come from a tall annual blue-or white-petalled flower that is a member of the buttercup family. The seeds—which decorate Turkish breads, crackers, and string cheese—are tiny and jet black and are often confused for black sesame seeds, but they are more teardrop-shaped and angular. People also incorrectly refer to nigella seeds as black cumin or black onion seeds.

Nigella seeds don’t have much aroma, but their flavor is pleasantly sharp, nutty, peppery, and slightly vegetal, like celery. As with poppy seeds, it’s best to toast them before using them in vinaigrettes and other dishes in which they won’t be baked (see page 174).

In India, nigella seeds are combined with mustard, fennel, fenugreek, and cumin seeds to make a five-seed blend called panch phora, used to flavor fried potatoes. Some recipes for dukkah (page 6) include nigella seeds. I also like to use nigella seeds to flavor goat cheese with dried mint (page 229) and vinaigrette for fish (page 190).

Nigella seeds are quite stable and can last in a cool, dark place for up to a year. You can find them in many Indian and Middle Eastern markets or online at www.kalustyans.com.

S
ESAME
S
EEDS

Sesame seeds come from a 3-to 6-foot annual plant with white, pink, or lilac flowers that grow all the way down the stem. The flowers are followed by capsules that contain the seeds. When fully ripe, the capsules shatter with the slightest touch. The famous phrase “open sesame” in the tale of
Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves
has its roots in this phenomenon.

Before they are hulled, sesame seeds are golden brown or black and have a chewier texture and a sharper, nuttier flavor than the hulled white seeds. Hulled seeds have a very high oil content that you can feel with your hands, and they give off a faintly nutty aroma. Most of the world’s sesame seeds are extracted for their oil, which is refined into sesame oil and tahini paste or a honey-sweet sesame butter called halvah.

When combined with chickpeas, sesame seeds make a complete protein, as in the Middle Eastern favorites falafel and hummus. Sesame seeds are a key ingredient in one of my favorite spice blends, called za’atar (page 230), and the Egyptian spice blend called dukkah (page 6). They’re delicious on salads, cooked spinach, fish or scallops, flatbreads, with slow-simmered tomatoes (see Tomato-Sesame Jam, page 192), and even in ice cream.

You can store sesame seeds in a cool, dry place; they are best kept in the freezer, though, because they have a very high oil content, like poppy seeds.

TOASTING SESAME SEEDS

It’s best to toast sesame seeds before sprinkling them over food. Sesame seeds take a little longer to toast than other spices, however. To toast them, heat a pan, just as you would for dry-roasting any spice, and shake the seeds around while heating them so they don’t stick and burn. When they begin to hop around and show signs of tanning, tip them out of the pan and let them cool.

TOASTING POPPY AND NIGELLA SEEDS

Poppy and nigella seeds can be toasted to revive them if you suspect they’re stale. See page 184, Reviving Spices and Seeds.

RECIPES WITH SEEDS

C
RİCK-CRACKS
: S
AVORY
T
URKİSH
-S
TYLE
C
RACKERS

S
HOUSHAN’S
H
OMEMADE
S
TRİNG
C
HEESE WİTH
N
İGELLA
S
EEDS

S
PİNACH
B
UNDLES WİTH
W
ARM
G
OAT
C
HEESE

C
ARAMELİZED
O
NİON
T
ART WİTH
P
OPPY
S
EEDS
, B
ACON, AND
D
ATES

S
PİNACH
F
ALAFEL WİTH
T
AHİNİ
S
AUCE AND
P
İCKLED
P
EARS

C
REAMY
P
ARSNİP
H
UMMUS WİTH
P
ARSLEY

S
WORDFİSH
K
EBOBS WİTH
N
İGELLA
S
EED
V
İNAİGRETTE

R
OASTED
C
RİSPY
D
UCK WİTH
T
OMATO
-S
ESAME
J
AM

R
OASTED
R
ED
P
EPPERS WİTH
S
ESAME
S
EED
V
İNAİGRETTE

Crick-Cracks: Savory Turkish-Style Crackers

My friend Ayfer Unsal from Gaziantep, Turkey, introduced me to the savory treats she calls crick-cracks. Found in many different shapes—round rings, long and thin breadsticks, or flat—in bakeries throughout Turkey, they’re traditionally eaten with afternoon tea, but I like to serve them as a cracker for spreads (such as the Whipped Feta on page 149, Creamy Parsnip Hummus on page 188, and the Hot Buttered Hummus with Basturma and Tomato on page 200). Turkish crick-cracks are sprinkled only with nigella seeds, but Oleana’s pastry chef Maura Kilpatrick loads the restaurant’s crick-cracks with all three seeds discussed in this chapter.

M
AKES
1 P
OUND OF CRACKERS TO SERVE UP TO
12
PEOPLE AS A SNACK

1½ cups of flour plus ½ to ¾ cupsfor rolling out the dough

½ cup cornmeal

1 tablespoon sugar

1½ teaspoons salt

10 tablespoons cold, unsalted butter, cut into ½-inch cubes

¾ cup buttermilk

1 tablespoon sesame seeds

2 teaspoons poppy seeds

1 teaspoon nigella seeds

1.
In the mixing bowl fitted for a standing mixer (such as a KitchenAid), combine the 1½ cups of the flour, the cornmeal, sugar, ½ teaspoon of the salt, and the butter.

2.
Using the paddle attachment or an electric mixer, mix the ingredients on low speed until the butter breaks down into pea-sized pieces. Pour in the buttermilk and mix again until it is just combined. The dough will come together quickly and will be a little wet.

3.
Wrap the dough in plastic, pressing it into a flat rectangle about an inch thick. Chill the dough for 3 hours or overnight.

4.
Divide the dough into quarters. Lightly flour your rolling-out surface with about ¼ cup of flour. Roll out the first quarter into a rectangle, approximately 12×15 inches. Don’t worry about making the dough into the perfect size or shape; it’s most important that it rolls out to be 1/16 inch thick or as thin as you can make it.

5.
Line a heavy baking sheet with parchment paper.

6.
Roll the dough over the rolling pin or fold it in half to pick it up and place it on the lined baking sheet. Place another sheet of paper on top of the rolled dough and roll out the remaining quarters of dough, layering them on the baking sheet, separated by parchment paper. This is an easy way to store the dough as it chills. Chill the rolled-out dough for at least an hour or overnight.

7.
Preheat the oven to 350°F.

8.
Place 1 sheet of dough onto each of 4 heavy baking sheets, leaving them on the parchment paper. Dock the dough by pricking little holes into it with a fork; this keeps the dough from bubbling too much when it bakes and creates a cracker pattern.

9.
Using a ruler and a pizza cutter or knife, cut the dough into 3-inch squares, leaving odd pieces on the ends. It’s easier to leave those pieces to snack on after they’re baked rather than reroll the scraps and repeat the process. The dough will get tough if rerolled.

10.
In a small mixing bowl, combine the sesame seeds, poppy seeds, nigella seeds, and the remaining teaspoon of salt.

11.
Using a pastry brush, moisten each sheet of cut crackers lightly with water and then sprinkle each evenly with the salted seed mixture.

12.
Place the crackers in the oven and reduce the temperature to 325°F. Bake them for 8 minutes and rotate the pan. Continue baking the crackers for another 10 to 11 minutes or until lightly browned. If your oven can only hold two pans at a time, keep the other two chilled while you are baking the first two.

13.
Cool the crick-cracks completely before serving. Store them in an airtight container for up to 5 days.

Shoushan’s Homemade String Cheese with Nigella Seeds

Shoushan Stepanian is the sister of my good friend Vartan Nalbandian. She makes this string cheese for Oleana, and we serve it as a bread condiment alongside our Armenian Bean and Walnut Pâté (page 334) on the
prêt-à-manger
(ready to eat) menu. Shoushan’s cheese is sweet and nutty, and the nigella seeds give it a subtle celery flavor.