Sunday 9 September 2018

Quick stir Fried delicious sausages with pepper and roasted cumin

      Quick stir fried sausages with pepper and roasted cumin


In this fastmoving world people are crazy about fast foods. Hot dogs, frankfurters,
sausages are some of them. What are they?  Yes, they are processed meat with added flavourings or spices including sodium.  They are made of pork, beef turkey and chicken or sometimes mixed. I am not giving the calorie count as they differ. If you think of having a low calorie one, chicken is full of protein and it is the best choice apart from its high sodium content.  People with high blood pressure, kidney disease and diabetes should be careful.

Are they all same? 
Somehow the same product is called by different names in different parts of the world. In America the name hot dog is famous. In some parts of Europe frankfurters are known as just German sausages.
In sausages the meat and fat are ground and stuffed into casing from animal intestine or artificial casing which can be eaten. In hot dogs the meat is more like a paste.
Chicken franks
Chicken franks
Today we find many varieties of sausages in the supper market. They are precooked. 

We normally eat the hot dogs  and sausages with mustard sauce and tomato sauce. Today I want to make a quick stir fry of sausages with my own recipe. I always stir fry sausages with a little butter, pepper powder and roasted cumin powder. It is delicious


                                  Recipe summary
                                            For
Quick stir Fried delicious sausages with pepper and roasted cumin
Preparation time : 10 minutes
Cooking time: 15 minutes
Serves: 5

Separate and Boil
Separate and Boil

Preparation 
Boil 340 grams sausages
Strain and cool . Slice them into ½ inch pieces

Method

Adding pepper and cumin
Adding pepper and cumin

1.Heat a pan. Bring to low flame.

2. Add 1 table spoon olive oil and 1 teaspoon butter together.
Heat it.

3. Add the sausages and stir for 2 minutes.

 4. Add 1 tea spoon pepper and 1/2 tea spoon cumin stir one minute.
It is done.

Hot dogs and sausages are really nice with their sodium content and easy to prepare as they are pre cooked. It is good to have occasionally. 
Stir fried sausages

I make this dish when I have a Christmas party for children. The sausages flies from the plate in no time. As I use pepper and roasted cumin they give additional flavour and they are stomach friendly and easy to digest.
                                               


Quick stir Fried delicious sausages with pepper and roasted cumin   is ready.                                
Recipe follows in detail with pictures.

                     
Preparation time: 15 minutes
Cooking time: 10 minutes
Serves:6

Ingredients
Main 
340 grams Chicken franks

Others
1 tsp pepper powder
½ tea spoon roasted cumin powder
1 tea spoon butter
1 table spoon olive oil

Preparation
Boil the sausages for 5 to 7 minutes.
Boiling sausages
Boiling sausages
Separate and Boil
Separate and Boil

Strain and cool
Sauces are strained
Sauces are strained
Slice them into ½ inch pieces
Boiled sausage slices
Boiled sausage slices
Method
Heat a pan. Bring to low flame.
Add olive oil and butter together.
Adding butter and olive oil
Adding butter and olive oil
Heat it.
Add the sausages and stir for 2 minutes.
Frying sausages
Frying sausages
Add pepper and cumin stir one minute.
Adding pepper and cumin
Adding pepper and cumin
It is done.

Hot dogs and sausages are really nice with their sodium content and easy to prepare as they are pre cooked. It is good to have occasionally. I make this dish when I have a Christmas party for children.The sausages flies from the plate in no time. Since I use pepper and roasted cumin they give additional flavour to the sausage and they are stomach friendly and easy to digest.




























Friday 7 September 2018

Powdering cumin seeds and fennel seeds.

Powdering cumin seeds and fennel seeds.


Roasted cumin and fennel powder
Roasted cumin and fennel powder
Cumin and fennel are spices that have been used in cooking from old ages. They are mostly used as seeds in curries, stews and soups. They are tempered in oil to release the fragrance and enhance the flavour and aroma.You can also use these without tempering in oil. Sometimes we use cumin at the end of cooking as seeds or ground. In dhal curry cumin is ground with pepper corns and added at the end to release the aroma. 
These seeds are dry roasted and powdered to be used in rolls,cutlets, dips and savoury dishes. Powder form is used in small quantities.
Today I am going to write how to roast and powder cumin seeds and fennel seeds.

 You can read about cumin seeds
https://simplycookingandhealth.blogspot.com/2018/09/powdering-cumin-seeds-and-fennel-seeds.html 
 and 
fennel seeds in my other articles.
https://simplycookingandhealth.blogspot.com/2018/09/fennel-seeds.html


                             Recipe summary 
                                     For
           Powdering cumin seeds and fennel seeds.

 Cumin seeds

 Cumin seedsPreparation time:5 minutes
Cooking time: 10 minutes


Preparation
Don’t wash.. Clean the residues in cumin seeds.

Method 
1.Heat a pan or wok bring to slow fire.
2. Add 100 grams cumin seeds and roast, stirring constantly.
3. You will see that it get roasted and crispy.
4. Don’t wait it turns dark.
5. Remove and cool.
6. Use a coffee grinder and grind it to powder.
7. Cool and store in a bottle.
If you don't use often refrigerate.
It is aromatic and can be used in curries, soups, stews, rolls, dips  and cutlets. 


Fennel seeds 


Fennel seeds

Preparation time:5 minutes
Cooking time: 10 minutes




Preparation
Don’t wash. Clean the residues in cumin seeds. 

Method 
1. Heat a pan or wok bring to slow fire .
2. put 100 grams fennel seeds and roast, stirring constantly.
3. You will see that it gets roasted and crispy.
4. Don’t wait it turns dark.
5. Remove and cool.
6. Use a coffee grinder and grind it to powder.
7. Cool and store in a bottle.
8. If you don't use often refrigerate.
It is aromatic and can be used in curries, soups, stews, rolls and cutlets. It is mainly used at the end of cooking chicken curry, mutton curry, beef curry, egg curry and potato curry and covered with the lid because the aromatic flavour linger in the curries.


Roasted cumin and fennel powder
Roasted cumin and fennel powder
Variation
Curry leaves can be added when roasting fennel seeds. 
Wash and wipe the curry leaves.
Heat the same pan after removing the roasted fennel seeds.
Roast curry leaves in very slow fire and mix to the fennel seeds. Grind together and get the powder. 
Cool and store in the refrigerator as we won’t use often as cumin powder.

Powdering cumin seeds and fennel seeds. is ready.                                                                                  

  Recipe follows in detail with pictures.      


             
Cumin seeds

Preparation time:5 minutes
Cooking time: 10 minutes

Ingredients Cumin seeds
                                  100 grams Cumin seeds

Ingredients:
100 grams cumin seeds

Preparation
Clean the residues in cumin seeds. Don’t wash. If you wash you must dry in the sun. It will take 3 to 4 days.

Method 
Heat a pan or wok bring to slow fire put the cumin seeds and roast.
Keep stirring.
Roasted cumin seeds
Roasted cumin seeds
You will see that it get roasted and crispy.
Don’t wait it turns dark.
Remove and cool.
Use a coffee grinder and grind it to powder.
Cool and store in a bottle.
If you don't use often refrigerate.
It is aromatic and can be used in curries, soups, stews, rolls , dips and cutlets. Roasting enhances the flavour.
Roasted cumin powder
Roasted cumin powder

Fennel seeds 

Preparation time:5 minutes
Cooking time: 10 minutes

Ingredients
 100 grams fennel seeds
Fennel seeds
Fennel seeds

Preparation
Clean the residues in cumin seeds. Don’t wash. If you wash you must dry in the sun. It will take 3 to 4 days. You have fennel seeds in brown colour too.

Method 
Heat a pan or wok bring to slow fire put the fennel seeds and roast.
Keep stirring.
Roasted fennel seeds
Roasted fennel seeds


You will see that it gets roasted and crispy.
Don’t wait it turs dark.
Remove and cool.
Use a coffee grinder and grind it to powder.
Cool and store in a bottle.
If you don't use often refrigerate.
It is aromatic and can be used in curries, soups, stews, rolls and cutlets. It is mainly used at the end of cooking chicken curry, mutton curry, beef curry egg curry and potato curry and covered with the lid because the aromatic flavour linger in the curries. Roasting enhances the flavour.
Roasted fennel powder
Roasted fennel powder


Variation
Curry leaves can be added when roasting fennel seeds. Wash and wipe the curry leaves, Heat the same pan after removing the roasted fennel seeds. Roast curry leaves in very slow fire and mix to the fennel seeds.
Roasting curry leaves
Roasting curry leaves




Roasted curry leaves
Roasted curry leaves


Roast curry leaves in very slow fire and mix to the fennel seeds.Grind together and get the powder. 
Roasted fennel powder with curry leaves
Roasted fennel powder with curry leaves
Cool and store in the refrigerator as we won’t use often as cumin powder.



YOU MAY LIKE TO SEE 

Adding the fried green,  pepper and cuminhttps://simplycookingandhealth.blogspot.com/2016/11/easy-and-mild-red-lentils-with-green-di.html
Adding the fried green,  pepper and cumin




Quick stir Fried delicious sausages with pepper and roasted cumin
https://simplycookingandhealth.blogspot.com/2018/09/quick-stir-fried-delicious-sausages.html





Thursday 6 September 2018

Fennel seeds




Fennel seeds
Fennel seeds

Fennel is native to Southern Europe and grown extensively all over Europe, Middle-East, China, India, and Turkey. It has been used as a flavour enhancer since Mycenaean times – 1500 BCE.

It can be used both whole and ground into powder. It has a flavour and aroma closely resembling those of anise seed and cloves. It is used with to enhance their flavour. It is one of the ingredients in the five-spice powder and curry powder. In recipes, only a very small quantity is used. Usually less than half a teaspoon is used in most recipes. If you watch Jaime Oliver’s cooking videos, you will see him using a generous amount in his recipes. 

It is commonly used in breads, sausages, cheese, soups, sauces, marinade for meat, fish or vegetables, salad dressings, coleslaw, meat dishes, stews, casseroles and curries. It is added to poaching or steaming liquid for fish and shellfish. 
Ground fennel seeds is sprinkled over fish or meat. It is used in both sweet and savoury dishes.

Anise, cumin, caraway seeds and dill are used as substitutes for fennel.

To grind fennel seeds into powder dry roast them until lightly brown and grind them in a spice mill. In powder form it loses its strength if kept for long. It is good to make the powder freshly before each use. For curries, temper them lightly in oil. Dry roasting and frying releases the essential oil in the seeds and enhances the flavour and aroma.

In home remedy fennel seed is sometimes used for relieving flatulence and indigestion in. For this purpose, usually it is made into a tea by either boiling it making an infusion by steeping it in hot water for 20 to 30 minutes. Fennel tea can be used as gripe water for infants. In India, seeds are chewed to prevent bad breath and to aid digestion.

Fennel has some medicinal properties and contains some nutrients. There will be no significant values in the very small quantity that we use in day to day cooking.  It has flavonoid anti-oxidants like kaempferol and quercetin, metabolically inert insoluble fibre, volatile essential oil compounds such as anethole, limonene, anisic aldehyde, pinene, myrcene, fenchone, chavicol, and cineole and minerals like copper, iron, calcium, potassium, manganese, selenium, zinc, and magnesium.

Fennel essential oil is said to be a powerful convulsant due to its highly reactive monoterpene ketones. The oils of Fennel seed contain anethole, fenchone, camphene, sabenine, myrcene, limonene, camphor, and several other volatile constituents. Skin contact with the sap or essential oil is said to cause photosensitivity and/or dermatitis in some people. Intake of the oil can cause vomiting, seizures and pulmonary oedema.

Monday 3 September 2018

Cumin seeds

Cumin
Cumin seeds
Cumin seeds



Cumin is an herb. Cumin is native to the Middle East and Egypt. It is widely used in Morocco. Seeds were found in Old Kingdom Pyramids. The Romans and the Greeks used it medicinally. In the Bible, cumin is mentioned in Isaiah 28:27 in the Old Testament and Matthew 23:23 in the New Testament.

Cumin is used to flavour curries, soups and stews. Cumin is an ingredient in the Indian, Mexican and Tex-Mex curry powders. To grind cumin seeds into powder dry roast them until lightly brown and grind them in a coffee mill. In powder form it loses its strength if kept for long. It is good to make the powder freshly before each use. For curries, temper them lightly in oil. Dry roasting and frying releases the essential oil in the seeds and enhances the flavour and aroma.

In Morocco cumin is kept at the dining table in its own container much as pepper is kept in other parts of the world. The seeds of the plant are used to make medicine.

Cumin is sometimes confused with caraway. Many European languages do not distinguish clearly between the two. People also confuse with unrelated Nigella sativa seeds because it is sometimes called black cumin.

In home remedy, people take cumin for digestion problems including diarrhoea, colic, bowel spasms, common cold, asthma and gas. Cumin is also used as a diuretic to increase urine flow. It helps to relieve bloating.Cumin oil is used as a fragrance in cosmetics. It has come narcotic effect and has been smoked in a pipe and taken orally. It is addictive.

In clinical trials, cumin has shown positive results in weight reduction.It is also said to help in burning abdominal fat. It is also known to lower blood sugar level.

World Journal of Pharmaceutical Sciences the prominent medicinal properties of cumin include anti-oxidant, antimicrobial, anti-carcinogenic/anti-mutagenic, anti-diabetic, immunomodulatory, anti-epileptic, estrogenic/anti-osteoporotic, anti-tussive, anti-aggregatory.

In ancient times in India many of the spices were used for medicinal purposes. Then they incorporated some of them as condiment in their cooking.

Side effects from cumin are: heartburn, belching, liver and kidney damage.

Nutritional value of ground cumin is found here in the USDA Nutrient Database. https://ndb.nal.usda.gov/ndb/foods/show/82425?manu=&fgcd=&ds=