Win a copy of Anjum’s Quick & Easy Indian in this month’s challenge!

Thanks to Solange over at Pebble Soup for doing such a brilliant job hosting The Spice Trail in May. If you haven’t seen her Wow! Vanilla round-up yet, do pop over as there are some wonderful vanilla recipes all ready for bookmarking.

This month our featured spice is cumin, which just happens to be a particular favourite of mine and appears in so many of my dishes.

As usual, I defer to the Leon book of Ingredients & Recipes for a little background information on cumin seeds…

Cumin’s origins are thought to be in Eastern Europe and North Africa, where it was very well-loved in the cookery of antiquity, but it now grows rampantly all over Asia. As part of the intercontinental ingredient swap instigated by Colombus, the Spanish took it to the Mexicans, who loved it as one of their own. Cumin is of the parsley family, recognizable by its feathery leafery and umbels of whitish flowers – but it is definitely the bolder cousin with its easily overpowering flavour. That strong, warm aroma sits extremely well with pulses, fish, roast aubergines, grilled lamb, grains, and generally crosses borders and cuisines very easily.

So how do you like to use cumin in your cooking? I can’t wait to see  your ideas. And if the title of Spice Trail champion weren’t incentive enough, I have a fantastic prize for this month’s lucky winner: Anjum’s Quick & Easy Indian, courtesy of Quadrille Publishing.

Anjum’s Quick & Easy Indian is a collection of 80 recipes inspired by Indian flavours, showcasing Anjum’s evolving tastes with the use of surprising ingredients such as chorizo and ricotta.  Anjum shows you how to create a delicious meal in just 20 minutes, with tips on ‘cheat’ ingredients and hints on how to make cooking Indian at home as easy as possible. I rather like the sound of her Vietnamese crab spring rolls and quick masala dosas.

What are you waiting for? Getting cooking with cumin and share your dishes with The Spice Trail!

How to enter The Spice Trail

• Display the The Spice Trail badge (above and also available here) on your recipe post, and link back to this challenge post.
• Up to three recipe links accepted per blogger, so long as they each feature cumin in the list of ingredients.
• Feel free to link up recipe posts from your archive, but please add the information about this challenge to the post and The Spice Trail badge.
• Send your recipe URL to me at vanesther-at-reescommunications-dot-co-dot-uk, including your own email address and the title of your recipe or post. The closing date this month is Monday 30 June 2014.
• If you tweet your post, please mention #TheSpiceTrail and me @BangerMashChat in your tweet and I’ll retweet each one I see.
• As entries come in, links to these will be added to the bottom of this page.
• At the end of the month a guest judge will choose a winning recipe and the winner this month will receive a copy of Anjum’s Quick & Easy Indian, courtesy of Quadrille Publishing.
• The winner will be announced in a monthly round-up of all the entries.
• Entries from bloggers all around the world are accepted, but unfortunately the prize can only be shipped to a UK address.
• All entries will be added to The Spice Trail Pinterest Board.

I’m really looking forward to seeing your delicious cumin dishes. Any questions, please tweet or email me.

June’s entries

1. Crunchy Palak Paneer from Pebble Soup
2. Potato and Onion Curry from Home Cook Food
3. Jamaican Patty Pies from Seasonal Shaheen
4. Split White Gram Lentils from Home Cook Food
5. Raw Mango Curry from Home Cook Food
6. Cumin-roasted Beetroot and Chickpeas from Family-Friends-Food
7. Toor Dal Curry with Spinach from The Taste Space
8. Lamb & Eggplant Light Curry from On The Flavor Road
9. Feta & Courgette Fritters with a Greek Yogurt, Cumin & Mint Dip from Eat Your Veg
10. Vegetable & Chickpea Tagine from We Don’t Eat Anything With a Face
11. Chicken Satay with Peanut Sauce and Coconut Rice from Bangers & Mash
12. Mint-Cumin Roast Lamb with Moutabal from The Lass in the Apron
13. Fabulously Spicy Falafel from Cooking for Kishore
14. Roasted Carrot Dip from Searching for Spice
15. Spice-roasted Butternut Squash and Halloumi Fajitas from Family – Friends – Food
16. Cumin Seed Crackers from Lapin d’or and More