Help with ingredients.

Wyshiepoo

Wyshiepoo

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Hi all,

I'd like to tap into the knowledge of the C Biters collective.

I have a recipe for tamarind beef balti.

Unfortunately one of the ingredients is brown onion seeds.

I can't find brown onion seeds anywhere. I can find seeds for brown onions but not brown seeds. I have, of course, got the black onion seeds so may have to use those.
Does anyone know of brown onion seeds and where I can get them?
 
MrsDangermouse said:
To be honest I've never heard of brown onion seeds as an ingredient.....could it be a mis-translation of black onion seeds?
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Yes, that's my suspicion. Unless it is meant to be brown mustard seeds?

The bit I need the (supposedly) brown onion seeds for is for the par cooked beef that goes into the balti.

The main recipe calls for brown mustard seeds.

I'll put a couple of pics below.
 
77037

77038
 
Wyshiepoo said:
Yes, that's my suspicion. Unless it is meant to be brown mustard seeds?

The bit I need the (supposedly) brown onion seeds for is for the par cooked beef that goes into the balti.

The main recipe calls for brown mustard seeds.

I'll put a couple of pics below.
Click to expand...
That's a good call...it could well be brown mustard seeds. What do the instructions say for the par-cooked meat? If it mentions tempering them in oil then my bet would be on a typo and that it should say mustard seeds not onion seeds. The reason I say that is because I've only ever seen nigella seeds sprinkled on things after cooking or in things that cook quickly eg. naans.....I've never tempered them like you would coriander or mustard seeds, or added them to a stew/sauce.

It certainly can't hurt to try it with mustard seeds.....if they're used in the main recipe then you can be sure the flavour will work fine.
 
Sounds like brown (although we call them black) mustard seeds to me.

I also have never heard of brown onion seeds; unless they're seeds to grow brown onions.
 
No such thing as brown onion seeds as a spice. Its only half a teaspoon and its used in step one. The second step already includes mustard seeds. I'd say it will not really make much difference. Use black or leave them out!
 
Kalonji seeds, or Nigella seeds, are sometimes mistakenly described as black onion seeds. In 40 years of cooking Indian food, I´ve never come across brown kalonji seeds, only black ones. You could certainly use kalonji in this recipe. It´s a wonderful, aromatic spice which would go well with the rest of the ingredients.
Here´s another theory, however. There are two kinds of cumin seeds: jeera (brown cumin) and shah jeera or kala jeera (Black cumin seeds). The latter are gentler in flavour and longer/thinner than the "regular" cumin seeds. Shah jeera was originally only available to the Mughlai emperors and royalty, given that it is slightly more difficult to find than the regular stuff - hence the name Shah.
For some reason which completely escapes me, kalonji and black cumin seeds are also occasionally confused with each other. I´ve just looked on the web for black cumin, and found a brand called Kevala. They offer "organic black cumin seeds" - and they´re not; they´re nigella seeds!
 
karadekoolaid said:
Kalonji seeds, or Nigella seeds, are sometimes mistakenly described as black onion seeds.
Click to expand...

Schwartz call them that. I'd somehow forgotten they weren't really onion seeds - they come from the buttercup family of plants. This now begs the question: why aren't actual onion seeds used as a spice? Maybe they are but I've yet to come across them.


77082
 
Morning Glory said:
Schwartz call them that. I'd somehow forgotten they weren't really onion seeds - they come from the buttercup family of plants. This now begs the question: why aren't actual onion seeds used as a spice? Maybe they are but I've yet to come across them.
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I guess they call them black onion seeds because they look almost identical to actual onion seeds, but its confusing and I bet most people think they actually are onion seeds.

I think the flavour of actual onion seeds would be slightly different? I don't think nigella seeds taste of onion at all, whereas maybe onion seeds do?
 
MrsDangermouse said:
I think the flavour of actual onion seeds would be slightly different
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I agree - although I´ve never tasted nor used them in cooking. It´s really odd that nigella is confused with so many things, especially as it possesses such a divine flavour.I use it in all sorts of dishes, especially naan bread
 
Another question.

How much tamarind paste to use in place of tamarind block/pulp?

2oz/50g of pulp and 75ml water makes how many teaspoons of paste?
 
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