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Nigella seeds

Seeds

Nigella seeds

Nigella sativa

Small, matt-black, angular seeds with an onion-and-pepper flavour, used on naan and in tempering.

Also called: kalonji, black onion seeds, kalo jeere, charnushka

  • Pungent & sulphurous
  • Herbal & green
  • Earthy
  • No heat
Buying & storing18 recipes

Photo: Afifa Afrin, via Wikimedia Commons (CC-BY-SA-4.0)

Flavour and aroma

onion-like, peppery, oregano-like, slightly bitter. Onion-like, peppery, slightly bitter.

Heat
No heat
Forms
whole

How to use it

  • bloom in fat · Tadka (tempering) technique

    Add to hot mustard oil or ghee and stir for 10–15 seconds until they crackle and smell oniony.

  • use raw

    Sprinkle raw onto naan before baking and into pickles.

  • Sprinkled on naan, breads and simit
  • Panch phoron and Bengali tempering
  • Pickles
  • Sprinkled on cheese and salads in the Middle East

Identifying good quality

Small, matt jet-black, angular teardrop seeds. Not onion seeds and not black cumin, despite both names. Black sesame is flat and oval; nigella is angular.

  • Not to be confused with Shahi jeera (black cumin): Both are called kala jeera; shahi jeera is a long, curved seed.
  • Not to be confused with Sesame seeds: Black sesame is flat, oval and nutty.

Origin and history

Origin: South-west Asia and the eastern Mediterranean.. Grown and used: Grown in India, Bangladesh, Egypt, Turkey, Iran and the Middle East..

Nigella (kalonji) has been used in the Middle East and South Asia for millennia. In Bengal it is one of the five seeds of panch phoron, and across North India and Pakistan it flavours naan, pickles and kalonji vegetable dishes.

Well documented

In masalas, pastes and sauces

Recipes with nigella seeds

8 more