The most used spice in our cupboard: its use dates back thousands of years in the Middle East and is used extensively in India (90 % of the world’s supply consumed there) and South Asian in Latin American cuisines. It is earthy and pungent flavor is best kept in seed form and ground right before use.  We toast our first, which takes only about 2 minutes.

Coriander Seed

Coriander sees comes from cilantro plants and are routinely used in Middle Eastern and Indian dishes, although freshly ground or toasted they provide a wonderful addition of light spice and citrus to other dishes. We use coriander frequently in combination with cumin seed when toasting, as demonstrated below.

Toasting Cumin and Coriander– the dry toasting method.

Cumin and Coriander toast at approximately the same rate, although the cumin seed will burn slightly before the coriander so watch those seeds for browning.

Before you  begin have a hot pad and scratch piece of paper to use as a funnel at the ready.

Place the desired amount of seeds in the bottom of a cast iron pan. Turn heat to medium high and begin warming then toasting the spices. Keep seeds moving in the pan as they begin to heat. Once they begin smoking a bit their aromatic oils will be released,  and then it is time to IMMEDIATELY REMOVE SEEDS FROM THE PAN TO PREVENT BURNING (USING THE HOT PAD). Quickly pour the seeds out of the pan onto scratch paper.
Once they  have cooled a moment, place in spice grinder and grind to desired consistency.