Living in Dhaka can become tedious. The average food is barely worth mentioning and cravings for homemade food arises more often than we'd like to admit. What if you had the option to help yourself to your favourite dish, homemade and prepared with all the care and the best ingredients available?

Cumin by Three Sisters

'Cumin by Three Sisters' is a homemade food business that started with three sisters who were loathing the confines of lockdown during the pandemic and decided to start something that they would enjoy. Cooking delicacies has always been appealing to them and inspired by the eldest sibling, they launched Cumin in the November of 2020.

Out of ten siblings, the three sisters began their journey taking inspiration from their friends and family members. The eldest, Nazma Begum had the inspiration for Cumin to begin with and the younger sister Parveen Sultana and the youngest sister, Sharmin Sultana, eventually formed the trinity for Cumin which is one of the most top-rated names on Cookups presently. While all three of them are fashion designers, they are having a blast cooking exquisite dishes and sharing them with others through Cumin.

The name cumin was obviously inspired by the spice itself. But why cumin and not something else? "Cumin is one of the most commonly used ingredients in cooking. It's frequently used in our Indian subcontinent and even in the west, it's almost like a constant ingredient, much like salt and pepper so we decided to take inspiration from cumin's universality," said Nazma Begum, the eldest sister who can identify the ingredients of a dish and later recreate it just from the taste.

The dishes

Celebrated American chef Thomas Keller once said, "A recipe has no soul. You, as the cook, must bring soul to the recipe," and the combined efforts of the three sisters seem to be doing that pretty well with Cumin. You can tell by tasting any of their dish. Take the Doi Bora for example. If you take one bite, you will be compelled to take another, and then another.

Their signature dishes include, but are not limited to, Badshahi beef nehari, shahi tukra, shahi malai jorda, shahi morog pulao, kabab platter, keema polao and a Ramadan special: suta kabab. Considering treating yourself to some quality homemade food? Take your pick from Cumin's menu. What's even more interesting is that if you do not see your favourite dish in the menu, you can contact them and ask them to make your favourite dish and they will deliver.

There are also a number of dessert items such as caramel pudding, shahi firni, kunafa and many more. The vibrant presentation of the dishes can only be overdone by their palatable taste.

One can order from Cookups or through their Facebook page. Recently, they reached an agreement with Foodpanda as well.

The quality

While it is true that Cumin started recently, they have gathered quite some experience already. Every day, there are orders of their signature dishes and during Ramadan, the demand increases significantly. They have already handled some big orders where they had to serve more than 1500 portions every day for an entire month. If you require any specific dish for festivities like a small home centred wedding (or gaye holud platter) or whatnot, cumin can prepare the platters according to your need.

It is insisted that you place your order at least 24 hours before you expect the delivery because they use fresh ingredients and they will collect and use only the best ingredients for your dish. For example, they collect ghee from Narayanganj, direct from the source. Some rare ingredients and spices are also imported from Canada and Dubai. Ingredients such as yoghurt can go bad overnight and Cumin will only use freshly collected ones for your dish. And even though they keep saying "Quality over quantity," their portion size is more than agreeable. 

If you are craving some homemade delicacies, why not try one of Cumin's signature dishes or platters for an indulging meal?

For more information or to order, visit their Facebook page: www.facebook.com/CuminBD2020

Photo: Cumin