Uses of fennel seeds: 

1.  Fennel goes well with fish
2.  Used in Italian sausages
3.  Found in some curry powder mixes
4.  Used as a digestive
5.  Flavor coffee, sauces and curries
6.  Add a small pinch to café au lait
7.  Used in some pasta sauces
8.  Sauté Fennel Seed with sliced peppers and onion to garnish meats

Fennel, a tall perennial herb, is native to southern Europe and the Mediterranean area. The name comes from the Greek word for "marathon" because the famous battle at Marathon (490 BC) against the Persians was fought on a field of fennel.

Kashmiri Dum Aloo- Baby Potatoes cooked in North Indian Style
Ingredients:
2 lb. baby potatoes (or any small tender new potato)
1 tsp cumin seeds roasted gently and ground into a powder
1 tsp garam masala
3-4 whole red chillies roasted and powdered
2 1/2 cups fresh yoghurt
1 tsp ginger powder
1 tbsp fennel/aniseed seeds crushed
1/2 tsp cardamom powder
4 tbsps mustard oil
6 cloves roasted and powdered
A pinch of asafetida
Vegetable/ canola/ sunflower cooking oil to deep fry potatoes
Salt to taste
Use a pot with a tight fitting lid so that the potatoes can cook in their own steam.
Method:
Mix a teaspoon of salt in a bowl of water (about 3 cups). Poke the potatoes with a fork and then soak in this water for 20 minutes.
Heat the oil for deep frying, on a medium flame. Fry all the potatoes till golden brown. Drain on paper towels and keep aside.
Mix the yoghurt, Kashmiri chilli, ginger, cardamom and fennel powders. Add the potatoes to this mix and keep aside.
Heat mustard oil in another pot on a medium flame. Add the clove powder and asafetida and mix well. Add a half cup of hot water and salt to taste and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low.  Add potato and yogrut mix.  Mix. Cover the pot. . Cook on a low flame for 10-15 minutes. Turn off the flame, remove the cover and add the cumin and garam masala powders, and cover again quickly. Leave for 5 minutes.

Pickled Baby Eggplant served as a side vegetable with Indian meals
Ingredients:
1/2 kg baby eggplant washed, dried and quartered almost to the top
4 tbsps vegetable/ canola/ sunflower cooking oil
2 tbsps mustard oil
2 tbsps garlic paste
1 tbsp ginger paste
1 large onion grated
1 1/2 tbsps fennel seeds
1 tbsp mustard seeds
1 1/2 tbsp onion seeds (kalonji)
1 tsp coriander powder
1/2 tsp turmeric powder
1 tsp red chilli powder
1 tsp amchur powder
Salt to taste
 

Method:
Mix the mustard oil, ginger, garlic, grated onion and all the other dry ingredients in a bowl.
Divide this mix into equal portions to fill all the eggplants. Fill a little into each eggplant and tie tightly with a length of sewing thread to secure (so that the mixture does not fall out). Keep aside.
Heat the vegetable/ canola/ sunflower cooking oil in a pan on a medium flame.
Add the eggplants and cook till done, taking care to turn occassionally so they are done on all sides. Do not stir vigorously or often as the filling will come out.