The market · Spices · South Asia, East Africa, The Middle East
Fenugreek
Hard, yellow-brown seeds, bitter raw and maple-like once toasted — a key smell in curry powder and berbere.
bitter · maple-like · nutty
What to do with it
PunjabiButter chickenTandoori chicken simmered in a mild, silky sauce of tomato, butter and cream, scented with dried fenugreek.No one here has made it yetGujaratiGujarati kadhiYoghurt thickened with a little gram flour, simmered thin with ginger and chilli, sweetened slightly and tempered with ghee, cumin, clove and curry leaves.No one here has made it yetSouth IndianMasala dosaA thin, crisp pancake of fermented rice and lentil batter, folded around spiced potato and served with sambar and coconut chutney.No one here has made it yetSouth IndianIdliSoft, spongy cakes of fermented rice and lentil batter, steamed in moulds and eaten with sambar and chutney.No one here has made it yetSouth IndianMeen curryFish cooked in a clay pot in a fiery red sauce soured with kudampuli, finished with coconut oil and curry leaves.No one here has made it yetSouth IndianKori rottiA chicken curry of coconut milk and roasted red chilli, poured over crisp, paper-thin wafers of dried rice that soften as you eat.No one here has made it yetSri LankanJaffna crab curryLagoon crabs cooked in the shell in a fiery sauce of roasted Jaffna curry powder, tamarind and coconut milk, with moringa leaves.No one here has made it yetGoes with
Knowing it
- Where to buy
- South Asian grocers.
- Worth knowing
- Toast gently. A few seconds too long and it turns acrid.