Curry Leaf

The key ingredient to this Sri-Lankan-style curry with fatty pork, lemongrass, and fragrant spices? Black peppercorn and lots of it.

This battered and deep-fried potato patty on a bun is the carb-on-carb-on-carb snack of our dreams.

You know it’s fall when all you want to cook is a stick-to-your-ribs braise. Might we suggest these fork-tender short ribs with jammy spiced onions and fresh curry leaves?

Fried urad dal + spices+ pasta + parm = rich and nutty tadka pasta you can conjure up in less than 30 minutes.

Chitra Agrawal took flavor inspiration for this simple dish from her mother’s home state of Karnataka in South India, where thuppa means “ghee” and anna means “rice” in Kannada, the local language.

To make chitranna, which translates to “mixed rice" in Kannada, bright yellow rice, colored with turmeric, is sautéed in oil that's been seasoned with black mustard seeds, curry leaves, chile, the umami-rich spice asafetida, and urad dal and chana dal, two lentils that add a nutty taste and crunchy texture. The dish is finally garnished with fried peanuts, grated coconut, cilantro, and a generous amount of lemon juice, resulting in a symphony of savory, sour, sweet, spicy, and herbaceous notes.

Palya is a classic South Indian recipe usually composed of a single vegetable chopped into bite-size pieces and sautéed in oil that has been seasoned with black mustard seeds, asafetida, chile, and curry leaves. The dish is then finished with lemon juice, grated coconut, and cilantro. This same preparation is referred to by different names such as thoran or poriyal depending on which state in South India you are in. Seasonal produce is preferred, but the combination makes even the saddest of vegetables at the back of your fridge sing. 

Chaas, an Indian buttermilk drink, is reimagined here as a creamy salad dressing seasoned with mustard seeds, cumin seeds, curry leaves, and dried red chiles.

This iconic Gujarati dish is sweet with jaggery, spicy with green chiles, and sour with lime juice. And it’s exactly what you’d eat if you walked into Tailor chef Vivek Surti’s mother’s house in India.

This shakshuka-inspired dish is green because it forgoes the traditional tomatoes and red peppers for spinach and kale.

Leftover basmati rice gets gussied up with earthy fried mustard seeds and curry leaves, sweet caramelized, crunchy peanuts, and spicy chiles.

A mild, aromatic tomato curry loaded with mustard seed, fenugreek, and vegetables—like eggplant, okra, and carrots.

This tadka-topped focaccia is loaded with crispy curry leaves, black mustard seeds, white sesame seeds, and dried red chiles.

The Nellore district in Andhra Pradesh is the epicenter of prawn cultivation in India. I am lucky enough to have family in Nellore and have spent many memorable childhood summers with ammama there. The prawns in Nellore make it to the kitchen literally minutes after they are caught, and really do taste like the sea. The trick to this recipe is to be patient and allow the onions to brown to a deep, caramelized sweetness. It never fails to amaze me that such a simple dish can be absolutely delicio.…

Sinhalese unroasted curry powder is called amu thuna paha (literally, raw three-five). The name refers to the three to five spices that unroasted curry powder traditionally contains. The three essential spice seeds include cumin seeds, fennel seeds, and coriander seeds, and additional curry leaves and/or pandanus leaves, and cinnamon bark.

Enough cannot be said of the Sri Lankan delicacy black pork curry. It is a delicious and truly flavorful dish—every family has their own generational recipe. 

Hot pepper is notably absent from this mixture—unlike curry powder from Madras. Trinidadians like to add fresh hot pepper to dishes, according to taste.

Pol Sambol (like all sambols) is a versatile, vivid relish, given an intense hit of flavour from Maldive fish: smoked, sun-dried tuna, flaked and used sparingly

A light, fragrant and utterly delicious south-Indian-style curry, packed with juicy prawns and tempered with coconut milk.

This particular kadi sauce is based on the Gujarati (Western India) version of a yogurt-based sauce thickened with gram flour (besan). In that region the sauce is sweet and sour.

Frying the paneer in a little oil before stirring it through the masala not only makes it crispy—it also adds loads of flavor.

Rasam, as prepared in most homes in Southern India, uses either tamarind or tomatoes as the base. It is a piquant broth poured over steaming hot rice. In our home—both in Kerala and America—rasam was a staple part of everyday meals. One night when I was a teenager, I was out to dinner with my brother Tom in New York City’s Little Italy and ate mussels cooked in a light tomato broth very reminiscent of rasam. I couldn’t wait to get home, buy fresh mussels, and cook them in rasam. This dish has made its rounds in my kitchens for close to three decades now. Make sure to have some fresh crusty bread to soak up the tomato-mussel broth.