Pantry Essentials

Garam masala is a blend of warm ground spices, usually including cumin, coriander, cardamom, cinnamon, cloves and black pepper. Add it towards the end of cooking or sprinkle over the finished dish, because long cooking dulls its aroma. It is different from curry powder, which contains turmeric.

Kashmiri chilli powder is mild in heat and gives dishes a bright red colour. Regular red chilli powder is usually much hotter and less vivid. Many cooks use Kashmiri chilli for colour in tandoori dishes and curries and a smaller amount of regular chilli for heat.

Keep ground spices in airtight containers away from the stove, sunlight and moisture, and always use a dry spoon. Ground spices lose aroma faster than whole spices, so buy smaller packs you will finish in a few months, and store whole spices for longer keeping.

Knead the atta with warm water, adding it gradually, until you get a soft, smooth dough; a teaspoon of oil helps. Rest the dough covered for at least 20 minutes. Roll evenly, cook on a hot tawa, and puff on the flame or by pressing gently.

Besan is made from split Bengal gram (chana dal), a small, dark chickpea, while many Western chickpea flours are made from larger kabuli chickpeas. They can be substituted in most recipes, but besan is finer and slightly nuttier, which suits pakoras, chilla, kadhi and sweets like besan ladoo.

Keep saffron in an airtight container, away from light, heat and moisture: a small glass jar or tin in a cool cupboard works well. Do not refrigerate, as condensation can damage it. Stored this way, saffron threads keep their colour and aroma for a long time.

A little goes a long way. About 15 to 20 threads (a generous pinch) is enough to colour and flavour rice for four people. Always bloom saffron in warm liquid first; adding dry threads straight to a dish wastes much of their colour and aroma.