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.