spice, spice, lady

ASAFOETIDA

Asafoetida is a dried resin extracted from the taproot of a flowering perennial herb that is native to Iran and Afghanistan, but it’s far more commonly used in Indian dishes. And hold your nose: this is one pungent piece of work.

It goes by quite a few names: hing, perungayam, jowani badian and stink finger. Yep, that’s right: stink finger. That’s what folks called it when Alexander the Great was carrying it around in 400 BC—and that’s only mildly less confronting than its French name: merde du Diable (devil’s shit). Did we mention it smells to high heaven? Yeah, it really does. (That might be why it’s also known as ‘food of the gods’.) POINT IS, yes, asafoetida stanks. It stanks like rotting onions and sulphur and rancid nightmares. But—and please, you gotta trust us on this—it tastes amazing. For real—it brings a totally awesome flavour to your cooking.

Moderation is key: Crush it down from a lump to a powder and add it in tiny quantities to frying oil, cooking stock or water. The harsh aroma will dissipate, leaving behind a strong onion/garlic-like flavour that is particularly well suited to fish and vegetarian dishes. You can also use it to season pappadums, and some people like to add it to lentil dishes in an effort to … how shall we put this … reduce flatulence.

As a traditional medicine, asafoetida has been used to help relieve respiratory conditions like asthma and bronchitis: a chunk of the resin, or a lump of it mixed into a paste, would be hung in a small bag around a sick child’s neck. Though whether any relief was due to a true pharmacological effect rather than the sheer physical effort of trying to cough a vile smell out of the lungs remains unclear.

BAY LEAF

(TEZPATTA)

Ahh, the beloved bay leaf. I defy you to find a more controversial ‘key ingredient’. Its detractors will tell you that bay leaves are bullshit, that they are little more than flavourless leaf litter, that you could float a strip of old cardboard through your curry instead and none would be the wiser! These people are wrong. The bay leaf is a blessing. You absolutely need it in your kitchen. But, first of all, let’s make sure you’ve got the right one.

There are several varieties of bay leaf out there (all are aromatic laurel leaves). You’ll probably be more familiar with the regular European variety, but we’re talking about the very different Indian bay leaf, or Cinnamomum tamala—which, as the name may suggest, has more of a cinnamon-style flavour.

The Indian bay leaf is also known as tejpat, tejpatta (or tezpatta), Indian bark, Indian cassia, cinnamon leaf, Malabar leaf and malabathrum. You can easily tell it apart from the more commonly available European products: the Indian bay leaf is much longer and wider, and it has three veins running down it. Indian bay leaves are widely used across India, Nepal and Bhutan, but they’re especially common in North Indian dishes, biryanis and kormas. You’ll find the leaves both fresh and dried (and occasionally in powder form—but if you can’t