The gamboge, sometimes know as fish tamarind, is a bright yellowish-orange fruit with an acid flavour. The segments are cut out and dried until they are almost black. They should be soaked before adding to fish curries or pickles. Sometimes used instead of tamarind to provide the sourness.
Zedoary. This ginger/turmeric-like root with a flavour of unripe mango and ginger is available widely in India and Indonesia, where the leaves an shoots are also used, but hardly anywhere else. The root is dried and then ground into powder.
Indian spinach. This is most likely to be Basella alba, a tropical climbing plant that can grow as high as 2 meters (6 ft), the leaves being harvested as the plant grows and cooked in the same way as spinach or stewed in oil with spices. It is a type of amaranth, which includes many varieties of a sweetish green leafy vegetable known by many different names, including callalloo, elephant’s ear, African/Ceylon/Chinese/Indian spinach, Surinam amaranth, etc.
Ganthoda is a powder made from the rhizome of the Indian valerian plant, a perennial herb which grows to around a meter (3 ft) in height. It’s rootstock is thicker than its stem. It is the roots and rhizomes which are most used. Ganthoda (or ganthola) is often mixed with vinegar and added as a spice in the cooking of both India and China. It can also be added to boiling water to make a tea which may also be flavoured with slices of citrus fruits.Ganthoda is also typically used in powder form and mixed with an equal amount of ginger powder, jaggery and water to alleviate gastric troubles and joint pains.
