Poppy seeds, from the seed of the opium poppy. They are improved by roasting and are used for thickening curries instead of cornflours or other starches.
Poppy seeds, from the seed of the opium poppy. They are improved by roasting and are used for thickening curries instead of cornflours or other starches.
Roasted gram or chickpeas (US: garbanzo beans), channa. Roasted Bengal gram. Darker and smaller than the chickpeas generally available in the West.
Snake gourds are bright green, thin-skinned gourds which can grow as long as 2 meters (6 ft). Since they have a tendency to curl they can frequently be seen with rocks tied to them to keep them straight. They should be rubbed with salt to remove the downy surface of the skin and can then be cut open, the central core of seeds removed and then cubed or sliced for adding to stews and rasams. They do not have a great deal of flavour.
Tamarind. A sour-sweet fruit, sometimes known as the Indian date, used as a souring agent. It comes in long, dry brown pods which look almost like dried broad bean pods. Inside is a long, segmented fruit, like a long brown caterpillar. Each segment contains a hard, shiny black seed. As the pods dry the fruit becomes sweeter. A visitor from Mauritius suggested shaking the tamarind and, if you could hear that the fruit had detached and was rattling a little inside the pod, you would find that the fruit was sweet. All you need to do is to remove the pod and then chew the fruit, discarding the seeds. It is also available mashed and formed into a pulpy block or as a juice. In this form it is used like lemon juice.
