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Every ingredient opens into the plant it comes from, how it's prepared, and where it belongs.
By plant
Curry leaf tree
Murraya koenigii
Rutaceae
12.0000° N, 76.0000° E · Western Ghats and Deccan, India
Finger millet (ragi)
Eleusine coracana
Poaceae
9.0000° N, 38.5000° E · Ethiopian highlands
Ginger
Zingiber officinale
Zingiberaceae
1.0000° N, 110.0000° E · Maritime Southeast Asia
Green gram (mung bean)
Vigna radiata
Fabaceae
18.5000° N, 77.0000° E · Deccan plateau, India
Pigeon pea (kandi, toor)
Cajanus cajan
Fabaceae
20.5000° N, 84.5000° E · Eastern peninsular India (Odisha)
Roselle (gongura)
Hibiscus sabdariffa
Malvaceae
13.0000° N, 30.0000° E · Sudan and the Sahel
Tamarind
Tamarindus indica
Fabaceae
13.0000° N, 30.0000° E · Sudan and the Sahel
Teff
Eragrostis tef
Poaceae
9.6800° N, 39.5300° E · Ethiopian highlands
Turmeric
Curcuma longa
Zingiberaceae
12.5000° N, 75.6000° E · Western Ghats, India
By technique
Fermenting batter
Idli and dosa batter is left overnight so that the wild yeasts and lactic bacteria that live on the rice and urad dal —…
Grinding batter (wet stone or mixie)
Dosa, idli and pesarattu batters are ground wet: soaked grain and pulse are crushed with a little water into a smooth,…
Popu (tempering)
Popu is the last thing that happens to a dal, a pachadi or a curry, and the first thing you smell. Whole spices are dro…
Ragi sangati hand-rolling
Sangati is ragi flour cooked into rice or water until it becomes one smooth, heavy mass, then shaped by hand into balls…