Pantry Glossary

A quick reference for the flours, spices, chutneys and cupboard staples that come up in the recipes and method guides, explained without jargon.

Ajwain (Carom Seeds): Tiny, highly aromatic seeds that taste somewhat like thyme. Cooks work them into doughs for samosa and kachori casings, where they lend a background warmth and are said to ease the digestion of fried food.
Amchur (Dried Mango Powder): Dried unripe mango, ground to a powder, which supplies sourness in chaat masala and in fillings where fresh citrus would be awkward. Its tartness is fruity and different from that of tamarind or lime.
Atta (Whole Wheat Flour): Whole wheat ground fine, with its bran and germ left in, which is what most households use for daily flatbreads and, in certain regions, for puris. Compared with maida it gives a heavier crumb and a mildly nutty flavour.
Besan (Gram Flour): A pale yellow flour ground from skinned, split chickpeas (chana dal). Batters for pakora and bhajiya start from it, as do dhokla, khandvi and the crisp toppings sev and boondi. Beat it thoroughly into the water to prevent lumps, and for steamed batters some cooks dry-toast it first.
Besan Batter Consistency Terms: Recipes here describe batter thickness in three ways: ribbon consistency, where it falls from a spoon in a slow unbroken ribbon; coating consistency, where it thinly covers the back of a spoon; and pouring consistency, where it flows freely like heavy cream. These descriptions are more dependable than flour-to-water ratios alone.
Besan ka Sev: See Sev. This fuller name stresses that the crisp strands are gram-flour based, setting them apart from similar fried garnishes made with other flours.
Boondi: Seasoned gram-flour batter pushed through a holed spoon into hot oil falls as tiny round beads of boondi. Sweetened ones are soaked into desserts; savoury ones crown chaat or are mixed into raita.
Chaat Masala: Dried mango powder and black salt anchor this tart, savoury blend, rounded out by roasted cumin, coriander and other spices. Cooks shake it over chaat, cut fruit and roasted snacks at the end, and rarely stir it into a cooking pot.
Chana Dal (Split Chickpeas): Skinned, split chickpeas, a different ingredient from whole chickpeas (chole). They appear in some fillings and are sometimes tempered whole in South Indian dishes for crunch and a nutty note.
Curry Leaves: Fragrant leaves from the curry tree, crisped briefly in hot oil during tempering in South and West Indian cooking. Cooks use them fresh or dried, and they have no connection to curry powder.
Dahi (Yogurt): Thick, unflavoured yogurt that is beaten smooth, occasionally with a touch of sugar or salt, before it is spooned over dahi puri, aloo tikki chaat or papdi chaat. A firm-set whole-milk yogurt stays thick the longest.
Date-Tamarind Chutney: A thick, cooked chutney in which tamarind and dates (or jaggery) are simmered with spices. Its sweet-sour taste offsets the heat and tang elsewhere on a chaat plate.
Dhania (Coriander): Used for both the seed and the leaf. The dried seeds go into spice mixes, whole or ground, while the fresh leaves (cilantro) are sprinkled on finished dishes and make up the body of green chutney.
Dhokla Batter: A besan batter that is fermented or quickly leavened, steamed into a spongy cake and finished with a tempering of mustard seeds and curry leaves. The gram flour batter guide explains how to handle it.
Garam Masala: A warming blend that usually contains cardamom, cinnamon, cloves and black pepper among other spices. It is stirred in near the end of cooking so the fragrance stays lively instead of fading in the heat.
Garlic Chutney (Dry): A coarse dry chutney in which garlic, dried red chillies and often desiccated coconut are pounded together instead of puréed. It is best known as the filling spread inside a Mumbai vada pav.
Ghee (Clarified Butter): Butter simmered until the water and milk solids separate and are removed, leaving a stable fat with a nutty aroma and a high smoke point. It is used for tempering and in certain doughs.
Ginger-Garlic Paste: A smooth paste ground from about equal parts fresh ginger and garlic. It serves as a base aromatic in marinades, such as the one for chicken tikka, and in some gravies.
Green Chutney (Coriander-Mint Chutney): An uncooked, blended chutney of coriander and mint leaves with green chillies and a sour element such as lime or raw mango. It accompanies nearly all chaat and many fried snacks.
Gud / Jaggery: Raw sugar made by cooking sugarcane juice or palm sap until it thickens and sets. White sugar lacks the deeper, slightly mineral sweetness it lends to chutneys and some spice mixes.
Haldi (Turmeric): Dried turmeric root in powder form, added in small amounts for its colour and a gentle, earthy bitterness. It goes in early, because added at the very end it can taste raw and chalky.
Hing (Asafoetida): A strong-smelling resin, sold powdered and usually cut with rice flour, which turns savoury and almost umami once it has sizzled briefly in hot oil. A pinch goes in at the start of a tempering, especially in dishes made without garlic.
Idli Rava: A coarse grit of parboiled rice milled especially for idli and dosa batters. It is not the same as semolina (sooji), which is made from wheat.
Imli (Tamarind): Sour pulp taken from tamarind pods and sold pressed into blocks, as concentrate or as paste. Cooked slowly with jaggery and spices, it makes the sweet-and-sour chutney on which most chaat relies.
Jeera (Cumin Seeds): Whole cumin seeds are almost always the opening move in a tadka, dropped into hot oil or ghee for a few seconds so their aroma is released before anything else is added.
Kala Namak (Black Salt): A mineral salt whose sulphurous smell comes from compounds found in it naturally, and which is essential to chaat masala and spiced chaat water. Use it by the pinch, not as an ordinary table salt.
Kasuri Methi (Dried Fenugreek Leaves): Leaves of fenugreek that have been dried, then crushed in the palms and stirred in close to the end of cooking. They contribute a faintly bitter, hay-like scent that marks many North Indian gravies and certain tikka marinades.
Khoya / Mawa: Whole milk simmered slowly until only a dense, slightly grainy paste of milk solids is left. It turns up in some festive snacks and sweets and seldom in everyday chaat.
Kokum: The dried, deep purple rind of a fruit used for sourness in parts of western India. Its tartness is fruitier and less sharp than tamarind, and it occasionally features in regional chutneys.
Lal Mirch (Red Chilli Powder): Dried red chillies ground fine, adding colour as well as heat. Regional varieties differ greatly in strength, so the amounts given in the recipes here are a place to begin and not a fixed rule.
Maida (Refined Wheat Flour): Finely milled white wheat flour, low in protein and close to cake flour in feel. Cooks use it for the pastry of samosa and kachori and for bhature dough, where it gives a tender, flaky or puffy result that whole-wheat flour alone cannot deliver.
Momos Dough: A plain unleavened dough of refined flour and water, rolled thin to wrap the fillings of steamed dumplings. It should be supple enough to pleat without tearing, yet not sticky.
Moong Dal (Split Mung Bean): Small split pulses, sold with or without the green skin, that go into savoury pakoras, certain dhokla variations and lighter snack batters.
Mustard Oil: A sharp, pungent oil pressed from mustard seeds. Cooks in parts of northern and eastern India traditionally heat it until it stops smoking before use, which softens its raw bite.
Paneer: Pressed curds from hot milk split with acid make this fresh cheese, which stays firm in the heat instead of melting. It is cut into cubes for grilling as paneer tikka or crumbled into stuffings, with no ripening or starter culture involved.
Papdi: Flour, semolina and oil are rolled into small flat rounds and fried until brittle to make papdi, the foundation of papdi chaat and sev puri. When it is right, it breaks with a sharp crack rather than flexing.
Poha (Flattened Rice): Rice that has been parboiled, pressed flat and dried. It needs no boiling, only a rinse and a short steam, and it gives its name to the breakfast dish while also forming part of some chivda mixes.
Puri (Chaat Shell): Within chaat, this is a bite-sized fried ball of semolina or wheat dough that swells hollow and crunchy, ready to be stuffed for pani puri or dahi puri. The bigger puffed bread served with meals shares the name but is a different thing.
Rai / Sarson (Mustard Seeds): Small round black or brown seeds that crackle and pop in hot oil. They often begin a tempering in South and West Indian kitchens, frequently joined by curry leaves and urad dal.
Rava / Sooji (Semolina): Wheat (durum) ground into a gritty meal, the standard choice for brittle pani puri shells, upma and quick rava dosa. Because fine and coarse milling give different results, a good recipe says which one it means.
Rice Flour: Finely milled rice, used in some dosa and idli batters and to thicken certain chutneys or batters. It acts differently from wheat flour and cannot stand in directly for it in doughs that rely on gluten.
Sabudana (Sago / Tapioca Pearls): Little starch pearls made from the tapioca root, found in sabudana vada and commonly eaten on religious fast days since they contain no grain. They are soaked to soften and should not be boiled.
Sev: Fine, crunchy strands made by pressing seasoned gram-flour dough through a perforated press into hot oil. People eat it as a snack by itself, and it also sits on top of bhel puri and sev puri for crunch.
Tadka / Tempering: The practice of frying whole spices, and sometimes aromatics, for a few seconds in hot oil or ghee so their flavour is released before the mixture is added to a finished or nearly finished dish. The technique guide on tadka covers it in full.
Urad Dal (Split Black Gram): A dense, starchy pulse which, soaked and ground, supplies the lift in idli and dosa batter and the structure of medu vada. Whole and skinned split forms behave differently and cannot be swapped freely.