Products

MDH Kitchen King Masala is an all-purpose blend for vegetarian gravies, meant to be the single jar you use when a dish has no masala of its own. It is rounded and aromatic rather than hot, so it fills out a gravy without pushing it in one direction.

Best for

• Mixed vegetable and paneer gravies
• Aloo matar, kofta and everyday dal
• Pulao and stuffed vegetable dishes

Using it

Add it once the onion and tomato base has cooked down and the oil has started to separate, and fry it for half a minute before the liquid goes in. Two teaspoons is about right for a dish serving four. It works well alongside a plain chilli powder, which lets you set the heat separately from the aroma. A small pinch stirred in at the end refreshes the fragrance.

Pack and storage

100g pack. Store in a cool, dry place, sealed after opening.

MDH Meat Curry Masala is a dark, robust blend for slow-cooked mutton and lamb, where the spicing has to hold up over a long simmer. It is heavier and warmer than an everyday sabzi masala, with pepper and toasted whole-spice notes coming through.

Best for

• Mutton or lamb curry with onion and tomato
• Goat curry cooked in a pressure cooker
• Beef and other slow-braised meat dishes

Using it

Brown the meat first, then add the masala to the fried onion, ginger and garlic and cook it in the oil for a minute before any water goes in. Three teaspoons suits half a kilo of meat. Pressure cook for four to five whistles, or simmer covered for an hour, then reduce the gravy uncovered at the end so the spices concentrate.

Pack and storage

100g pack. Store in a cool, dry place, sealed after opening.

MDH Pani Puri Masala is the sour, salty, mint-and-cumin blend used to make the spiced water for pani puri. It is built around tang rather than heat, with roasted cumin and black salt doing most of the work.

Best for

• Pani for pani puri and golgappa
• Jaljeera-style chilled drinks
• Sprinkling over chaat, fruit or boiled potato

Using it

Stir about two tablespoons into a litre of cold water with tamarind pulp and a little jaggery, then leave it for twenty to thirty minutes so the flavour comes together. Strain it, add chopped mint and coriander and chill it thoroughly before serving. Adjust tamarind and salt to taste rather than adding more masala, which can turn the water muddy.

Pack and storage

100g pack. Store in a cool, dry place, sealed after opening.

MDH Paratha Masala is a seasoning blend made to go inside or on top of flatbreads rather than into a gravy. It is savoury and lightly tangy, with the carom-and-chilli character that suits dough and potato stuffing.

Best for

• Aloo, gobi and mooli stuffed parathas
• Masala parathas seasoned in the dough itself
• Seasoning grated vegetables before they are wrapped

Using it

For a stuffing, mix about one teaspoon into the mashed potato or grated vegetable for every four parathas, along with salt and chopped coriander. For plain masala parathas, knead half a teaspoon per cup of atta straight into the dough. You can also dust a little over the paratha as it cooks and press it in with ghee.

Pack and storage

100g pack. Store in a cool, dry place, sealed after opening.

MDH Pav Bhaji Masala is the blend behind Mumbai's mashed vegetable bhaji, and it is more tangy than hot. Dried mango and black pepper give it the sharp finish that makes the dish taste of the street cart rather than of a plain vegetable curry.

Best for

• Pav bhaji with potato, peas, capsicum and tomato
• Masala pav and tawa-fried vegetables
• Spiced potato fillings and toasted sandwiches

Using it

Fry it in butter with the onion and tomato until the mixture darkens, then mash the boiled vegetables straight into the pan. About two and a half teaspoons suits a bhaji for four. Keep mashing on a low flame so the masala works right through, and add a small extra pinch with a squeeze of lemon just before serving to lift the tang.

Pack and storage

100gm pack. Store in a cool, dry place, sealed after opening.

MDH Pulao Masala is a gentle, fragrant blend for rice rather than a curry masala. It sits on warm whole spices of the cinnamon, clove, bay and cardamom family, so it perfumes the pot without adding real heat.

Best for

• Vegetable pulao with peas, carrot and beans
• Jeera or matar pulao served alongside a curry
• Light chicken or mutton pulao

Using it

Warm it in ghee or oil with sliced onion for about a minute before the rinsed rice goes in, so the aromatics open up. Use roughly one and a half teaspoons for two cups of raw rice feeding four. Add water at the usual ratio for your rice, season with salt, and leave the pot alone once it comes to a simmer. It is meant to be subtle, so resist doubling the quantity.

Pack and storage

50g pack. Store in a cool, dry place, sealed after opening.

MDH Rajmah Masala is the blend for the Punjabi red kidney bean curry eaten with rice. It is warm and moderately tangy, with enough body to season beans that are simmered long and mashed slightly to thicken their own gravy.

Best for

• Rajma chawal with red kidney beans
• Mixed bean and chickpea curries
• Lobia and other whole-pulse dishes

Using it

Soak the kidney beans overnight, then pressure cook them in fresh water until soft enough to crush, around six whistles. Fry onion, ginger, garlic and tomato, add two and a half teaspoons of the masala for 250g of dry beans and cook until the oil separates. Add the beans with their liquid, mash a few against the pan and simmer twenty minutes so the gravy thickens.

Pack and storage

100g pack. Store in a cool, dry place, sealed after opening.

Pack of 2 × MDH Rajmah Masala 100g.

MDH Sabji Masala is the everyday blend for dry and semi-dry vegetable dishes, built on coriander and cumin with moderate heat. It is the one you reach for when a sabzi needs rounding out rather than a specific regional character.

Best for

• Aloo gobi, bhindi and mixed vegetable sabzi
• Cabbage, beans and carrot stir-fries
• Simple potato and pea dishes

Using it

Add it once the onion and tomato have softened, with the pan still hot, and let it fry for thirty seconds before the vegetables go in. Two teaspoons is about right for 500g of vegetables serving four. For drier sabzis, sprinkle a little extra over at the end and toss, which keeps the aroma sharp. A splash of water stops it catching if the pan runs dry.

Pack and storage

100g pack. Store in a cool, dry place, sealed after opening.

MDH Sambhar Masala is the ground blend for South Indian sambhar, the tamarind-soured lentil stew served with rice and tiffin. Roasted coriander and chana dal give it body, while fenugreek and dried chilli set the savoury, slightly bitter tone.

Best for

• Vegetable sambhar with drumstick, pumpkin or brinjal
• Onion sambhar for idli, dosa and vada
• Rasam and vegetable kootu

Using it

Pressure cook the toor dal separately until soft, three to four whistles, and boil the vegetables in tamarind water. Combine them, add about two teaspoons of the blend for four servings and simmer gently for five minutes so the spices lose their raw edge. Pour over a tempering of mustard seed, dried chilli and curry leaves in hot oil just before serving.

Pack and storage

Ground blend in a sealed pack. Store in a cool, dry place, sealed after opening.

MDH Shahi Paneer Masala is a mild, aromatic blend built for a rich cashew, tomato and cream gravy rather than a fiery curry. Warm spices such as cardamom dominate, and there is very little chilli heat.

Best for

• Shahi paneer in a creamy tomato gravy
• Malai kofta and other mild North Indian gravies
• Vegetable korma-style dishes

Using it

Bloom it briefly in ghee or oil with the onion and tomato base before any liquid goes in, which brings the cardamom forward. Around two teaspoons suits 250g of paneer serving four. Add the cream or cashew paste once the masala has cooked through, then slide the paneer in at the very end and warm it through rather than boil it, so it stays soft.

Pack and storage

100g pack. Store in a cool, dry place, sealed after opening.

Pack of 2 × MDH Shahi Paneer Masala 100g.

MDH Sindhi Biryani Masala is the blend for Sindhi-style biryani, which runs hotter and noticeably more sour than the Hyderabadi version. Chilli and dried souring spices lead, with warm whole-spice aromatics sitting behind them.

Best for

• Sindhi mutton or chicken biryani with potato
• Tomato and yoghurt based meat curries
• Spiced rice layered with fried onion

Using it

Add it at the masala stage, not at the end. Fry onions until deep brown, add ginger, garlic and tomato, then stir in three to four teaspoons for half a kilo of meat and cook until the oil separates. Fold in yoghurt off the heat so it does not split, then layer with par-boiled rice and steam on a low flame. Taste before you add salt, as the blend is already well seasoned.

Pack and storage

100g pack. Store in a cool, dry place, sealed after opening.

MDH Tava Fry Masala is a dry-cooking blend made for food that is seared on a hot tava or shallow-fried rather than simmered in gravy. It leans tangy and hot, and is coarse enough to cling and form a crust on whatever you coat with it.

Best for

• Tava-fried fish and prawns
• Paneer and mushroom cooked dry on a griddle
• Shallow-fried potatoes, okra and aubergine

Using it

Use it as a rub rather than a stir-in. Mix about two teaspoons with a spoonful of oil, yoghurt or lemon juice into a loose paste, coat the fish, paneer or vegetables and leave them for fifteen to twenty minutes. Fry on a hot, lightly oiled tava and turn only once so the crust sets. If you are frying plain vegetables, scatter a little more over them in the last minute of cooking.

Pack and storage

Ground blend in a sealed pack. Store in a cool, dry place, sealed after opening.

Meggle - Butter mit 82% Fett, einzeln gewickelt.

Meggle - Butter mit 82% Fett, einzeln gewickelt.

Metaxa 5 Stars.

Fenugreek leaves are called methi in Hindi, known in German as Bockshornklee. The small, slightly rounded green leaves have a distinctive mild bitterness that mellows with cooking.

They are cooked into methi sabzi or aloo methi with potatoes, added to parathas, and used in a light dal preparation. A small amount is often enough, as the bitterness is noticeable in larger quantities.

How to use

• Pick the leaves from the stems, discarding thick or woody stalks.
• Wash thoroughly, as sand collects easily between the leaves.
• Store in the fridge wrapped in paper or a cloth and use within a few days.