Indian

TRS Crushed Chilli is dried red chilli broken into coarse flakes with the seeds left in. Being coarse rather than ground, it gives flecks of heat you can see and pockets of it you can taste, instead of the even warmth of a powder.

Best for

• Finishing pizza, pasta and grilled vegetables
• Chilli oil, marinades and dry rubs
• Tempering, pickles and Indo-Chinese sauces

Using it

Sprinkle it over at the table, or warm it briefly in oil to draw the heat and colour out — fifteen seconds over a low flame is enough, and any longer will scorch the flakes. The seeds carry most of the heat, so give the jar a shake before measuring or the strength varies from spoon to spoon.

Pack and storage

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

Haldiram's Dry Petha is the Agra-style sweet made from ash gourd, candied in sugar syrup and then dried so the outside is firm and lightly crystallised while the inside stays soft and juicy. It is a sweet, not a namkeen, and it is far less rich than a milk-based mithai.

Best with

• Serving after a meal
• Festival sweet boxes and gifting
• Chai in the afternoon

Pack and storage

400 g pack. Store in a cool, dry place and keep the pack sealed after opening.

TRS Rosecoco Beans are dried borlotti-type beans, speckled pink and cream in the packet and an even brown once cooked. They have a smooth, chestnut-like texture and a mild, faintly sweet flavour that suits a long, slow stew.

Best for

• East African bean stews and githeri
• Minestrone, soups and casseroles
• Bean salads, and coconut-based curries

How to cook it

Soak overnight, or at least eight hours, and throw the soaking water away. Simmer in fresh water for 60 to 75 minutes, or pressure cook for 5 to 6 whistles, until a bean crushes easily. They soften more readily than kidney beans, so check early. Salt at the end, and mash a spoonful back in if you want a thicker stew.

Pack and storage

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

TRS Fenugreek Methi Seeds are the small, hard, amber seeds with a maple-like aroma and a pronounced bitterness. This is the 1 kg pack — the size for pickle-making and for grinding your own sambar and rasam powders rather than for occasional tempering.

Best for

• Mango, lime and mixed pickles in quantity
• Homemade sambar powder and rasam powder
• South Indian tempering, fish curries and sprouting

How to cook it

In a tempering they go into hot oil first but for a second or two only — past golden they turn harshly bitter and there is no rescuing the dish. A quarter teaspoon is right for a family-sized pot. For idli and dosa batter, soak a teaspoon with the rice; it helps the batter ferment and gives a softer result.

Pack and storage

1 kg. Store in a cool, dry place, sealed after opening.

Aachi Pav Bhaji Masala captures the iconic buttery, tangy and mildly spiced flavour of Mumbai's famous street food. Use it to make authentic pav bhaji from mixed vegetables in minutes.

• Buttery tangy spice blend for Mumbai Street food
• Balanced spice profile for the whole family
  

Aachi Idicha Sambar Powder is a freshly ground style sambar spice blend with a coarser texture that adds an extra layer of flavour and aroma to your sambar. Ideal for traditional home-style cooking.

• Coarser ground sambar powder for extra flavour depth
• Traditional home-style sambar recipe
  

Aachi Paneer Butter Masala is a rich, creamy spice blend for the beloved North Indian cottage cheese dish. Its tomato, butter and cashew-inspired flavour profile creates a restaurant-quality, mildly spiced gravy at home.

• Creamy tomato-butter spice profile
• Restaurant-quality results at home
  

Aachi Kulambu Chilli Masala is a tangy, bold spice blend for South Indian kulambu (thick tamarind-based gravies). It balances chilli heat with tamarind tartness and aromatic spices for an authentic flavour.

• Tangy tamarind-based gravy spice blend
• Perfect for chettinad kulambu and tamarind curries
  

Aachi Rasam Powder is a South Indian spice blend ground for rasam, the thin peppery tamarind broth served over rice. Black pepper and cumin lead it, with coriander, red chilli and asafoetida behind them, so it tastes sharp and aromatic rather than heavy.

Best for

• Tomato, pepper and lemon rasam
• Seasoning thin tamarind broths and clear soups
• A pinch stirred into dal, buttermilk curries and vegetable stir-fries

Using it

Allow about one heaped teaspoon per two cups of rasam. Bring tamarind extract to a boil with chopped tomato, salt and a pinch of turmeric, stir in the powder and let it boil two or three minutes so the raw edge cooks off. Add the thin water from cooked toor dal, then pull the pan off the heat the moment it froths at the edges — rasam turns bitter if it boils hard once the dal is in. Finish with a tempering of ghee, mustard seeds and curry leaves, and fresh coriander.

Pack and storage

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

Aachi Madras Sambar Powder is a traditional Tamil Nadu-style sambar spice blend combining roasted coriander, cumin, red chilli and curry leaves. It creates the classic tangy, aromatic sambar in minutes.

• Classic Madras-style sambar spice blend
• Made with roasted coriander, cumin and curry leaves
  

Aachi Fish Fry Masala is a crispy coating spice mix that gives fried fish a beautifully spiced, golden crust. Packed with chilli, turmeric and aromatic spices, it is the go-to masala for South Indian fish fry.

• Crispy coating spice mix for pan or deep-frying
• Bold chilli and turmeric flavour profile
• Wholesale tray: 100g x 10 packs per tray

Aachi Dum Biryani Masala is the classic all-purpose dum biryani spice blend, carefully formulated for slow-cooked biryani dishes. Its balanced warmth and fragrance work perfectly with both chicken and mutton biryani.

• All-purpose dum biryani spice blend
• Ideal for slow-cooked chicken and mutton biryani
  

Aachi Special Bombay Biryani Masala captures the tangy, aromatic style of Mumbai's iconic Bombay biryani. Featuring dried plums, potatoes and a vibrant spice blend, it delivers a unique sweet-spicy flavour profile.

• Authentic Bombay biryani spice profile
• Notes of dried fruit and tangy spices
  

Parachute Coconut Oil is 100% pure, natural coconut oil widely used in South Asian cooking and hair care. Cold-pressed for maximum quality. German label included.

Schani Alphonso Mango Slices are premium quality preserved slices of the king of mangoes. Sweet, fragrant, and intensely flavoured, ideal for desserts, milkshakes, and snacking.

Priya Dosa Mix is a ready dosa batter powder of rice and lentil flours: you add water and let it ferment, instead of soaking and grinding rice and urad dal overnight. It makes a standard thin, crisp dosa rather than a thick set dosa.

Best for

• Plain and masala dosa
• Onion and podi dosa
• Weekend breakfast with chutney and sambar

How to cook it

Mix the powder with water to a smooth pouring batter, thinner than a pancake batter, and leave it covered somewhere warm for six to eight hours, or overnight in a cold kitchen, until it rises a little and smells faintly sour. Stir in salt. Heat the tawa until a drop of water skitters across it, wipe it with oil, pour a ladleful in the centre and spread outwards in a spiral. Drizzle oil round the edge and cook until the base lifts away on its own; a dosa that sticks means the tawa was not hot enough.

Pack and storage

500g pack. Store in a cool, dry place, sealed after opening.

TRS Nutmeg (Jaifal) is the whole dried seed — hard, oval and brown, to be grated as you need it. Whole nutmeg keeps its warm, sweet, slightly resinous aroma for years, where the pre-ground kind goes flat within months.

Best for

• Garam masala and biryani masala blends
• Kheer, halwa and milk sweets
• Kebab and kofta mixes, and béchamel

Using it

Grate it on the finest side of a grater, straight over the dish, and stop early — a quarter of a nutmeg is more than enough for a family-sized pot, and too much turns a dish medicinal. Add it at the end for sweets and milk dishes; in a masala blend, break a piece off and grind it with the other whole spices.

Pack and storage

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

Priya Rasam Masala is the ground blend for rasam, with pepper and cumin forward and coriander and dried chilli behind them. Rasam is the thin, sour, peppery broth eaten with rice towards the end of a South Indian meal, and this blend is built for that rather than for a thick gravy.

Best for

• Tomato rasam and pepper rasam
• Rasam rice with a spoon of ghee
• Drinking as a clear broth on its own

Using it

Simmer tamarind water with chopped tomato, salt and a teaspoon of the masala for four servings until the raw tamarind smell is gone, about five minutes. Add thin dal water or plain water, and take the pot off the heat the moment it froths at the edges. Rasam should never reach a rolling boil, which dulls the pepper. Temper mustard seeds and curry leaves in ghee, pour them over, and add fresh coriander at the last moment.

Pack and storage

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

MTR Instant Sambar Mix is a ready mix for preparing sambar, the South Indian lentil and vegetable stew usually eaten with rice, idli, dosa or vada. Unlike a plain masala powder, this instant mix is designed to make sambar preparation quicker by combining the spice blend for direct use with cooked dal and vegetables.

The finished sambar has the familiar tangy, spiced and slightly sour taste that comes from tamarind and the sambar spice blend, along with the earthy flavour of cooked lentils.

How to use

• Cook toor dal (split pigeon peas) with chopped vegetables until soft.
• Stir in the sambar mix along with tamarind pulp or paste, adjusting quantity to taste.
• Simmer for a few minutes and finish with a tempering of mustard seeds and curry leaves in oil before serving.

Pack size: 200g. Store in a cool, dry place.

TRS Green Lentils are whole lentils with the skin left on — dark green-brown, firm, and quite different in behaviour from the split red kind. They keep their shape through cooking instead of collapsing, which makes them as useful in a salad as in a dal.

Best for

• Sabut masoor dal and whole lentil curries
• Lentil soups, stews and salads
• Sprouting

How to cook it

Rinse well and pick over for stones. Soaking is optional but a 30 minute soak cuts the cooking time. Simmer with about 3 parts water to 1 part lentils for 30 to 40 minutes, or pressure cook for 4 to 5 whistles, until tender but still whole. Salt at the end — added early it keeps the skins tough.

Pack and storage

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

TRS Garam Masala Whole is the unground blend — whole warm spices left intact so you can fry them in the oil at the start of a dish, or grind them fresh when you want the aroma at full strength.

Best for

• Biryani, pulao and korma
• Grinding your own garam masala powder
• Slow-cooked meat curries and rich gravies

How to cook it

Heat ghee or oil until it shimmers, add a spoonful of the whole spices and let them crackle and swell for ten to fifteen seconds before the onions go in — that is the whole point of using them whole. Fish out the larger pieces before serving. To grind your own, dry-roast a batch until fragrant, cool completely, then mill and keep in a small airtight jar.

Pack and storage

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

TRS Cinnamon (Dalchini) Powder is cinnamon bark ground to a fine powder — warm, sweet and woody, and ready to measure by the spoon rather than snapped off a quill. Ground cinnamon spreads evenly through a batter or a gravy in a way whole bark cannot.

Best for

• Garam masala and homemade spice blends
• Cakes, porridge and baking
• Masala chai, and rich meat curries

Using it

A quarter to half a teaspoon is enough for most dishes — cinnamon dominates quickly and turns soapy if overdone. In a curry, add it with the other ground spices and fry for only a few seconds before the liquid goes in. Ground cinnamon loses its aroma faster than whole bark, so keep the jar closed and buy in the size you will get through.

Pack and storage

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

Priya Red Chilli Paste is red chillies ground to a smooth paste, ready to spoon into the pan in place of soaking and grinding dried chillies yourself. It carries colour as well as heat, so it goes into the gravy early where both can do their work.

Best for

• Curry and gravy bases that need depth of colour
• Marinades for chicken, prawn and paneer
• Chilli chicken, chilli paneer and Indo-Chinese sauces

Using it

Fry one to two teaspoons in oil with the onion base until the oil takes on the colour and the raw smell has lifted, about a minute. Start low: the paste is concentrated, and it is far easier to add a second spoon than to rescue a dish that has gone past what you can eat. As a marinade base, loosen it with lemon juice and a little curd. Use a clean, dry spoon at every use.

Pack and storage

300g jar. Store in a cool, dry place; keep sealed and refrigerated after opening.

TRS Black Pepper Powder is ground black peppercorn — sharp, woody and pungent, with a heat quite unlike chilli. It is the everyday pepper for seasoning, ready ground so you are not reaching for the mill mid-recipe.

Best for

• Pepper chicken, pepper rasam and Chettinad dishes
• Soups, omelettes and everyday seasoning
• Masala chai, garam masala blends and marinades

Using it

Pepper loses its aroma with long cooking, so add it in the last few minutes rather than at the start. In a tempering, let it hit the oil only briefly. For rasam and pepper chicken, a heavier hand is the point — it is the pepper, not the chilli, doing the work.

Pack and storage

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