SAMBAR POWDER

Kerala style. It is coriander-led and more aromatic, with curry leaf and roasted dal in the blend. Tamil sambar powders are generally hotter and leaner on coriander, built to work with a heavier hand of tamarind.

Coriander seed as the base, dried red chilli, fenugreek, roasted dal, curry leaf and turmeric, each roasted separately then milled together. No filler and no preservative of any kind.

They roast at different rates. Fenugreek turns bitter quickly while coriander needs longer to develop its aroma. Roasting everything in one pan is faster but always compromises one of them.

Roughly one and a half to two tablespoons for four servings, added after the vegetables soften and before the tamarind. Freshly ground powder is stronger than a packet, so start at the lower end.

Yes. We mill the blend to order, so the chilli proportion can be dialled down or up at the counter. Households cooking for children usually ask for it milder.

Yes. It is made from spices, dal and salt only, with no animal-derived ingredient and no anti-caking agent.

No. No MSG, no artificial flavour, no colour and no preservative. The flavour comes from roasting the whole spices properly, which is also why it has a shorter shelf life than a supermarket packet.

It is blended and ground in small batches from whole spices rather than produced in a long factory run and warehoused. There is no filler, no colour and no preservative in it, so it smells of the spices themselves - and it has a shorter useful life than a packet, which is the honest trade-off.

Yes, in small batches. Ground spice loses its aroma within a few months, so holding large quantities of a finished blend would defeat the point.