A vacation pantry

With food travel picking up in the country, local culinary experiences are slowly nudging out historic monuments and hashtag-worthy scenery from many a traveller’s itinerary. In the last four years, every time I travel (#chefontheroad), I try to visit a food region I have not been to before, taking the opportunity to delve into its culinary history, find food gems, explore local markets, and get access to home-cooked meals. I’ve triedtabak maaz(lamb ribs) in Kashmir, discoveredmoras bhaji(a kind of sea purslane that grows wild in Vashi’s mangroves), and cooked with squash blossoms. Along the way, I have experienced the incredible diversity of India’s cuisines — not just from one state to the other, but also nuanced differences within each state. Each of these regions also has its own repertoire of local ingredients, which are indispensable for anyone trying to recreate the recipes at home. Here are some of my favourites for the larder.

Goan palm jaggery (Goa)

While chorizo may be the most obvious choice, Goa’s hidden culinary gem is its coconut palm jaggery. The native sugar — also known as madachem godd or pyramid jaggery — is used to make traditional sweets like dodol and patoleo, and has such complex undertones, it is almost chocolatey in flavour and texture. I like to incorporate it into dessert recipes in the form of salted Goa jaggery ice cream and caramel, and it is delicious.

Kokum (Maharashtra)

Typically used as a souring agent in curries in parts of Goa, Maharashtra and Karnataka, kokum is also great for making amazingly refreshing drinks like sherbet and sol kadhi. Apart from being puckeringly delicious, it is also high in antioxidants and has health benefits like relieving pain, dehydration, allergies, indigestion, and boosting immunity. The fresh form of the fruit is known as ratambe and its outer skin is dried to make amsol or kokum.

Jeeravan masala (Indore, Madhya Pradesh)

The city is known for its lip-smacking array of street food, and I first learnt about this masala during a trip there in 2017. Made with nearly two dozen spices blended together, the masala is used as a flavour enhancer inpoha, dahi vada, pakoda, and the famous bhutte ka kees, a dish made of corn.

Black sticky rice (Shillong, Meghalaya)

The rice from the hills of Meghalaya is, as the name suggests, jet black in colour in its raw form, which then turns a bright purple when cooked. An unpolished, short, slightly fat grain with a lot of starch, it becomes glutinous upon cooking and is typically eaten as part of a meal or in desserts. It also makes for a great salad, and is a nutritious (and delicious) substitute to white rice.

Bandel cheese (West Bengal)

Bandel is a salty, smoky cheese named after the erstwhile Portuguese colony in West Bengal it’s made in. It’s available only in Kolkata’s New Market, where I first came across it about two years ago. It is made with cow milk set with lime juice into small discs and salted so heavily it’ll last without refrigeration for days. It can be eaten as is or added to accentuate the flavour of cheese-based recipes like mornay sauce, bakes and gratins.

Kondattam/Vathal (Kerala/Tamil Nadu)

My favourite part of any Tamil meal is the kondattams, a collective word referring to all kinds of dehydrated foods which, when deep fried, give the entire meal an added layer of crunch. Apart from the usual ones made with vegetables like bitter gourd or string beans, for me it’s the fried curd chillies that are truly special. Stock up on these light souvenirs and have them in your pantry arsenal as a fantastic substitute to papads.

Morels (Kashmir)

Gucchi, the indigenous wild mushroom from the mountain tops of Kashmir, is one of the region’s most prized ingredients. Owing to the fact that it is near impossible to cultivate, these mushrooms, also known as kanagucchi, can range in price from ₹15,000/kg to ₹35,000/kg, depending on their size — with some of the best ones coming from a small village called Kishtvar. When cooked properly, it has a texture strikingly similar to pig tripe, and a very subtle but umami-rich, earthy flavour. While it has always been associated with the cuisine of countries like France and Italy, it is seldom considered an Indian ingredient, which it very much is. Being such a luxury ingredient, it is usually served only at celebratory occasions, like weddings, and is either prepared in a yakhni gravy or paired with paneer, makhana, or even in desserts.

Kachampuli vinegar (Coorg, Karnataka)

The Scotland of India is known for its luscious spread of tropical green landscapes, sprawling tea estates and spice plantations. The cuisine of the Kodavas is remarkably different from the rest of Karnataka, and their most peculiar ingredient is kachampuli, a dark vinegar produced by reducing the fermented juice of a local fruit called gummi gutta. While it is best known for adding that tang to the infamous pandi curry, it has a depth of flavour and acidity that can round out vegetarian dishes as well. It also makes for a great