The exquisite, elegant Indian tadka

A casual observer might almost dismiss it as an afterthought a half teaspoon of cumin seeds and a single red chilly briefly spluttered in a little oil and tossed over a dal just before serving It requires neither time nor much attentionYou know exactly what Im talking about because you would have seen your mother do it every day of your childhood though perhaps tadka might not have been the word you heard Depending on your Indian state of origin the word might have been tadka or chhaunk in Hindi torka in Bengali thaalithal in Tamil oggarane in Kannada vaghaar in Gujarati phodni in Marathi and thalimpu or popu in Telugu When I was young I concluded it was all cosmetic and that the dish would probably taste the same even sans tadkaWrong The Indian tadka is a deft act of culinary magic that is as unobtrusive and powerful as it is uniquely Indian Every one of Indias 38 distinct regional cuisines has its own variant of the tadka No other country in the world has anything remotely close The British who must have been as baffled by it as they were that anyone would want to be independent of them dismissed it as mere tempering I officially began to be in awe of the Indian tadka from my late 30s roughly the time when poverty had begun to interest meI was visiting a friend in Kathmandu and her cook from Uttar Pradesh had served a bhendi dish so compelling that conversation came to a complete standstill around the table I later asked him for the recipe and was met with a perplexed look Ive put nothing in it sir he said His nothing turned out to be a mixture of cumin seeds ajwain some hing asafoetida and some green chillies In other words another tadka albeit one I had never heard of I asked more questions and he told me about his farming family back in what is now Jharkhand While both parents worked bentbacked in the fields somehow lunch had to happen as wellA technique evolved of leaving vegetables cooking over a very low fire for hours in hot oil that had already entertained cumin ajwain hing and chillies Poverty permitted no other spices But as it turns out a brilliant tadka requires no other spices My theory is that tadkas work because the high heat of the oil rapidly extracts the inherent umami and other flavours from the condiments and diffuses it through the food I once added just the oil of the tadka and it transformed the taste just as well as the entire thing Also the oil itself is a flavour ingredientThe same tadka mdash say cumin and fennel seeds mdash would taste different fried in coconut instead of peanut oil For the single and employed in a crowded city the tadka is your best friend good for delicious nutritious quickcooking meals 1 Mustard and urad Cuisine Palakkad This classic garnish is commonest in south Indian stirfries known as poduthavals Any vegetable may be used preferably halfboiled Wait till the mustard begins spluttering before adding the urad dal which fries and darkens rather quickly Optionals are curry leaves hing and dried or green chillies This tadka can also be added to curdrice raitas saladsAnything but desserts 2 Cumin ajwain hing and green chillies Cuisine Uttar Pradesh Cumin and ajwain add a new dimension though not a new taste The vegetables evolve as they cook over a slow fire 3 Cumin fennel seeds green chillies ginger Cuisine Rajasthani Marwari The fennel seeds delicate taste degrades on too much browning so be quick and careful This garnish supplemented by black salt and garam masala is the basis of many immersive Marwari curries 4 Cumin mustard fennel seeds fenugreek and nigella seeds Cuisine Bengali This fivespice garnish sits at the heart of Bengali home food Fried in a smidgeon of mustard oil before adding the remaining vegetables or added to the dal before serving it makes the dish instantly immortalThe simplest garnish of all mdash one that Id die for mdash is just cumin browned in ghee I was in Rajgir Bihar where the Buddha had preached In the crumbling circuit house where we halted the toothless claviger stopped watching violins and violence on the old TV set and shuffled off to cook for us Aromas emerged of plain mung dal touched with salt and many tadka kisses from cumin seeds fried golden in ghee diced bottle gourd lauki fried in ghee with hing and cumin and blessed by coriander fairies Finally heaven was served with steaming rice on a cracked old plate I died smiling as I went straight to god PS Please write to me at cygopigmailcom for specific recipesHere viewed from there C Y Gopinath in Bangkok throws unique light and shadows on Mumbai the city that raised him You can reach him at cygopigmailcom Send your feedback to mailbagmiddaycomCatch up on all the latest Crime National International and Hatke news here Also download the new midday Android and iOS apps to get latest updates