Made from the skins of dried chilies. It is extremely hot and an essential base for all vindaloo recipes, providing considerable zest and flavor. Please note that chili powder is also known as cayenne pepper. This is to distinguish it from the Mexican 'chili' variety which contains cumin, garlic, and oregano.
Known in India as the "bitter gourd" or "bitter melon". This unusual looking vegetable is regarded highly as an aid to digestion and its ability to cure a wide range of common ailments. It looks like a very knobbly gherkin and has a taste and texture somewhere between a cooked courgette and a cucumber with crunchy edible seeds. A distinctive vegetable side dish .
Sago is extracted from the sago cycad by cutting the pith from the stem, root and seeds of the cycads, grinding the pith to a coarse flour, before being dried, pounded, and soaked.