On Food and Cooking

identities.
The frying in oil or ghee of mixed
powdered spices, often including
turmeric, cumin, and coriander. This step
allows the different aroma chemicals to
react with each other so that the flavors
become more integrated, and is usually
followed by the sequential addition of
garlic, ginger, onions, and other fresh
components of what will become the
sauce-like phase of the dish.
The slow frying of a paste of powdered
and fresh spices, with constant stirring
until much of the moisture evaporates,
the oil separates from the paste, and the
spice mixture begins to darken. Mexican
cooks treat their pureed chilli mixtures in
much the same way. This technique
yields its own unique flavors, since dried
and fresh ingredients (including active
enzymes from the latter) can interact
from the beginning, and moisture from