An extremely pungent spice extracted from a plant of the giant fennel family, asafoetida is frequently used in Indian and Middle Eastern cooking. In fact, asafoetida's strong, garlicky, dung-like smell is quite off-putting (the Germans call it Teufelsdreck – devil's dung!), but if you can overcome the stink, which disappears in the cooking process, the smallest amount of it transforms vegetable dishes, meat stews and fish.
Bengali butternut squash with chickpeas
Spicy lentil soup with squash, tomato and green beans (sambar)
Potato and pea curry with tomato and coriander (aloo dum)
Beef chilli flash-fry with yoghurt rice
Indian deep-fried soft-shell crab with lime pickle
Buy it in powdered form rather than chunks, which are hard to break down.
Type the ingredients you want to use, then click Go. For better results you can use quotation marks around phrases (e.g. "chicken breast"). Alternatively you can search by chef, programme, cuisine, diet, or dish (e.g. Lasagne).
