Snack masalas
The dry spice mixes sprinkled on snacks, from chaat masala on fruit to chilli-lime on corn.
Also: namkeen masala, dusting spices, seasoning for chips, chivda spice
Snack masalas are blends designed to be dusted on after cooking. Examples include chaat masala on fruit and fried snacks, peri-peri on chips and chicken, Mexican chilli-lime powder, tajin, on mango and cucumber, Old Bay on crab and popcorn, Japanese furikake on rice, and ranch, barbecue and salt-and-vinegar powders in packaged crisps. They tend toward salt, sour and heat, which quickly stimulate the palate. Because they are added dry and at the end, the aroma is immediate. Indian namkeen shops sell mixtures such as bhujia, chivda and sev, seasoned with ajwain, cumin, black salt and chilli, in an enormous variety of regional styles.