Vadouvan
A French-Indian blend from Pondicherry, with fried shallots, garlic, cumin, mustard and fenugreek.
Also: French masala, vadavan, Pondicherry curry
Vadouvan comes from the Tamil vadagam, a sun-dried mix of onion, spices and lentil paste, but its French form was shaped in Pondicherry, a French colony until 1954. The recipe combines shallots and garlic, which are cooked and dried with cumin, mustard seed, fenugreek, curry leaf and turmeric, and sold as a moist, crumbly mixture. French chefs adopted it in the late twentieth century to season fish, roast vegetables, chicken and butter sauces. It lends an onion-sweet depth that dry powders lack. The blend is an example of colonial-era spice exchange, where Indian technique met French taste, and has a distinct identity from either.