How chefs select, source and use masalas

livemint.com:

chaat masala by MDH is the king of all masalas," says Himanshu Saini, corporate chef of the hospitality brand Passion F&B that runs Michelin-starred restaurants Tresind and Avatara. Chef Manish Mehrotra uses it too. Using masalas right is both a skill and an art, and transforms the final taste of a dish.

Saini shares his secret of “opening up" spinach-based dishes. He blends two parts cinnamon and three parts cumin, roasts this mix and grinds it. “Finish a spinach dish with this and taste the magic," he says.

Similarly, asparagus with a pinch of aniseed is a match made in culinary heaven. Blending masalas can be learnt by understanding the science of flavour pairing. For starters, Saini recommends his all-time favourite book The Flavour Thesaurus by Niki Segnit.

Saini, a protegee of Mehrotra, trained with him at Indian Accent. On Indian Accent’s new summer menu is a melt-in-the-mouth duck khurchan served like a taco. It has shredded, roasted, juicy duck meat topped with kala chaat masala that brings out smoky notes—a perfect pairing.

Mehrotra speaks of three distinct types of chaat masalas used in Delhi. There’s kala chaat masala with higher quantities of roasted cumin and a bit of black pepper to impart a smoky flavour, peela chaat masala with distinctive citric notes, and the regular chaat masala. “If you visit Chandni Chowk, you will notice two food areas: one has the famous Parathewalli galli, halwais and Natraj ke dahi bhalle, which are run by Hindus, and the other side has Qureshi kebab, Aslam butter chicken, Kareem’s and they are Muslim-owned.