You know, i was at a dinner party recently and the ladies started discussing food .. and suddenly I realized that most of us hold a certain ingredient in high esteem
Perhaps ones cooking is incomplete without that ingredient or in other words the ingredient saves you when the dish doesnt turn out to well … and the ingredient builds up a nice taste , aroma etc …
I will share mine .. but please do share yours too .. its always nice to steal some new ideas
Mine is corriander … fresh corriander … it immediately adds the kick into the salan
But if I feel like doing something special I freshly roast the masalas and grind them.. it tastes so much better than the packet-ed or pre-ground ones..
I think it has to be shaan masala for me too…
although I do not use them quite often but it adds that kick to things as simple as daal or channay or aaloo etc…
and now I want some aloo chanany cooked with shaan achar gosht masala…!!
No GTG , I add fresh imli.. like i soak it in hot water for 10 minutes , then i just add one teaspoon imli that includes some imli pulp as well into the kebabs …
For a slight sour chatpatta tang. I add amchoor powder. It always goes into my samosa etc fillings and kebabs - I guess it works in a similar way to CB's imli. Will try that next time.
Also dried methi tastes divine in palak paneer (or any palak dish for that matter), and the black mash daal.
For me it has to be Cajun Spice Mix (In a bottle) with most non-desi stuff. I add a little when cooking chicken/fish/shrimp/pasta...etc. For Desi definitely Shan...any random box I get my hand on.
i have found that sooka dhaniya can really enhance the taste of the salan.. i use the whole ones but you can use the ground version... it really gives that kick.
Oh and Harissa paste - it goes into all my tomato based sauces for pastas/pizzas, I use it on quesadillas, and is great for marinading lamb or chicken for roasts.
not a secret ingrediant, but i add garlic in the beginning with onion so the oil will be flavored with garlic and i add it in the middle of the cooking process for smell and taste. but then i love garlic and don't understand people who don't
I like the smell of zeera and I like the sound of zeera being roasted... I know I am weird!
you add imli in shami kabab or chapli kabab.. I will be making some chapli kabab tonite and I have some imli chutney at home.. is that what you add?
OMG...gem... another zeera lover...hehe....I add it to almost everything including fruit chaat.....and yes me too add it in my pasta sauce. must be a chk thing :-)
.. but please do share yours too 
.. its always nice to steal some new ideas 
… it immediately adds the kick into the salan 
.. if you wanna make anything taste better , specially the kebabs .. just add a bit of it .. and trust you me , it enhances taste so well 
doesnt it make things sweet? 
