You either know Vadouvan or you don't. If you've tasted it or smelled it once, you'll never forget it! If you've tasted or smelled it once, you'll never forget it! Its unique, bewitching fragrance will leave you breathless, and its musky, amber, smoky, sweet and salty taste is inimitable.
What is vadouvan?
Vadouvan is a blend of spices, the first part beingonion , shallot and garlic, and the second part spices such as fenugreek, cumin and turmeric. Many say that Vadouvan is the marriage of 17th-century France (Pondicherry) and India. The story is pretty, but it's not true: India didn't wait for us to create such amazing blends. The origin of this blend is indeed southern Tamil India, and it's called vadavam or vadagam.
Vadouvan the bewitching
This mixture is made from large quantities of chopped onions or shallots and garlic, mixed with a paste of fenugreek and lentils (urid / urad), as well as organic spices such as turmeric, cumin seed, cinnamon... The recipes are numerous, but this is the base. Once the mixture has been made, it is placed in hermetically sealed jars and left in the sun for two to three days. After this time, an oil (sesame, coconut or castor) is added and the mixture is formed into balls a few centimetres in size. These are then left to dry in the sun for several days/weeks, so that they dehydrate completely and can be preserved.
The smell is quite overpowering at first (imagine onions and garlic confined in a jar for three days), then becomes more refined day by day, becoming absolutely magnificent after a few days.
This "wet" blend is then used in everyday cooking to flavor many traditional Indian dishes such as sambar. We are currently offering a "dry" blend of Vadouvan Bio.
