Kasoori methi is dried fenugreek leaf, and it is the ingredient that makes people ask what is in a dish.

It is a finishing herb, not a cooking spice. Crush it between your palms and add it in the last minute.

It goes into butter chicken, dal makhani, paneer dishes and most north Indian gravies. Slightly bitter, deeply savoury, and the thing that most often separates a home curry from a restaurant one.

Available at Curry Corner in North Melbourne.