Amchur

The acid in chana masala. Lemon would thin the sauce; the powder will not.

Fried first, dusted after, so the sourness lands where you can taste it.

Musk needs acid or it sits heavy; this is the version that adds no liquid.

Two sour notes, one lactic and one fruit, and only one of them is dry.

Roasted brassica goes sweet; the powder is the acid that stops it there.

Dry-fried bhindi: the powder never adds moisture, which is the whole trick.

Raw slices dusted with it read as pickled without twenty minutes of waiting.

Squeaky bland curd; the tart dust is doing the work of a marinade.

Salt, chilli, amchur. Mexico got here with lime and India with a dried fruit.

Ripe fruit dusted with its own unripe self, which is clever or cruel.

Cocoa butter takes the green-mango tartness and leaves the dust behind.