Aachi

Aachi is a Chennai company known across Tamil Nadu and the Tamil diaspora for its masala powders. The brand built its name on blends ground to the proportions a home cook in Chennai or Madurai would use, with generous chilli and coriander and the roasted depth that Tamil curries expect, and it has since grown into pickles and other kitchen basics.

The Aachi range here is mostly spice. Meat and fish cooks have chicken masala, meat and mutton masala and fish masala, while the vegetarian side of the kitchen is covered by sambar powder, rasam powder, kulambu masala and idli podi. There are rice mix powders for lemon and tamarind rice, a shelf of mango pickle and lime pickle, and a spiced sukku malli coffee. Aachi lamp ghee is made for pooja lamps and is not for eating, so it is kept with our pooja essentials.

Tamil cooks use Aachi the way the packet intends: a spoonful of chicken masala into onions and tomatoes browned in gingelly oil, fish masala rubbed over seer or mackerel before shallow frying, or sambar powder stirred into toor dal with tamarind and drumstick. Idli podi loosened with a little oil is the side for idli and dosai. Choose a dish-specific masala when you want the flavour exactly as a Chennai mess would make it, and an all-purpose curry powder when one packet has to do several jobs. Sukku malli coffee, a dry ginger and coriander brew, is a comforting cup on a cold evening.

Ground masalas lose their aroma faster than whole spices, so fold the pack down tight or tip it into an airtight jar kept away from the stove. Open pickles last longest with a dry spoon and a film of oil on top. For other styles of blend, compare Aachi with our full masalas and South Indian powders collections.