TAJ

TAJ is a UK frozen food company that packs Indian vegetables and prepared aromatics for home cooks. Its range covers the beans, gourds and everyday flavourings that are seasonal or hard to find fresh, and the bags often carry a recipe on the back, written with Gujarati and North Indian kitchens in mind.

We carry TAJ in frozen vegetables, within frozen vegetables and coconut in frozen. There is finely diced fresh ginger in a resealable bag, with no additives or preservatives as the pack states; whole surti papdi, the flat Indian beans of south Gujarat; and turia, chopped ridge gourd.

Surti papdi is the bean of undhiyu, the winter dish of mixed vegetables, purple yam and methi muthia, and it also makes a simple shaak with ajwain, garlic and green chilli. Turia, called turai in Hindi and peerkangai in Tamil, cooks down in minutes into a soft, mild sabzi with tomato, or goes into dal and kootu. The diced ginger goes straight into a tarka, a pan of chai or a marinade; squeeze the bag to break up any clumps and take what you need. Cook the vegetables from frozen for the best texture.

Keep frozen at -18°C and close the ginger bag tightly after each use. For rotis to serve with a shaak, browse frozen rotis and chapatis, and for a ready blend of aromatics see ginger garlic paste.