Tinned Vegetables

Tinned vegetables do the hard, slow part of Asian cooking. Tomatoes are peeled and softened, mustard greens are washed and simmered for hours, and green jackfruit arrives already cut and cleaned, which saves a sticky hour with an oiled knife. They are as good as fresh for any dish where the vegetable is cooked down, and in winter they are often better than the fresh tomatoes on offer.

The range starts with tinned tomatoes, whole, chopped and as concentrated paste, for makhani gravy, rasam and every onion and tomato masala. Tinned saag and spinach covers sarson ka saag and palak for Punjabi greens and palak paneer. For quick sides and fried rice there are sweetcorn, peas and mushrooms, and for Sri Lankan and South Indian cooks there is jackfruit and Sri Lankan vegetables in brine, including polos, kos, banana blossom, breadfruit and kohila.

Choose by what the dish needs. Whole plum tomatoes hold more flavour and break down beautifully in a long simmer, while chopped tins suit a fast weeknight sabzi. Vegetables in brine are salted, so rinse them in a sieve and season the curry at the end.

All of these belong to the wider tins and ready meals department, next to beans, coconut milk and ready-to-heat curries. Pair a tin of greens with makki atta for makki di roti, or a tin of jackfruit with Sri Lankan curry mixes and dinner is most of the way there.