This New Book Shares the Farm-to-Table Indian Cooking the World Hasn't Tasted

Plus: a chance to win fresh spices from Diaspora Co.

When you open The Diaspora Spice Co. Cookbook, this line might strike you: “Most grocery store spices are five to seven years old by the time they hit your kitchen.”

And that’s before they sit in your spice drawer for another year or two.

Why does it matter? I asked Diaspora’s founder, Sana Javeri Kadri for the nerdy details: “When you’re thinking about spices, you’re thinking about fat. The oil content of a spice is what you feel on your palate and your tongue. That’s what you taste,” Sana explains.

And here’s the thing: “Your average five-year-old spices will probably have somewhere from 0% to 5% essential oil content or volatile oil content.” Sana aims for spices that are closer to 12% to 14% oil content in lab tests, “making sure that your spices are anywhere from 3 to 10x more flavorful than they usually would be.”

Which means: If you feel like a pinch of the stuff from the jar you got at the grocery store two years ago kinda tastes like dust, you’re not wrong. And if you want to make your cooking really reverberate with flavor, starting with fresher stuff can make a difference.

But as Sana traveled and met more and more spice farmers in India and beyond, she realized she wanted to bring back more than the spices themselves. The food she ate at these farmers’ homes was a revelation: “There are these beautiful cuisines of farm-to-table South Asian cooking that have not been shared with the world, as far as I know,” she says. So she set out with her co-author, Asha Loupy, and photographer Melati Citrawireja to learn as much as she could.

They spent about four and a half months on the road, spread across two years: “We went to 10 states across the length and breadth of India and Sri Lanka. So we went from all the way to Kashmir on the Pakistan/India/China border. We went all the way to the Indian/Burmese border in the Northeast to Manipur, all the way south to Kerala, all the way down to Sri Lanka.”

Everywhere they went, they met “really incredible home cooks who were so passionate about teaching us and who took the time to not just teach us, you know, their family recipes, but teach us technique.”

They handled spaces in ways Sana hadn’t seen before: “They were, like, actually, this is exactly how I need you to almost burn these spices in order to get the depth of roastiness off this spice blend that will then become the really umami base of this coconut curry that would otherwise be mild. But if you burn the spices, then you get this, like, smoky umami richness.”

This week’s episode of The Dinner Plan is full of Sana’s travel stories—she takes us to a women’s market in Manipur, where there were “all of these ingredients and flavors that I’ve never seen before.” That’s where she first encountered mountains of singju, a Manipuri cabbage salad that’s threaded with other fresh greens and crunchy crushed instant noodles.

You’ll find the singju recipe below, but I definitely recommend tuning into the full conversation to hear more travel memories, like the scene at a 32-course wedding feast that basically feeds the whole community all week, and the lively pakora party that luckily didn’t end in an explosion.

Sana also shares some thoughts on what she actually ate during a stretch of burnout, and how she made her way back to the kitchen again.

Win spices + a copy of The Diaspora Spice Co. Cookbook

I’ve got something special for you this week: not only will one lucky subscriber win a copy of The Diaspora Spice Co. Cookbook, they’ll also get an exclusive release six-pack of fresh spices from Diaspora Co.

There are two different ways to enter:

• 🥇 Sign up as a paid subscriber to this newsletter by end of day Wednesday, March 11, 2026. That’s all you need to do. Becoming a paid subscriber also gives you access to the 99+ Dinner Ideas list and this winter dinners edition, plus the full list of every cookbook recommended on The Dinner Plan so far.

• 🥈 Free subscribers can enter too! Just send in a “what’s in my pantry/fridge/freezer right now” voice memo for us to play on The Dinner Plan podcast. An upcoming guest will devise a dinner idea just for you based on what you have around. It’s easy! You can do it on your phone! Follow the instructions here by end of day Wednesday, March 11, 2026.

Giveaway winner will be alerted by Substack DM and email. 18+, U.S. addresses only (sorry!). Giveaway not sponsored or administered by Substack. Ends March 11, 2026.

This send includes affiliate links; commissions from your purchase help to keep this newsletter (and the weekly podcast) going.

Sana mentioned:

• Molly Baz’s Linguine, Zucchini, and Clams

• Carrot top sombol (video)

• • Doud Alle (Roasted Squash and Labne Dip)

• For pozole verde, Sana recommends Steve Sando’s The Rancho Gordo Pozole Book

• Fly By Jing’s Vegan Mapo Tofu recipe (Sana adds pork)

• Meera Sodha’s books, especially Fresh India (Bookshop)

• Molly Baz’s recipe club

• Archana Pidathala’s Five Morsels of Love, especially the tamarind bitter gourd recipe

• Nicola Lamb’s Kitchen Projects and Sift, especially her Princess Cake and sticky toffee pudding.

From the ad break:

• Dirty Labs: Use code THEDINNERPLAN to get 15% off your first order

• Made In Cookware: Head to madein.cc/dinnerplan to unlock your discount offer.

• Find Not from Concentrate wherever you listen to podcasts and at Catherine Smart on Substack.

Maggie mentioned:

• Melissa Clark’s Instant Pot Stock (NYT Cooking; gift link)

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SPONSORED NOTE

Photo: Mackenzie Smith Kelley

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Photo: Melati Citrawireja

Singju / Manipuri Cabbage Salad

Excerpted from The Diaspora Spice Co. Cookbook: Seasonal Home Cooking from South Asia’s Best Spice Farms © 2026 by Sana Javeri Kadri and Asha Loupy. Photography © 2026 by Melati Citrawireja. Reproduced by permission of Harvest, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers. All rights reserved.

Inspired by the Ava Women’s Market | Origin: Sirārakhong, Manipur

Serves 4 to 6

Singju tastes like bhel (the Indian tangy, spicy puffed rice snack) had a delicious lovechild with a nostalgic Chinese American cabbage salad. Cabbage, pea shoots, and instant noodles add three layers of crunch and texture atop a base of roasted and seasoned white beans, and a zingy, nutty dressing pulls it all together.

We first tried this salad at the Ukhrul Ava Women’s Market, the largest entirely women-run market in Asia. The market creates a vital food economy for the Tangkhul community, rooted in wild foraged and locally farmed indigenous produce, and seasonal cuisine.

NOTE: If you’re prepping this salad ahead of time, keep the cabbage, crispy bits, and dressing separate, and toss right before serving to maintain the crunchiness of the bean-ramen mixture.

One 15-ounce (439 g) can white beans
6 tablespoons (90 ml) extra virgin olive oil
1 teaspoon Sirārakhong Hāthei chilli powder
1 1⁄2 teaspoons fine sea salt, plus more if needed
One 3-ounce (85 g) package ramen, preferably Indomie
1 tablespoon perilla or black sesame seeds
3 cups (165 g) lightly packed finely shredded green cabbage
2 cups (50 g) lightly packed pea shoots or sprouts
Juice of 1⁄2 lemon (about 2 tablespoons)
1 teaspoon ground sumac

1. Preheat the oven to 400°F.

2. Rinse and drain the white beans and dry well. In a large bowl, toss
   the beans with 3 tablespoons of the olive oil, the chilli powder, and
   3⁄4 teaspoon of the salt. Spread the beans on a baking sheet and roast, stirring halfway through, until they start to turn light golden, 12 to 15 minutes.

3. Meanwhile, crush the noodles from the package of ramen into big bite- sized pieces and add to the reserved bowl along with the seasoning packet and 2 tablespoons of the olive oil. Discard any sauce packets that come with the ramen, or save for another use. Add this mixture

   to the par-roasted beans, stir, and spread into an even layer. Roast, stirring occasionally, until the noodles and beans are golden and crisp, another 10 to 15 minutes. Let cool completely.

4. While the crispy bits are cooling, heat a tadka spoon or small skillet over medium heat. Add the perilla or black sesame seeds and toast, stirring frequently, until fragrant and starting to pop, 1 to 3 minutes. Grind the toasted seeds into a coarse powder using a mortar and pestle.

5. Add the ground seeds to a bowl with the green cabbage and the remaining 3⁄4 teaspoon salt. Massage to soften the cabbage, 30 seconds to 1 minute. Add the pea sprouts, lemon juice, 1⁄2 teaspoon of the ground sumac, the remaining 1 tablespoon olive oil, and the cooled crispy bits. Gently toss to combine. Taste and season with salt, if necessary.

6. To serve, transfer the mixture to a shallow serving bowl or platter. Sprinkle with the remaining 1⁄2 teaspoon ground sumac and serve immediately.