Ker Sangri

From the Thar Desert of Rajasthan, made from two wild plants — ker (Capparis decidua, a thorny caper bush) and sangri (the dried pods of Prosopis cineraria, the khejri tree, Rajasthan's state tree). Both are foraged, both are sun-dried for storage, both have been Marwari food for at least 500 years. There is no cultivated substitute — outside Rajasthan, this dish cannot really be made.

Made from two Thar Desert wild plants — Capparis decidua berries and Prosopis cineraria pods (the khejri tree, Rajasthan's state tree). Both must soak overnight in salted yogurt water; skip that and it's tannic and inedible.

Dry, dark, wrinkled — a tangle of pencil-thin sangri pods and pea-sized ker berries, with no gravy at all. Sour from amchur and yogurt-soak, smoky from red chili, with mustard-oil pungency. Texture is chewy and fibrous, almost jerky-like. Eaten with bajra roti or rice; a small portion goes far. This is a dish that tastes of the Thar Desert specifically — nothing else does.

Ker and sangri must be soaked overnight in salted yogurt water — this rehydrates them and removes the harsh tannins that make them bitter raw. Skip the soak and the dish is inedible. Cooking is then mostly tempering: hot mustard oil, dried red chili, asafoetida, then the rehydrated berries and pods, then dry-tossed until coated. No water is added at the end — it's meant to be desert-dry on purpose.