Take A Shelfie is a new series of posts in which we highlight supermarket products we think are worth picking up.
As chilliheads our version of grocery shopping is coming home with new varieties of hot sauces and pastes in addition to the necessities of daily consumption. Our latest find is Sprig’s trio of multi-purpose chilli pastes (Rs299 each), the Thai nam prik pao, Mexican mole and north African harissa that have, to an extent, simplified our work in the kitchen.
Sprig, which was set up in 2014, is a subsidiary of the Kerala-based Synthite, which produces and exports spices, food colours and essential oils across the world. Unlike Synthite, Sprig operates in local markets in which it sells spice pastes and extracts (such as vanilla), powdered and whole spices, flavoured salts and oils, and cooking sauces. We gravitated to their spice pastes thanks to their festive-looking packaging. The mole and harissa tubes are deep maroon and the nam prik pao container a vibrant orange, colours that correspond to those of the pastes within. While all three tubes are festooned with drawings of peppers, the mole design features an Aztec pattern, and the nam prik pao cover a traditional Thai motif.
Sprig’s vibrant packaging is the bait, but the aroma of the pastes is what hooked us. We got a bold whiff of chilli as we peeled away the foil seal from the tubes. Instead of ascribing a specific recipe or use for the pastes, the company has kept their purpose flexible. The labels suggest that you employ the nam prik pao as a condiment, in curries, stir-fries and salad dressings; that the mole be mixed into soups, sauces and stews; and the harissa slathered on as a marinade or in a sandwich.
Vishal Menon, Sprig’s chief development officer, told us that the three variants are made with a blend of imported chillies. Their nam prik pao, which is to Thai cooking what soya sauce is to Chinese food, is spiked with the prik kee noo pepper. We found that their version of the intensely roasted Thai preserve has more sweetness than heat and adds umami to dishes. The harissa, which combines African bird’s eye and paprika pods and is fragrant with caraway, is the most fiery of the three pastes. It needs to be blended with yogurt to make a marinade, with honey to use as a dipping sauce or with hummus to make it less pungent.
The cocoa-rich mole is flavoured with the holy trinity of Mexican chillies, ancho, pasilla and guajillo. The sticky, savoury paste works better as a cooking ingredient than a taco spread, which is one of the uses recommended by Sprig. Each of the pastes gets our vote mainly because they provide cooking shortcuts. They’re so intensely enriched with spices, chillies and garlic that they minimise the time it takes to do the much-dreaded mise en place of a meal.
Sprig’s mole, nam prik pao and harissa pastes, priced at Rs299 each, are available on Sprig.co.in, Amazon.co.in and at Foodhall, Level 3, Palladium Mall, Phoenix Mills, Lower Parel. Tel: 022 3026 4581. Open daily, from 10.30am to 10pm. Get directions here.