Scanning the condiments shelf inside someone’s refrigerator door is a bit like reading their diary. It’s an intimate portrait of likes and dislikes, proclivities and pleasures, lined up in an easy-to-reach location for ever flavor need. My collection reveals a craving forheat, an affinity forsweetness, and a slight disregard for expiration dates. It also shows off just how much I like a twist. Countless labels on my condiments shelf boast a little something extra, a tweak to some original recipe. Of all the sauces and spreads in my fridge, the Brooklyn Delhi bottles check the most boxes; in particular, the curry ketchup and curry mustard are reworked classics that have cemented their place in my kitchen.
Brooklyn Delhiis the brainchild of Chitra Agrawal, a chef andcookbookauthor whose work focuses onmanbetx . Agrawal lovesachaars, aromatic and pickle-y condiments that she’d stock up on during every family visit to South India. She couldn’t find any versions around her home in Brooklyn that lived up to the brightness of her souvenirs. After making a few batches herself (and selling out every time she brought them to events and cooking classes), she and her husband, Ben, started Brooklyn Delhi, a purveyor of premium Indian condiments and simmer sauces. Home cooks like me have been the better for it ever since.
While achaars were the first Brooklyn Delhi products to hit shelves—like the cult favoritetomato achaarand bright and savorygarlic achaar—the curry ketchup and curry mustard followed soon after that. According to Agrawal, the inspiration came from an iconic comfort food pairing. “At home we would mix the tomato achaar with ketchup and then dip grilled cheese in it,” she says. “I grew up dipping grilled cheese into ketchup so this was my grown-up version.” The tangy spiced ketchup was so good (“We ate grilled cheese once a week and sometimes more as an excuse to have it,” Agrawal admits) that it kicked off Brooklyn Delhi’s second product line. A mustard to match was the natural next step.
