Nuts

Almonds (பாதாம்) – crunchy, protein-rich kernels that work as an everyday snack and as the backbone of South Indian sweets and gravies. These are whole, unsalted almond kernels with a firm bite and a clean, faintly sweet flavour, suited equally to eating raw and to cooking. Soak a handful overnight and the skins slip off easily, leaving the softer, sweeter badam most families prefer at breakfast. In the kitchen almonds carry a lot of weight. Ground to a paste they thicken korma and kurma gravies without any dairy. Slivered and fried in ghee they finish badam halwa, kesari and payasam. Blended with milk, cardamom and a little palm sugar they make badam milk, still the most requested drink at Chennai weddings and festival lunches. Nutritionally, almonds are a good source of plant protein, dietary fibre, vitamin E and monounsaturated fats, which is why they turn up in lunchboxes and post-workout snacks alike. Store in an airtight container away from heat and direct sunlight. In Chennai's humidity, refrigerate if you are keeping them beyond a couple of months: cold storage slows the oils from turning and preserves the crunch. Order online or over WhatsApp, with cash on delivery available.

Chilli cashews (மிளகாய் முந்திரி) – whole cashews roasted and tossed with chilli, for anyone who finds plain nuts a little too polite. The cashew does the heavy lifting here: creamy, slightly sweet, with a clean snap. The chilli coating sits on top of that sweetness rather than burying it, so the heat builds over a few nuts instead of hitting all at once. They are ready to eat straight from the pack, with no roasting or seasoning needed at home. These are evening snacks more than cooking ingredients. They go with tea and coffee, they hold their own next to drinks, and they are the bowl that empties first on a table of mixed nuts. Crushed roughly, they also work scattered over a salad or a chaat where you want crunch and heat in the same bite. Because they are already roasted and coated, keep them tightly sealed: exposure to air softens the coating and dulls the crunch faster than it does with raw cashews. Finish an opened pack within a couple of weeks for the best texture. Order online or over WhatsApp, with cash on delivery available.

Cashew nuts (முந்திரி), W240 grade – our largest whole cashews, the ones to buy when the nut itself is meant to be noticed. In cashew grading, the number counts kernels per pound, so a lower number means a bigger nut. W240 gives roughly 240 kernels to the pound, making these visibly larger and heavier than the more common W320. They are whole, unbroken, ivory-white and unsalted. Size is worth paying for when the cashew is on show. These are the kernels for Diwali and wedding gift boxes, for roasting whole with a little salt and pepper as a party snack, for topping a tray of kaju katli, and for the fried-cashew garnish that sits on top of ghee rice, biryani and payasam. If you are grinding them into a gravy, our W320 or JH grades will do the same job for less. Like all cashews, they bring plant protein, magnesium, copper and monounsaturated fats, with a natural sweetness that lets you cut back on added sugar. Store airtight, away from heat and light; refrigerate in humid weather. Order online or over WhatsApp, with cash on delivery available.

Cashew nuts (முந்திரி), JH grade – our value whole cashew, priced for the kitchens that cook with cashews every week rather than save them for guests. JH is the most economical of the three cashew grades we carry. The kernels are a little less uniform in size and shape than our W240 and W320 wholes, but the flavour, creaminess and cooking behaviour are the same. If the cashews are going into a masala paste, a biryani, a pulao, or are being fried and crushed over a sweet, the shape stops mattering and the price starts to. Use them where cashews are an ingredient rather than a garnish: ground with poppy seeds and coconut for kurma gravy, simmered into cashew paste for shahi dishes, fried in ghee for kesari and payasam, or blitzed into a dairy-free cashew cream. Cashews carry plant protein, magnesium, copper and monounsaturated fats, and their natural sweetness means recipes often need less added sugar. Keep them airtight and away from heat; refrigerate in humid weather to protect the oils and the snap. Order online or over WhatsApp, with cash on delivery available.

Cashew nuts (முந்திரி), W320 grade – the everyday standard whole cashew, and the grade most Indian home kitchens reach for by default. W320 means roughly 320 kernels to the pound: smaller than our premium W240, larger and more uniform than our value JH grade. That middle position is exactly why it is the most widely used cashew in the country. The kernels are whole, unbroken, unsalted and creamy-white, big enough to look good as a garnish and priced sensibly enough to cook with freely. This is the grade for general use. Fry them in ghee for payasam, kesari and sakkarai pongal. Scatter them over ghee rice, biryani and upma. Grind them into kurma and butter masala gravies. Roast them with salt and chilli for a snack. They also make excellent cashew butter and dairy-free cashew cream. Cashews provide plant protein, magnesium, copper and monounsaturated fats, and their natural sweetness often means less added sugar is needed. Keep them in an airtight container away from heat and sunlight, and refrigerate during humid months to protect both the oils and the crunch. Order online or over WhatsApp, with cash on delivery available.

Pepper cashews (மிளகு முந்திரி) – whole cashews roasted with black pepper, a gentler, more aromatic alternative to chilli-coated nuts. Pepper suits the cashew better than almost any other seasoning. It is warm rather than sharp, and it brings out the kernel's natural creaminess instead of competing with it. The result is a nut that tastes seasoned rather than spiced, with a slow peppery finish that lingers after the crunch. They arrive roasted and ready to eat. This is the bowl to put out with filter coffee, with evening tea, or alongside drinks when you want something savoury that is not fried. They also work well crushed over curd rice, sprinkled on a salad, or folded into a South Indian style nut mix with roasted gram and curry leaves. Being pre-roasted, they are more sensitive to air than raw cashews. Keep the pack tightly closed and away from heat, and finish it within a couple of weeks of opening so the pepper stays aromatic and the kernels stay crisp. Order online or over WhatsApp, with cash on delivery available.

Hazelnuts (ஹேஸல்நட்) – sweet, round, distinctly aromatic kernels, best known as the nut behind chocolate spreads and European baking. Hazelnuts taste unlike any other nut in an Indian pantry: buttery and sweet with a toasted, almost cocoa-like aroma that comes forward strongly once they are warmed. Dry-roast them for a few minutes and rub off the skins in a cloth, and the flavour roughly doubles. That single step is worth doing before almost any use. They are a baker's nut above all. Ground, they go into tortes, biscotti and praline. Chopped, they fold into brownies, cookies and granola. Blended with cocoa, they make homemade chocolate hazelnut spread that is far better than the jarred version. They are also excellent simply roasted and salted as a snack, or scattered over coffee desserts and ice cream. Hazelnuts are a source of vitamin E, monounsaturated fats, fibre and manganese. Their high oil content makes them less forgiving than harder nuts: keep them airtight, away from light and heat, and refrigerate in warm or humid weather to keep them from going stale. Order online or over WhatsApp, with cash on delivery available.

Pistachios (பிஸ்தா) – premium green kernels, prized as much for their colour as their flavour in Indian sweets and desserts. These are our unsalted pistachios, the grade to buy when the nut is going into food rather than into a snack bowl. The kernels have the deep green-and-violet colour that makes them the finishing touch on kulfi, kaju katli, badam halwa, phirni and shrikhand, and a sweet, faintly resinous flavour that no other nut substitutes for. Slivered, they garnish; ground, they colour and thicken. Pistachio paste is the base of pista kulfi and pista burfi. Chopped coarsely, they fold into baklava, biscotti and nut-studded chocolate. Unsalted kernels are also the right choice if you are making pistachio milk or feeding them to small children. Pistachios carry plant protein, fibre, potassium and vitamin B6, and are among the lower-calorie tree nuts by weight. Colour is the thing to protect. Keep them airtight and away from light and heat, both of which fade the green over time, and refrigerate in humid weather. Order online or over WhatsApp, with cash on delivery available.

Salted pistachios (உப்பு பிஸ்தா) – roasted and salted, the snacking grade, sold at a friendlier price than our premium unsalted kernels. These are pistachios meant to be eaten as they are: roasted through, seasoned with salt, and ready the moment the pack opens. The roasting deepens the flavour and firms the bite, and the salt makes them the most companionable nut on a table, the one people keep returning to through a conversation. Buy these for snacking, for travel, for guests and for the tea tray. They suit drinks particularly well, and they mix into a nut bowl alongside roasted cashews and almonds without needing any preparation. For cooking, reach for our unsalted pistachios instead. Salt and roasting both work against desserts, where you want clean green colour and a neutral sweetness rather than a savoury edge. Pistachios provide plant protein, fibre, potassium and vitamin B6. Roasted nuts stale faster than raw ones. Keep the pack sealed and away from heat, and finish it within a few weeks of opening for the best crunch. Order online or over WhatsApp, with cash on delivery available.

Walnuts (அக்ரோட்) – rich, earthy halves with a mild bitterness that makes them the most grown-up nut in the pantry. Walnuts do not taste like the sweet nuts around them. The flavour is deeper and slightly tannic, with a soft, oily texture rather than a hard snap. That bitterness is a feature: it is what stops a walnut brownie or a banana walnut cake from tasting one-dimensionally sweet. A light dry-roast tames it and brings out the aroma. They are as useful in savoury cooking as in baking. Chopped, they go into cakes, cookies, granola and halwa. Toasted, they lift salads, pasta and roasted vegetables. Ground with garlic and olive oil, they make a quick sauce. They are also the standard nut in a soaked-overnight breakfast alongside almonds. Walnuts are the leading tree-nut source of plant-based omega-3 fatty acids, and also supply fibre, magnesium and antioxidants. Their oil content makes them the most perishable nut we sell: rancidity shows up as a sharp, paint-like smell. Keep them airtight in the refrigerator, especially through Chennai's warm months, and buy in quantities you will use within a few weeks. Order online or over WhatsApp, with cash on delivery available.