Cumin

Chef Min Thapa is a master of Nepalese cooking, and here he proves it with dishes such as paalungoko saag, where he takes whole spinach leaves, sautées them with caramelized garlic and coats them in a trinity of seeds (fenugreek, mustard and cumin), and in the bhutuwa, where goat is flash-cooked with bell peppers, green chiles, onions and flattened rice. If the peppery biryani is any indication, Thapa is no slouch when it comes to Indian cuisine either. Still, ignoring the Nepalese dishes here is like going to a beer bar and ordering wine. You can do it, sure—but you’ll only be making the point that you should probably be somewhere else.