Vadouvan is a French-Indian curry blend built around slow-cooked shallot and garlic, fenugreek, cumin, mustard and turmeric, dried and ground to a coarse, savoury, roasted powder. Adapted from the masalas of Puducherry (Pondicherry), the former French colony on India's southeast coast, it trades the bright, dusty punch of a standard curry powder for a deep, caramelised, almost meaty sweetness — closer to a dried soffritto than to a conventional masala.