What spices go with yoghurt

The tandoori marinade, and the pairing shows what Kashmiri chilli is for. Carotenoids are fat-soluble, so the colour transfers into the dairy fat and stains the whole marinade red — a hotter chilli could not be used at the quantity that colour needs.

How: Whisked into yoghurt with ginger and garlic, meat marinated for hours

Add alongside: Ginger, Garlic, Cumin

Raita is the documented case and the combination is more specific than it looks: yoghurt is sour and cooling and has very little savoury depth of its own, and black salt supplies both salt and a sulphurous savouriness that reads as depth without needing anything cooked. It is one of the few ways to make a cold, uncooked preparation taste as though it has been seasoned properly.

How: Stirred into raita with cumin and coriander leaf; In salted lassi and spiced buttermilk

Add alongside: Cumin, Coriander leaf

• Add it at the end and taste as you go — black salt is more assertive than its saltiness alone suggests, and a raita can tip from seasoned to eggy in a pinch.

Roasted ground cumin over yoghurt — raita, or simply seasoned curd — is a standard South Asian preparation. Yoghurt's acidity and fat both suit cumin, and the roasting is essential: raw ground cumin in yoghurt tastes dusty.

How: Dry-roasted, ground and sprinkled over at the last moment

Add alongside: Mint, Salt, Cayenne pepper

A marinade base across South Asia: yoghurt tenderises and carries, turmeric colours and adds an earthy depth, and the acidity keeps the turmeric from tasting raw the way it would in a dry rub.

Add alongside: Ginger, Garlic, Chilli powder

Sumac over labneh or thick yoghurt is standard Levantine practice. Yoghurt is already sour, so this is not acid on acid — sumac is fruity and tannic where yoghurt is lactic, and the two sournesses are distinguishable.

Add alongside: Mint, Sesame seed, Garlic

Yoghurt-based marinades and sauces are the Mughlai context black cumin belongs to, and the pairing works because yoghurt is mild and slightly sour and carries a delicate smoky aromatic without competing with it.

How: In a yoghurt marinade for meat; Stirred into a raita or a korma base

Add alongside: Green cardamom, Coriander seed, Ginger

Fat and protein hold the volatile isothiocyanates and release them slowly, which turns a burst into a sustained warmth. It is why wasabi mayonnaise, wasabi cream and wasabi butter all work considerably better than wasabi stirred into a broth, and the same reason dairy relieves the burn when it has gone too far.

How: Whisked into yoghurt or crème fraîche as a dip or dressing; Folded into mayonnaise for fish and potatoes

Add alongside: Salmon, Potato

• The mixture keeps its heat for hours rather than minutes, so season it lightly and taste again later.

Capsaicin is fat-soluble and binds to the receptors that report heat; the casein in dairy strips it away, which is why yoghurt genuinely relieves the burn and water genuinely does not. Serving a very hot dish with raita is not a garnish decision, it is the mechanism by which the dish becomes edible.

How: Raita alongside a dish cooked with ghost pepper; A yoghurt marinade, which distributes and moderates the heat at once

Add alongside: Cumin, Mint

• It works on contact rather than in advance. Drinking yoghurt before a hot dish does nothing useful.

Capsaicin is fat-soluble and binds to the receptors reporting heat; casein strips it away, which is why dairy relieves the burn and water does not. At Reaper concentrations that stops being a serving suggestion and becomes the mechanism by which a dish is edible at all — and a yoghurt marinade also distributes the heat evenly rather than leaving it in pockets.

How: A yoghurt marinade, which moderates and distributes at once; Raita or soured cream served alongside anything made with it

Add alongside: Cumin, Mint

• It works on contact rather than in advance. Drinking milk before eating does nothing useful.