Spice up your winter pantry with smoked paprika

December is my favourite month, and I know I'm not the only one.

- NANDITA IYER

Winter is quietly slipping into Bengaluru, work is taking a back seat, the kitchen garden is in happy overproduction mode, my son's birthday is around the corner, and the calendar starts filling with invitations to friends' parties.And of course, the winter bounty—the produce, the flavours, the dishes—makes every gourmand look forward to the season. Among spices and blends, this is the season when cinnamon, cloves, ginger, chai masala and green cardamom take centre stage in my kitchen. But there's another spice I want to introduce you to this month.

It's a savoury superstar that I rank right at the top for winter cooking. A tiny flavour bomb carrying the lingering aroma of wood-fire cooking and outdoor barbecues.

Say hello to smoked paprika.

Over a decade ago, I would smuggle back bottles of smoked paprika from trips abroad or request kind friends to bring some for me.

It was the only way to get that deep, smouldering, campfire-kissed flavour into my home kitchen food cooked on a stovetop. Today you'll find at least a dozen Indian brands selling high-quality smoked paprika, from sweet to hot to subtly smoked Spanish-style varieties.

This is one of those rare spices that transforms dishes in seconds. Just a dash, and suddenly your food smells like it took far more effort than it actually did.

I'm not a chilli-heat person at all. I love flavour, but I don't enjoy setting my taste buds on fire and drinking a litre of water with my meal to assuage that fire. Smoked paprika brings in all the oomph without the burn, which is why it has earned a permanent position in my kitchen.