Dried Wild Melon Powder

Kachri is one of Pakistan's less-known culinary secrets — the dried powder of a small wild melon that contains enzymes capable of tenderizing even the toughest cuts of meat overnight. It is used in Sindhi and desert-adjacent Pakistani cooking where cattle were historically lean from grazing on sparse vegetation. Rubbed into mutton or beef before a dum or tandoor cook, it produces fork-tender results without any chemical tenderizers. It also adds a faint, earthy sourness.