Once you have gotten the basic dishes and ingredients under your belt, you may want to play around with recipes that have more unusual ingredients. If you don't have an Indian grocery nearby see my Essential Indian Food post for some good online sources.
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Here is a grocery list for the Indian kitchen when you are ready for advanced cooking:
Spices -- Beyond the Basics
- Anise seed (saumf)
- Asafetida (hing/heeng)
- Carom (ajwain)
- Cardamon, black (kali/bari/bati/big elaichi)
- Chaat masala
- Cumin, ground (jeera), you can always grind the whole cumin you have
- Coriander, ground (dhania), you can always grind the whole coriander you have
- Fennel seeds (saunf)
- Fenugreek seeds (methi dana)
- Mace (javitri)
- Mango, dried powder (amchoor/amchur)
- Nigella seeds, onion seeds, black cumin (kalonji)
- Nutmeg (jaiphal)
- Pomegranate seeds (Anardana)
- Poppy seeds, white (shabdkosh)
- Saffron (kesar)
- Sesame seeds (safed til)
- Star anise (chakra phool)
More Grains, Flours, Dried Deans & Lentils (dals, daals)
- Bengal gram, split and skinless (chana dal dhuli)
- Black chick peas (kala chana)
- Brown lentils (sabut masoor ki dal)
- Green gram, split, with and without skin (with skin: chilka, and without: moong dal dhuli)
- Green gram, whole (sabut moong)
- Black gram, whole (sabut urad/urid)
- Kidney beans (rajma)
- Red lentils, split (Masoor dal)
- White chickpeas (chole/kabuli chana)
For a beautifully written and detailed guide to lentils, beans and pulses see Anushree Shetty's Guide to Indian Pulses, on her blog Simmer to Slimmer.
