• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

MyIndianStove

  • Recipes
    • All Recipes
    • Recipes By Category
    • Best Indian Cookbooks, Food Blogs, & YouTube Cooking Shows
    • Top 20 Indian Dishes eCookBook
    • Almond Flour Chocolate Cookies with Walnuts
    • Indianish Winter Cookies
    • Glorious Chicken Mulligatawny Soup
    • Homemade Potato Roll Recipe
    • Indian-Spiced Kabab Recipe
    • Spiced Crunchy Roasted Potatoes
    • Gluten-free Spiced Carrot Cake
    • 6-Ingredient Indian Mango Custard
  • Articles
    • All Articles
    • About Indian Food
      • About Indian Food
      • Flavors of India
      • Typical Indian Meals
      • Indian Food in 2020
      • Indian Drinks
      • Indian Grocery List for Advanced Cooks
      • Curry Leaf Substitutes & Where to Buy Plants or Leaves
      • Coconut Facts, Substitutes, & Measures
    • Assumptions I Avoid
    • Essential Indian Pantry
    • Indian Cooking Basics
    • Top 20 Most Popular Indian Dishes & Recipes
    • Top 10 Tips for Indian Cooking Basics
    • Take a Look at Our eCookBook
    • 2020 Best of MyIndianStove
    • 10 Things To Do With Leftover Curry
  • Substitutes
  • Glossary
menu icon
go to homepage
  • All Articles
  • All Recipes
  • Free eBook
  • Weekly Digest
    • Email
    • Facebook
    • Pinterest
  • subscribe
    search icon
    Homepage link
    • All Articles
    • All Recipes
    • Free eBook
    • Weekly Digest
    • Email
    • Facebook
    • Pinterest
  • ×

    Home » Articles

    Essential Indian Food and Spices

    Published: Apr 17, 2019 · Modified: Apr 18, 2022 by Alonna

    Learn what ingredients you need to begining cooking Indian food at home.

    One of the secrets of good Indian cooking is a well-stocked pantry. Depending on the dishes you tend to cook, your beginner's pantry list of essentials may look different from mine. But you probably have whole black peppercorns, ground cinnamon, cumin, turmeric, cloves, paprika (sweet not smoked), and whole nutmeg in your pantry already!

    Unsure of a term, see the Indian Food Glossary. And for more beginners' help my Top 10 Tips for Indian Cooking Basics and the 6 Must-Have Indian Kitchen Utensils Online.

    The Essential Indian Pantry
    Start Indian cooking with a well-stocked pantry. Start with the basic spice, lentils, rice, and some canned tomatoes and you are ready to cook some delicious Indian food.
    Jump to:
    • Essential Indian Spices to Get You Started
    • Where to Buy Indian Groceries
    • Storing Spices
    • Aromatics, Fresh and Dried Herbs
    • Refrigerator Staples
    • Pantry, as Needed
    • Grains, Flours, Dried Deans, & Lentils (dals, daals)
    • Here are more articles to help you cook Indian food

    Essential Indian Spices to Get You Started

    • Cardamon, green (choti/hari small elaichi), whole
    • Cinnamon (dalchini), whole and ground
    • Cloves (laung), whole
    • Coriander (dhania), whole
    • Cumin (jeera), whole
    • Garam masala, a spice mix which varies from region to region, and dish to dish.
    • Mustard seeds (sarson),  yellow, black or brown (the darker the seeds, the more intensely flavored)
    • Red chilies or flakes (lal mirch), Kashmiri chiles are not particularly hot and used mainly to add color to a dish. Ground red chili can be found at an Indian grocery, or online in medium or hot versions. Cayenne is a good substitute on the hotter end. If you are heat shy, do what I do when cooking a recipe for the first time and halve the number of chilies called for. Then add more heat at the end of cooking if the dish needs it.
    • Sweet paprika (desi/mithi mirch), not smoked, used for color
    • Turmeric (haldi)

    Where to Buy Indian Groceries

    Since I am cooking for two and like to buy my spices in small quantities, I have found a store in my town that carries good quality spices in bulk. So I can buy as much as I will use in 6 months.

    If you don't have an Indian store nearby, the good news is the grocery stores are carrying more and more basics for the Indian kitchen. Paneer, a good selection of dals, and basic herbs and spices are more commonly carried.

    Buying non-perishables online is also a good option. I most frequently buy harder-to-find ingredients from Amazon, Kalustyans, or Penzeys. Other good sources for Indian food are ishopindian.com, Patel Brothers, and World Spice Merchants.

    Storing Spices

    Spices are best stored in tightly lidded jars, in a cool, dark place. Buy in quantities that you will use in 6 months for ground spices, and 2 years for whole ones. In the ideal world, time and energy permitting, you will toast a small quantity of whole spices and grind as needed. There is a big difference in the end result and may find that the additional effort is worth it. However, I will completely understand, if you are not always living in an ideal world!

    See Advanced Indian Pantry for more spices.

    Aromatics, Fresh and Dried Herbs

    • Bay leaves, dried (tej patta) Indian bay leaves add cinnamon and clove notes to a dish. From the Cassia tree, these bay leaves have a slightly different flavor profile than the more commonly found European laurel bay. If you want to more closely approximate the Indian bay leaf, you could add a small piece of cinnamon bark, but using the bay leaf you have is perfectly acceptable. 
    • Chilies, dried and fresh (mirch) red (dried) and green (fresh) are used for color, heat, and flavor.
    • Curry leaves, fresh (sweet neem leaves, karee patte) curry leaves can be purchased dried, but I encourage you to try to find this aromatic leaf, either locally or found online. They are perishable, but can certainly survive a couple of days en route to your kitchen. If I have more than I can use in a week, I put in freezer bags and take out as needed.
    • Garlic (lahsun)
    • Ginger, fresh (adrak)
    • Fenugreek leaves, dried (kasoori methi)
    • Mint leaves, fresh (pudina)
    • Lemons (neembu)

    Refrigerator Staples

    • Coriander/cilantro, fresh (taaza dhania) if you don’t like cilantro, use flat-leaf parsley
    • Ghee clarified butter, see my Ghee, Glorious Ghee recipe 
    • Ginger garlic paste, this equal measure of ginger and garlic blend is another one of those indispensable ingredients that are used over and over. It is available for purchase but is better homemade. If buying this paste, here are two brands recommended: Laxmi and Swad, both pretty easy to find, if not, buy online. You might consider ginger garlic paste optional, which is fine if you don’t mind making your own for each recipe
    • Plain yogurt (dahi/dahee) is a foundational ingredient in the Indian kitchen. Used for both the sweet and the savory, in marinating meat, and as a drink. Priya Krishna wrote a great article on cooking with yogurt in the online magazine Taste.
    • Tamarind concentrate (imalee)I use the Tamicon brand. Refrigerate after opening

    Pantry, as Needed

    • Avocado oil (makhanphal tael) or other neutral vegetable oil of your choice
    • Cashews (kaju)
    • Coconut oil, virgin (narial ka tael)
    • Chickpeas (kala channa), canned
    • Coconut milk (nariyal ka doodh)
    • Jaggery (gur) is a light brown sugar, with a touch of caramel and smoke. Less sweet than brown sugar, so if replacing with brown sugar, use slightly less
    • Rose water (gulab jal)
    • Tomatoes (tamatar), canned
    • Vinegar, white (sirka)

    Grains, Flours, Dried Deans, & Lentils (dals, daals)

    I don’t recommend that you run out and get all of these lentils. They are listed so that you have different names of commonly used pulses (lentils, dried beans, and peas). It is helpful to know that when a pulse is split it is called dal. And if you have rice, white flour, and split gram dal (urad), that will get you started:

    • Basmati rice, Tilda and Royal brands
    • Gram flour (besan), chickpea flour (gluten-free)
    • Maida flour, white flour (all-purpose works)
    • Chapatti/atta flour, similar to whole wheat flour, but ground more finely

    Start with split pigeon peas as an all-purpose lentil, and then add the others as needed in your cooking.

    • Split pigeon peas/yellow split peas (toor dal, arhar dal/matar dal)

    See the Advanced Indian Pantry for other pulses to gather. 

    For more detailed information about cooking Indian rice, read Nik Sharma’s article in the San Francisco Chronicle. By the way, he has a great blog called A Brown Table and is the author of the new cookbook Season: Big Flavors, Beautiful Food.

    For detailed descriptions of lentils, beans and pulses see Indiaphiles.com. And for a list of more Indian pantry ingredients see my Advanced Indian Pantry post.

    Happy Cooking!

    ~Alonna

    Visit my glossary of Indian food terms for translations you may need:

    English to Hindi & Hindi to English

    If you want to shop online for Indian groceries see my guide to the best online Indian grocery stores.

    Here are more articles to help you cook Indian food

    • Typical Indian Cooking & Meals
      Traditional Indian Food & Meals
    • 6 Must-Have Indian Kitchen Utensils Online
      6 Must-Have Indian Kitchen Utensils Online
    • Free Top 20 Indian Recipes eBook
      Top 20 Indian Dishes eCookBook
    • Top 10 Tips for Cooking Indian Food
      Top 10 Tips for Indian Cooking Basics
    • Facebook
    • Yummly
    • Email
    • Twitter

    Primary Sidebar

    Alonna Smith owner of My Indian Stove dot com
    Alonna Smith, Publisher (and chef!)

    As an adventurous and accomplished home cook, I am having the time of my life, cooking through the many regions of India, learning different cooking methods, and the many ways of using spices, pulses, and creating unforgettable food, if I may say so myself.

    Learn more about us

    Get my free eBook


    My Indian Stove all recipes icon
    MyIndianStove all recipes icon
    MyIndianStove Basics Icon
    MyIndianStove Basics Icon

    Glossary: Hindi-English
    Glossary: English-Hindi
    Substitutions


    Yeah, it is summer!

    • Almond flour chocolate cookies on a cooling rack garnished with flaky salt, chocolate chips and walnuts
      Almond Flour Chocolate Cookies with Walnuts
    • Served with lemon wedges, and spray of fried curry leaves, a beer, on a bed of sliced green cabbage.
      Crispy, Juicy Kerala Fried Chicken
    • Skinless, boneless tandoori chicken thighs on a bed of bell peppers with a side of turmeric yellow rice.
      Easy Grilled Boneless Tandoori Chicken Thighs
    • Two tacos garnished pickled red onions, sliced radishes, cheese crumbles and a flutter of cilantro leaves.
      Indian Fusion Tacos ~ Fillings & Toppings
    • The chicken served in a pita with pickled onions and yogurt sauce.
      Chicken Shawarma Wrap
    • Indian Cucumber Salad (Kachumber) This colorful salad of cucumber and tomato is erved with a sprinkling of peanuts and chopped cilantro.
      Indian Cucumber Salad (Kachumber)

    Trending

    • Tandoori masala powder on a bed of the individual spices.
      Easy Tandoori Masala Powder & Paste From Scratch
    • Served with buttered, toasted buns, a wedge of lemon, and a flurry of cilantro.
      Easy and Comforting  Beef Keema Curry (Indian Ground Beef)
    • A pork masala served in a beautiful red dutch oven. Rich with spices and chilies, this is the curry of your dreams.
      Rich and Tangy Pork Vindaloo
    • Madras Curry Powder finished and in a glass bowl with a small wooden spoon.
      Hot or Mild Madras Curry Powder Recipe
    • A spice tin filled with spice powder with whole spices keeping it company.
      Goan Spice Mix Recipe (Garam Masala)
    • Indian Spaghetti Bolognese a bowl full of bolognese and a fork twirled full of perfectly coated pasta
      Indian-Style Pasta ~ Spaghetti Bolognese

    Footer

    ↑ back to top

    Resources

    • Glossary
    • Substitutions

    Newsletter

    • Get our Free eCookbook
    • Get our Weekly Digest

    Contact Us

    • Contact Us
    • Use Our Content
    • About Us
    • Privacy and Disclosure
    • Copyright

    Copyright © 2022 Alonna Smith