Here's a master shopping list for Indian ingredients. The items highlighted in bold type are the must-haves. The others are meant mostly for diehard Indian food enthusiasts who plan to cook lots of Indian food a lot of the time.
GRAINS:
Basmati Rice
Brown Basmati Rice
Cracked Wheat
Flattened Rice (Poha)
Puffed Rice (Kurmura)
Rava (Cream of Wheat, Sooji)
Whole-Wheat Durum Flour (for chapatis, pooris and other Indian flatbreads)
Millet Flour
Besan or Chickpea Flour
LEGUMES:
Tuvar Dal (pigeon peas)
Chana Dal
Urad Dal
Moong Dal
Masoor Dal
Rajma (red kidney beans)
Chickpeas or chole or garbanzo beans
Matki (tiny little brown beans)
Whole Moong Beans
Chawli (Black-eyed Peas)
Whole Masoor
Peanuts
Vaal (field beans)
Vaal Dal (skin-off)
SPICES:
Red Chili Powder
Paprika
Turmeric Powder
Black Mustard Seeds
Cumin Seeds
Coriander Seeds
Fennel Seeds (saunf)
Ajwain or Carom Seeds
Kalonji or Onion Seeds
Poppy Seeds
Fenugreek Seeds
Sesame Seeds
Saffron
Cardamom pods (green)
Cardamom pods (brown)
Cloves
Cinnamon
Nutmeg
Mace
Black Pepper
Bay Leaves
Whole Red Chillies
Asafoetida or Hing (Not strictly a spice, but it gets clubbed in here because it's used like one)
READYMADE POWDERED SPICES:
Garam Masala
Biryani Masala
Pav Bhaji Masala
Sambar Powder
Rasam Powder
OILS:
Unflavored vegetable oil, like canola or peanut oil
Sesame oil
Coconut oil
Mustard oil
MISC.:
Jaggery (an unrefined Indian sugar that's perfect for Indian sweets)
Tamarind, pulp or pods
Poppadums or papads (rice or lentil crackers that can be zapped in a microwave in an instant to provide a crackly, delicious accompaniment for meals)
Golden raisins
Cashews
Pistachios
Coconut milk
Alphonso Mango Pulp
Kasoori Methi (dry methi leaves)
FRESH AND FROZEN ITEMS:
Curry Leaves
Coriander Leaves
Mint Leaves
Shredded Coconut
Green Chillies
I have just found your website through another, I am so enthused with your recipes. You are my kind of cook. I love Indian food and freshly ground spices, keep most in the pantry...also love Thai food. The fact that its Vegan, I will be sharing your site with many others.
ReplyDeleteThank you for all your effort in putting these recipes down to share...Interested to see your cookbooks? kindest regards, Margaret Lyon, Thermomix Consultant, Qld Australia.
Hi Vaishali, I find your recipes very easy to make and tasty at the same time. I do have two questions for you.
ReplyDelete1. How can I make papads in a microwave? As in, I'm used to deep frying them so I don't know what to do to them in a microwave. Also, will those papads that swell up on dropping into hot oil work them same way in a microwave?
2. We have a facility to reheat food at our workplace. That said, which of the recipes on your blog would be best suited to the lunch box?
Thanks in advance..
Hi Hasita, It's easy to microwave papads and although they don't taste the same as when they are deep-fried, they taste pretty good. I usually microwave papads by just placing them flat on the microwave dish and nuking them at high power for a minute. Keep in mind that some types of papads may take longer-- like the small south Indian appalams take a few seconds more to cook up in my microwave than the thinner, flatter Lijjat papads. You will have to adjust and adapt to your own microwave as you go.
DeleteFor my lunchbox, I typically tend to rely on pastas and prepared rices-- like the curd rice, lemon rice, tomato rice, etc. You can find recipes for all these types of rice and many pastas at Holy Cow! They are not messy, like curries, and they heat easily in the microwave, and they don't get soggy like wraps and sandwiches sometimes do. Hope that helps. :)