Indian Spices?

angie_baby

OK, i really want to be able to cook indian food at home rather than having a takeaway. I know nothing about what spices i will need. I dont want to spend a fortune and when i googled it i came up with loads of them.

What spices are an absolute must? Tumeric? etc?

I only really want to make a simple curry / dahls and bombay pots.

I was thinking so far

tumeric (i have this)
chilli powder
garam masala
corridander seeds/ground
cumin

Are these the basics? Will i need any others?

Thanks, Angie

Catwoman_Kent

Find you local Indian supermarket - they generally sell bags for about 69p each and they hold a lot.

newlywed

The bombay pots recipe I have uses

Cumin seeds
Black mustard seeds

thriftlady_2

I'd add cardomom and fenugreek;)

skyepark

yup black mustard seeds
perhaps asfoetida too or hing

rachbc

I love indian food and have really got into cooking it since getting a couple fo curry books for christmas. Def go to an indian supermarket - buy whole spices and grind your own as they keep longer.

I'd get
cumin seeds
coriander seeds
mustard seeds
paprika
cayenne
tumeric
cinnamon bark
cloves
cardamon pods (green)
dried red chillies
garam marsala

I have an embarassingly large spice collection

LittleMissAspie

Try finding some spice recipes online and buying those. You can change the ingredients to suit your tastes but it gives you a starting point. I have a basic garam masala recipe in a book at home by a British-Indian, I can post it later if you like.

My tip would be to buy small amounts as they do last a long time and we've all got out of date spice jars in our cupboards haven't we. Worst I saw was at Christmas, at my boyfriend's mum's house. She had a jar of coriander I think it was, dated 1999!

DCFC79

If no indian supermarket then try julian graves as they sell spices

Gingernutmeg

Or sometimes the 'world foods' sections of big supermarkets have bags of spices that work out a lot cheaper than the little tubs and pots.

Bargain_Rzl

Why not look at the ingredients for a few recipes you would like to try, and buy the spices you need for those? Then add to your collection as required, when you start to branch out to other recipes. After all, there's no point buying something you might never get around to cooking with.

As others have said, most spices are much cheaper from ethnic supermarkets or the "World Foods" section of some big UK chains (we're talking 200g bags for the same price as a tiny jar from the supermarket's own brand, and half the price of Schwartz). You will find that most items are available in pretty much any ethnic supermarket (not just Indian ones), but there will be the odd one or two which you'll have trouble finding if you can't get to an Indian shop. I live near Peckham where you can buy nearly anything African, Caribbean, Chinese or Turkish, but there are very few Indian people locally so no Indian shops either. I had to go all the way to Brick Lane to find black cardamoms (...edited 2 days later to say that I finally found black cardamoms in a shop in Peckham - Pak Butcher's in the Aylesham Centre next door to Morrisons).

I make a lot of curries these days, and the things I use most of are:

Ground Coriander
Ground Cumin
Ground Turmeric
Cinnamon Shards/Sticks
Cloves
Green Cardamoms
Garam Masala
Black Mustard Seeds
Dried red chillies

Oh yes - and tinned coconut milk. Aldi have it for 47p at the moment.

You will also find that there are certain fresh ingredients which are in nearly everything: onion, garlic, green chillies, root ginger and fresh bunched coriander. Because I make a lot of curries I tend to keep these in the house at all times. (Fresh bunched coriander is much more flavoursome than the potted supermarket stuff, and will keep for up to a fortnight in the fridge with the cut stems in a jug of water.)

Incidentally, the Anjum Anand recipe books are excellent. I am gradually working my way through them!

Skint_Catt

I have;
cumin seeds
coriander seeds
paprika
cayenne pepper
tumeric
cinnamon bark/sticks
cloves
cardamon pods (green)
chilli powder
garam marsala
all from supermarkets

C xx