How To Stock Your Pantry For Indian Cooking - Part 2
If you're wondering how to go shopping to get all the ingredients for basic Indian Cooking, this is the video for you. Learn to identify and stock your pantry with basic ingredients to cook delicious Indian meals. Part 2 of 2.
Step 1: Two Categories Of Spices
In this episode, we’ll show you the basic masalas, or spices, up close.
There are two categories of spices, whole and powdered. Whole spices are put in hot oil to flavor it, and that in turn flavors the food.
Whereas the powdered spices are added directly to your vegetables or meats.
Step 2: Whole Spices
In the whole spice category, we first have mustard seeds, also known as rai.
Next we have cumin seeds. This is also known as jeera.
Next, fenugreek seeds, or methi. It’s one of those few spices that must be used sparingly, because of its bitter yet unique flavor.
These are cloves, or laung. They provide a strong and spicy flavor.
Next comes cinnamon sticks, also known as dalchini.
Next we have cardamom, or elaichi. This is the green variety. The flavor mainly is in the seeds, so if you’re going to use the powdered version, you need to remove the shell and powder the insides.
Then there's black cardamom, also known as bade elaichi.
These are whole dried red chilis.
And last but not least, we have the bay leaves.
Step 3: Powdered Spices
So now we’ll start with the powdered spices.
First we have red chili powder. This is used mainly for spicing up your dish, and it also adds a lot of color.
Turmeric powder, also known as haldi. It’s got a beautiful color and a lot of medicinal properties.
This is asofoetida, also known as hing. This is another one of those spices where you have to use it very sparingly because of its strong, unique flavor.
Here is coriander powder, also known as dhania. It’s made from the seed of the cilantro plant.
This is cumin powder, also known as jeera. It has a very strong and smoky flavor.
Garam masala literally translates to “hot spice,” and this is a combination of many different spices put together.
This is dried mango powder, or amchoor. It’s used to give your dishes a nice tart flavor.
And finally we have chat masala. This is one of my favorites and it’s again a combination of different masalas and different spices.
Step 4: Spice Up Your Life
Our objective was to show you and familiarize you with some of the basic items.
Needless to say every item has its own unique flavor, texture, and purpose.
And if you’d like to know more, please visit our glossary page on our website.
Join us again on another episode of Show Me the Curry.com
Adding a pinch of spice to your life!
