Previous
Hot! You see, because the spices are hot and because the prices are really good. Not funny? Too bad.
What’s also not funny is paying $4 for a 1- or 2-ounce bottle of cumin at the grocery store when you can get 7 ounces for the same price at the local Indian market, next to the Taste of India restaurant on Academy. (Their food is greasy but passable. Use the market to make it yourself instead, in my opinion.) That tin of curry powder? Only $6 for 15 ounces. You can’t get that price anywhere else. Except maybe India, but according to Expedia, that would cost me just over $2,000 round trip if I left tomorrow. Darn it.
The other spice on display are black mustard seeds, cumin seeds, tumeric and hulled red lentils. (The red lentils are often hard to find at the grocery or the Whole Foods.) Seeing that I cook a lot of Indian — not sure how that came about, but we love it — here’s the Indian spices I usually have in my cabinet, in case you were wondering:
- Cumin, ground and whole seeds
- Garam masala
- Red pepper (not as spicy as cayenne, so I keep both on hand)
- Tumeric
- Ground coriander
- Cardomom pods
- Curry powder
- Saffron
- Cinnamon
- Mustard seeds
Once you have these basic tools under your belt and in your cabinet, very few Indian recipes can intimidate you. Links to some of my previously posted Indian recipes:
- Ghee
- Chicken Masala and Lentil Dal
