If you are wondering which spices to buy to start cooking Indian food then this video will be helpful and I hope you get the right ones to start cooking.
My basic spice list would include –
Salt
Turmeric powder
Chilli powder
Ground coriander
Garam masala
Mustard seeds
Cumin seeds
Once you have the above spices you could get some whole spices like –
Cinnamon
Cardamom
Bay leaves
Black pepper
Cloves
A few good spice mixes to have are –
Chaat masala
Amchur
Tandoori masala
Ground roasted cumin
Thanks for watching, if you liked this video, you can help grow the channel:
#chetnamakan #india #food #paratha #potato
Rate the video! 👍 – I will be very happy and it will help the development of the channel.
WRITE A COMMENT or ask me a question about the recipe. I will be more than happy to answer YOU.
📢 YOU can also share this video with your friends on social networks to let them know what dish you want to cook next.
Subscribe to the channel, hit the bell not to miss a new video with quick and tasty recipes.
Thanks for your time!
Subscribe here –
/ foodwithchetna
MY NEW BOOK –
‘Chetna’s 30 Minute Indian’
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Chetnas-30-m…
BOOK IN AMERICA –
https://www.amazon.com/Chetnas-30-min…
Hope you are enjoying my daily videos!!!! Please do like the video and leave me a comment, I love hearing from you guys.
Best way to make sure you don’t miss anything is to SUBSCRIBE!
Website -
Twitter -
Instagram -
Facebook –
Chetna Makan appeared on the Great British Bake Off in 2014 and won the ‘Christmas bake off 2016’.
Her first book ‘The Cardamom Trail’ came out in April 2016.
Her second book ‘Chai, Chaat & Chutney’ came out in July 2017.
Her third book ‘Chetna’s Healthy Indian’ came out in Jan 2019.
Her fourth book ‘Chetna’s Healthy Indian Vegetarian’ came out in June 2020.
You can find the book in stores and online.This is an absolute treat of a meal, a dish made on special occasions, simple yet stunning!
Hello and welcome back to my channel Today it's all about the spices I have Got so many messages from people who are New to Indian cooking they might be Great Cooks but they are new to Indian Food Um and people who want to know what are The basic spices you should have in your Kitchen if you're going to try out some Of the Indian recipes now India is a Vast country there are all sorts of Cuisines from north to south to east to West and within that there are so many Micro Cuisines and everything is Different from one Street to the other Street forget one Town to the other town so I don't claim to know everything about Indian food because I think it will take A person more than a few lifetimes to Learn about all Indian food so anyone Who says they know everything about Indian food Clearly hasn't been to India Um right so um I would say If you're new to I've just made some Masala chai to drink while you are Talking to me look it's a beautiful Indian drink it's warming it's got some Basic spices I have shared a recipe for This right so um Every Indian Kitchen almost every Indian Kitchen would have a masala box like a Spice Box you have probably seen my
Spice Box before and this is my Spice Box and Um every kitchen would have a different Combination of spices in the Spice Box Just to tell you that my mum has a Different combination of spices to me Now these spices you choose obviously People have chosen Depending on what they cook how they Cook often and the spices they need most So if you're going to follow my recipes And you want to know my suggestion of What to have the basic spices I would Say these would be the basic spices you Need to have kind of you have to have to Start Indian cooking let right let me Give you a closer look So we have got Um salt that's the salt we've got chili Powder not chili powder a lot of Americans say what is chili powder so Um all I I can say is that for Indian Cooking chili powder is dried red chili Powder so it's just purely chili powder Because obviously in America the chili Powder is a mix of some spices which I Understand but you kind of need the pure Chili powder so you'll probably will Have to get it from any Indian shop the Other basic one is the turmeric which Not only adds color and flavor but Obviously it's got a lot of health Benefits as well and then we've got The garam masala so garam masala is
Again every household has their own Combination of garam masala I have Shared this recipe this is my mom's meat Garam masala and can find the recipe on The channel This is ground Coriander seed and this is Magic it is Absolutely magical this is a must and Then we've got black mustard seeds now Sometimes people can't find black Mustard seeds so you can use Um kind of the lighter color one and Then we have the cumin seeds which are Again Amazing flavor magic to add to all these Spices so I would easily say that this Is something sometimes I would cook the Whole meal and this is the only box I Would use uh to cook the whole meal this Is all the spices I would need so Um I can definitely say that yeah go for These spices if you're new Now when you're building up on those Spices Um There are some that I would recommend So I would say You can get some lovely cinnamon sticks Now these cinnamon sticks are proper Cinnamon sticks but you can also get Cassia bark which is what a lot of Indians use in their cooking so that is Really good one I don't use a lot of
Ground cinnamon I have to say I use a Lot of whole cinnamon so ground cinnamon Is more that I've seen used in English Cooking rather than Indian cooking and Then there are bay leaves so the bay Leaves is something you could have now These are again English bay leaves Because they have got just a normal Leaf Now the Indian bay leaf has got three Veins in them and they actually I'm Trying to look if there's one at the Bottom but there isn't Um they've got a slightly different Flavor but this is grown here locally And I often get it from a friend's house A branch or something because Um you know it's local I can't get any Other spices locally so to make the most Of what I can find locally right so There are some other spices here oh Another must one is the green cardamom My favorite spice it's beautiful you can Use it whole for a lot of Indian recipes But also kind of open it crush it and Use the seeds right Um I know you can see a lot of spices in Here but I'm not trying to show you Every single spice in my cupboard Because this video will go on for a long Time otherwise Um but because you asked for what basic Spices to buy to start cooking so once You've got these basic powdered spices I Would buy the cinnamon bay leaf cardamom
To build on that I will show you what else I have here Because this is things I use sometimes I Wouldn't go out and buy them yet until Unless you've got a specific recipe so This is a whole coriander seeds now These are whole coriander seeds so this Is the powder that you just saw here and This is kind of roasted and then Powdered here so if you buy some you Could use them whole and then sometimes You could powder them as well So that is that I have got some fennel Seeds here I've got some cloves some Lovely star anises here but these are Not spices I use a lot so which is why I'm not saying you know Russian buy them Another one which I use sometimes is This five spice now this is not a Chinese five spice this is a Bengali Five spice and it's called panch puran And it's basically a combination of five Seeds and it's quite a nice one to have Even if you're not making Indian food It's a good one to have for you know you Could add it to Meats while you're Barbecuing when the season comes which I'm hoping the season will come soon so That's my basic spices moving on Now so a lot of you have seen my spice Drawer before Um I'm quite proud of it so I I'm taking Another opportunity to show it to you But these are just powdered spices and
Ready spices that I've bought over the Years I don't particularly throw them out After four to six months because a lot Of Food writers I've seen say just throw Your spice out after Four to six months and some of them have Been here for a long time Um I think you have to obviously as the Time goes on the the intensity of the Spice goes down I totally understand That And obviously if it's gone off it's gone Off which I think if you're living in a Really hot place can happen on my recent Trip to India which obviously some of You have seen the videos Um um I was quite surprised because People there don't cook like me either Because I like to cook a little bit Extra for another meal because I always Think if I'm cooking you know I'll get One more meal out of it like batch Cooking but there everybody cooks for The day eat finish done so their fridges Are full of spices nuts even including My mums is they just packed full of Spiciness because it's so hot and some Flowers as well so yeah Moving on to the spices from here which You could have when you are kind of Trying is a good one to have is ground Cumin now this one is the cumin seeds
You can do it at home so you can buy a Massive bag of cumin seeds which will be Cheaper but you dry roast them and then You crush them and make a powder and I Have to say the crushed powder cumin Powder at home is next level this is Good as well I use this but it is very Very different actually I might have Okay yes so I'll show you I have got so I just wanted to show you this is Shopbot Ground cumin right so it's like a Brownie color It hasn't got any cumin traces and this Is Home roasted Cumin powder obviously I haven't crushed It so much but look at that and I can Just tell you that both of them smell Really different as well so this is a Really good example that you can buy A whole Big bag of cumin roasted at home I know It takes time and effort just saying Just saying not that I do it all the Time as you can see I've got ready-made Job board okay um I'm not going through All of them but I'm just going to tell You two three more spices that you can Have once you've had the basic is Chaat Masala I have promised you guys a Chaat Masala recipe so stay tuned it's coming To you in this week um in in the next Few days whether it'll be this week or Next week I don't know when I'll upload
It but stay tuned so Chaat Masala is a Great uh spice man to have at home I Have to admit that I sometimes buy shop Bought if I haven't got the time to Um kind of make it also oops have got Some cardamom ground cardamom but this Is something that I've only recently Started buying because you couldn't buy A ground cardamom before and you had to Grind it yourself which is not a big Task either the other good one is amchur Which you must have seen in so many of My recipes because it's a dried mango Powder it's not sweet never add it in Desserts it's the dry kind of raw mango Green one and then they make a powder And it's really sour and as we call it Chatpata which is Sour and sour Um and one more thing I had seen here A good one to have is tandoori spice mix It's a Tandoori Masala which is great When it's coming to Winters big or Summers because you can add it to so Many barbecued things um that guys is The basics of the spice mixes I haven't Gone deep dived into it because this is For you to slowly build on it and if you Find this useful I will go into a deep Dive of spices A bit later on but let me know whether You found this helpful what I will do is That I'm going to list This the my Spice Box spices and the
Other five that you can build on in the Description below so you can if you Haven't understood what I'm saying you Can have a quick look and read the spice Names I really hope this finds you Helpful and um My daughter who's filming is laughing But real excuse me Oh sorry I I hope you find this helpful She's right Um okay okay uh guys don't Subscribe I have got Fantastic recipes lined up for you and If you want to see anything specific Um Any specific recipes then you have to Leave Your comment below because I read every Single comment and try and reply to all Of them so hope this Spice Box makes it To your home and create some delicious Recipes for you and your family thank You guys bye for now
