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    Home > Recipes

    Indian Ingredients

    Discover helpful resources on essential Indian ingredients for your kitchen pantry. Each post covers sourcing, buying quality ingredients, and using them in everyday cooking.

    Jump to:
    • Indian Spices
    • Pantry Staples
    • Dosa Rice Experiment

    Indian Spices

    10 essential Indian spices laid out in their spice containers. The spices from bottom left to the top are green cardamom, Kashmiri chili powder, turmeric powder, cumin seeds, chaat masala, coriander seeds, black peppercorn, cinnamon sticks, mustard seeds, and asafetida (hing).

    10 Essential Indian Spices

    Learn about the 10 Essential Indian spices to stock your pantry and 30 easy recipes that use them!

    Learn more →

    Spices and Spice Blends

    Some essential Indian pantry spices that used in many Indian dishes.

    • Chaat masala in the middle surrounded by the spices in chaat masala like black salt (kala namak, coriander, cumin, dried mint leaves, chili powder, amchur powder (dried mango powder), asafetida.
      What is Chaat Masala?
    • Freshly ground rasam powder in a spice grinder
      Homemade Instant Rasam Powder
    • Milagai podi or Indian gunpowder on a plate with ghee. A brown hand is mixing the podi with the ghee to mix them together into a condiment.In the background there is a bowl and spoon with more podi.
      5 Ingredient Milagai Podi for Idli and Dosa (Indian Gunpowder)
    • A wooden bowl and spoon with bright orange sambar podi or sambar spice blend.
      Homemade Sambar Podi (Sambar Spice Blend)
    • Kashmiri chili powder in a bowl
      What is Kashmiri Chili Powder?
    • A brown holding a bottle of asafetida
      What is asafetida (hing)?
    • Saffron threads poured out from a glass bottle on a pink towel
      What is saffron?
    • Plate with two forms of jaggery. Jaggery in its block form on the left and in its powder form on the right.
      What is jaggery?
    Whole coriander seeds next to ground coriander powder

    Whole vs. Ground Spices

    Learn whether to stock your pantry with whole vs. ground spices

    Learn More →

    Pantry Staples

    • Curry leaves with a brown holding one leaf

    the secret herb...

    Curry Leaves

    Learn about this herb that makes South Indian food taste so delicious!

    Learn More →

    Dals

    There are so many Indian lentils from whole vs. split to hulled vs. unhulled. Dive deep into each dal variety and learn which one is right for your recipe.

    • Different dal variations from moong, masoor, toor, and urad dal.
      The Guide to Different Dal Varieties in Indian Cooking
    • What is chana dal?
    • What is urad dal?
    • Hands holding dried moong dal
      What is moong dal?
    • Masoor Dal whole on the left and split and hulled masoor dal (aka red lentil) on the right.
      What is masoor dal (red lentil)?

    Ghee

    All the information you need about ghee from where to source and how to make it at home!

    • 11 different ghee brand jars and 1 homemade ghee jar all lined up in a pyramid.
      What is ghee?
    • 12 brands of ghee spread on parchment paper with the names of the brand above them in marker. Describing the brands from top to bottom and from left to right. Deep brand ghee is on top with a liquidy and grainy consistency that is white. Laxmi brand is creamy and pale white. Amul brand is grainy but solid and also pale. Next row has simple truth organic, 365 foods, and O Organics. Simple truth is liquidy, light yellow, and grainy. 365 foods is grainy, liquidy, and yellow. O organics is yellow and liquidy. Next row has organic valley that is smooth, creamy, and pale yellow. Ancient organics is creamy and light yellow. 4th & heart is light yellow and creamy. Nanak is bright yellow, grainy, and liquidy. Pure Indian foods is grainy, slightly liquidy, and light yellow. Last but not least is homemade ghee made from kerry gold butter and it is liquidy, slightly liquidy, and darker yellow.
      Best Brands of Ghee To Buy
    • Ghee in a glass mason jar in the forefront. Stick of butter on a white board in the background.
      Homemade Ghee from Butter
    • Which rice is the best for making dosas. Four cups with ponni rice, idli rice, basmati rice, and jasmine rice on a plate.

    Food science

    Dosa Rice Experiment

    Learn about the best rice variety to make dosas.

    Learn more →

    Other Ingredients

    • A hand holding CTC black tea granules
      What is CTC tea?
    • Tamarind pulp being squeezed to infuse the water
      Homemade Tamarind Water for Indian Cooking
    • No cook instant khoya or mawa on a plate. Two bowls with ricotta and milk powder show the two main ingredients in the khoya.
      No-Cook Soft Khoya with Ricotta Cheese and Milk Powder
    • A plate with cooked chili chicken in the center laying on a banana leaf on the exterior.
      Banana Leaves in Indian Cooking
    • 10 essential Indian spices laid out in their spice containers. The spices from bottom left to the top are green cardamom, Kashmiri chili powder, turmeric powder, cumin seeds, chaat masala, coriander seeds, black peppercorn, cinnamon sticks, mustard seeds, and asafetida (hing).
      10 Essential Indian Spices + 30 Recipes That Use Them
    • Whole coriander seeds next to ground coriander powder
      How to Stock Your Spice Pantry: Whole vs. Ground Spices
    • Photo of coarse sooji on a plate with two bags of sooji in the background. One bag has coarse sooji and the other has fine sooji.
      What is sooji or rava?

    Primary Sidebar

    Photo of Shri Repp waving

    Hi! I'm Shri!

    I'm a former Software Engineer turned full time culinary instructor and food writer. My mission with the Moon Rice website is to be your go-to resource for Indian cooking by providing well-tested recipes and in-depth insights that empower you to confidently cook Indian food at home.

    Learn more
    International association of culinary professionals digital media awards finalist badge
    Moon Rice is an IACP finalist for best individual food blog!

    Indian Food Science

    • Which rice is the best for making dosas. Four cups with ponni rice, idli rice, basmati rice, and jasmine rice on a plate.
      What Rice Yields the Best Dosa?
    • Crispy puris for pani puri
      Crispy Puris for Pani Puri
    • 12 brands of ghee spread on parchment paper with the names of the brand above them in marker. Describing the brands from top to bottom and from left to right. Deep brand ghee is on top with a liquidy and grainy consistency that is white. Laxmi brand is creamy and pale white. Amul brand is grainy but solid and also pale. Next row has simple truth organic, 365 foods, and O Organics. Simple truth is liquidy, light yellow, and grainy. 365 foods is grainy, liquidy, and yellow. O organics is yellow and liquidy. Next row has organic valley that is smooth, creamy, and pale yellow. Ancient organics is creamy and light yellow. 4th & heart is light yellow and creamy. Nanak is bright yellow, grainy, and liquidy. Pure Indian foods is grainy, slightly liquidy, and light yellow. Last but not least is homemade ghee made from kerry gold butter and it is liquidy, slightly liquidy, and darker yellow.
      Best Brands of Ghee To Buy
    • A photo with four glass cups of gulab jamuns. 3 of the glasses have an x icon indicating that those are mistakes. 1 glass has a green check mark indicating it is the correct way to make a gulab jamun.
      Common Gulab Jamun Mistakes and Tips for Solving Them

    Indian Cocktails/Mocktails

    • Nimbu pani cocktail with limes and lime zest in the background
      Spicy Nimbu Pani Cocktail | Indian Lime Drink
    • A brown hand holding lychee rose mocktail in a glass with pink hued glasses in the background.
      Lychee Rose Mocktail
    • Indian style watermelon juice with chaat masala
      Indian Style Watermelon Juice with Chaat Masala
    • Gulab jamun cocktail or a saffron gin cocktail in a coupe class with a strand of saffron on the top.
      Gulab Jamun Cocktail (Saffron Gin Cocktail)

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    10 essential Indian spices laid out in their spice containers. The spices from bottom left to the top are green cardamom, Kashmiri chili powder, turmeric powder, cumin seeds, chaat masala, coriander seeds, black peppercorn, cinnamon sticks, mustard seeds, and asafetida (hing).