Mango Powder

 Asafoetida powder

Asafoetida powder/ asafetida / devil’s dung/ ferula/ foetida/ food of the gods/ heeng/ hing (powder)/imguva.

Pronunciation: ASS – uh – FET –a – duh.

This powdered gum resin imparts a very strong onion – garlic flavor to Indian Dishes. Use it sparingly. A little goes a long way.

 Peper

Papper tastes just spicy hot. The most common pepper is round balck, shivelled and hard. In India, pepper is used in every type of regional cookery. Meat In the north. Lentils in the south. Fish in the east. And vegetables in the west. It’s also used in herbal tea. Green pepper is pickled.

 Green Chillies

Chillies are available fresh, dried powdered, flaked, in oil, in sauce, bottled and pickled. The fresh ones (when unripe) come in various shades of green. The ripe ones are red. When dried, they look like crumpled rubies.

Capsicum preparations are used as counter – irritants for lumbago and rheumatic disorders.

 Red Chillies

They are deceptively beautiful. Their taste ranges from mild to dynamite. While they scorch your taste buds, they also blend a little heat and a whole lot of fragrance and flavour to Indian cuisine. They add the zing to Indian Cooking.

 Black Mustard Seeds

 White Mustard Seeds

Smaller and hotter than the yellow mustard seeds that most western cooks are familiar with.
Mustard is believed to posses the ability to calm the mind, create a peaceful personality and sharpen intelligence.

 Brown Cardamom Pods

Cardamom figures prominently in various type of Indian Cuisines. It is the best to buy cardamom seeds still encased in their natural flavour – protecting pods, which can discard after you remove the seeds. Brown cardamom is a similar spice that Indians use in savory dishes.

Substitutes: brown cardamom, equal parts ground nutmeg and cinnamon, equal parts ground cloves and cinnamon, nutmeg or cinnamon.

 Fenugreek

Fenugreek / Fenugreek seeds/ methi/ halba

This adds an earthy flavour to the curries, chutneys, and sauces. It’s available as seeds or powder.

 Nigella

Nigella /black onion seeds/ kalonji / calonji / habasoda / ketza / black caraway.

 Pronunciation: ni-JELL-uh

It has a subtle flavour that’s often used to enhance vegetable dishes. To bring out the flavour, it helps to toast the seeds briefly before using them.

Substitutes: cumin seeds, sesame seeds or oregano.
 

 Pomegranate seeds

Pomegranate seeds/ anardana


Bits of pomegranate pulp remain on the seeds as they dry, so they’re a bit sticky and serve as a souring agent in Indian cuisine. The seeds also come ground.

 White Poppy seeds

White Poppy seeds/ kas-kas

Indian cooks use these as a thickener in their curries and as a filling in baked goods.

Substitute: Poppy seeds (black)

 Cinnamon

With its warm, sweet flavour, cinnamon is one of the biggest workhorses on the spices shelf. Cooks often use it to flavour baked goods and drinks but cinnamon also works wonders in stews and sauces.

Substitutes: nutmeg or allspice.

 Cloves

Cloves are nail-shaped dried flower buds that have a sweet, penetrating flavor. They can be ground and used to flavor baked goods or sauces or left whole and poked into roasted hams or pork. Use clove sparingly. A little of it goes a long way too.
 

 Cumin

Cumin / comino/cumin/ jeera

Pronunciation: KUH-min or KYOO-min

Apart from Indian cuisine, cumin is a key ingredient in southwestern Chilli recipes too. It’s also widely used in Latin America and North Africa. Freshly roasted and ground cumin seeds are far superior to packaged ground cumin.
 

 Fresh turmeric

Ground turmeric/ powdered turmeric/ Indian saffron /eastern saffron.

Pronunciation: TURR–mer-ick

Turmeric has a pleasant enough flavor but it’s prized more for the brilliant yellow colour it curry powder, pickles, and prepared mustards.