The Five Spices You Need (Ignore the $80 Cabinet)
Okay, so if you went looking online before this class, you probably found a list of twenty spices and a "starter kit" that costs about as much as a nice dinner out. Fenugreek, asafoetida, mace, three kinds of cardamom, whatever black salt is.
Ignore all of it. At least for now.
Here's my contrarian take, and I'll die on this hill: you don't need twenty spices to make good Indian food at home. You need five. Once you've got these five down cold, you can start adding things and playing around. But if you buy the $80 cabinet before you know what you're doing, half of it goes stale in a drawer before you even figure out what it's for. I've done that. It's a waste.
The Five
Cumin seeds. Whole, not ground, at least to start. This is the one that goes into hot oil first, and it's the smell that made me fall for this kind of cooking in the first place.
Coriander. Ground is fine here. Earthy, a little citrusy, kind of the quiet workhorse of the group.
Turmeric. A little goes a long way. This is the one that stains everything it touches, and I mean everything — more on that in a second.
Chili powder, or cayenne. For heat. Start with less than you think you want. You can always add more. You cannot un-spice a pot.
Garam masala. This is more of a blend than a single spice, and it usually goes in near the end of cooking instead of the beginning, which trips people up at first. Think of it as the finishing touch, not the base.
That's it. Five things. Cumin, coriander, turmeric, chili, garam masala. Write that on a sticky note and put it on your spice cabinet if you need to.
Where to get them
Macey's has all five in the regular spice aisle, no special trip needed. If you want better prices, an Indian or international grocery (there's usually one within a reasonable drive along the Wasatch Front) will sell you bigger bags for a lot less money, and honestly the spices are often fresher too, since they turn over faster. Costco doesn't really carry these in bulk, in my experience, so don't bother making that stop.
A word about turmeric
I need to tell you something before you get home and open that jar.
My son Lincoln, who was two at the time, got hold of a pinch of turmeric off my counter for maybe ninety seconds. Ninety seconds. He ended up with bright yellow hands and one yellow cheek, and it did not come off. Not with soap, not with the good soap, not with scrubbing that probably wasn't great for his skin. He walked around looking a little bit like a crime scene for the better part of a day.
Turmeric stains skin, countertops, wooden spoons, plastic containers, grout — I've heard grout, I haven't personally tested it, but I believe it. Keep it away from little hands, wipe up spills immediately instead of letting them sit, and don't wear your favorite shirt the first time you're measuring it out. I'm not saying this to scare you off it. I'm saying it because nobody told me, and I wish they had.
Whole versus ground, briefly
You'll notice cumin is the one spice on this list I'm telling you to buy whole. That's on purpose. Whole seeds hold their flavor longer than ground, and they do something different in the pan — they pop and toast instead of just coloring the oil. We're going to talk about that blooming process next lesson, and it's honestly the whole game as far as I'm concerned. If you take one thing from this entire course, take that one.
For now, just get the five. Don't worry about grinding your own garam masala yet — buy a small jar of a decent one, and we'll talk later about making your own if you want to go down that road. (I did. It has a whole separate story attached to it, involving my coffee grinder and a very confused husband. We'll get there.)
Before next time
Go get your five spices — even a small jar of each is plenty to start — and set them somewhere you'll actually see them, not buried in the back of a cabinet. Next class we're going to heat some oil and make the kitchen smell like something.