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HandoutHandout 1: Supply & Shopping List
Handout 1: Supply & Shopping List Indian Home Cooking: Curries and Dal
Okay so here's the thing — you do not need a full spice cabinet to make this food well. I own way more jars than I use. Below is what actually goes into class, split into what you need and what's nice once you're hooked. Buy the "budget" column and you're set for every recipe we make.
Whole Spices - Cumin seeds — budget. This is the smell that started the whole thing for me, so don't skip it. - Coriander seeds — budget - Dried red chilies (whole, small) — budget, or sub crushed red pepper in a pinch - Cinnamon stick, cardamom pods, whole cloves — nice-to-have. Good for garam masala if you want to build your own later. I use them, but the ground versions work fine to start. - Mustard seeds — nice-to-have, mostly for dal tempering
Ground Spices - Turmeric — budget. Buy the small jar unless you cook this a lot, it doesn't take much. Also — keep it away from small hands and light-colored counters. My two-year-old got into ours once and had a yellow hand for a full day. It does not wash off fast. - Coriander powder — budget - Cumin powder — budget - Red chili powder or cayenne — budget - Garam masala — budget, buy a small jar to start. My contrarian take: you do not need twenty spices. These five plus turmeric will get you through most of what we cook. Ignore the internet's $80 spice drawer, at least at first.
Produce - Fresh ginger — budget, but non-negotiable for me. This is the one place I'm a snob. Jarred ginger-garlic paste tastes tinny to me. Try fresh once and compare, you'll taste the difference immediately. - Fresh garlic — same as above - Yellow onions — budget, you'll go through a lot - Tomatoes (fresh or a can of crushed) — budget - Cilantro — budget, for finishing - Green chilies (serrano or jalapeño) — budget, optional if you're heat-shy
Pantry - Lentils — red (masoor dal) and yellow split (moong or toor dal). Budget, a couple dollars a bag at Macey's or Costco. Dal is the cheapest thing I make and honestly the best. People skip it because it looks humble on the plate. Don't skip it. - Basmati rice — budget. Rinse it more than you think you need to, especially with our water here — it's hard, and I made gummy rice for months before I figured that out. - Neutral oil (I use avocado or a light olive oil) — budget - Canned coconut milk — nice-to-have, for a couple of the curries - Ghee or butter — nice-to-have, adds richness but oil works
Equipment - A good heavy-bottomed pot or pan — budget, this is where you'll bloom your spices, and cheap thin pans scorch spices fast - A spatula and a spoon you don't mind staining yellow — budget, turmeric will win eventually - A dedicated small grinder, if you ever want to make your own garam masala — nice-to-have. I use a coffee grinder for spices only. I learned this the hard way — Jason's coffee tasted like curry for a solid week before I bought a second grinder just for spices. - Naan — store-bought is what I use. I don't make my own, never worth the mess in my kitchen with five kids circling. We're not covering bread in this class and I'm fine with that.
One more note: none of this needs to be fancy or perfect. Buy the budget list, show up, and we'll taste and adjust as we go. That's really the whole method.
HandoutHandout 2: The Cheat Sheet
Handout 2: The Cheat Sheet
Print this, stick it on your fridge, get sauce on it. That's what it's for. This is everything from class boiled down to the stuff you actually need mid-cooking, when your hands are busy and you can't stop to think.
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The One Thing That Matters Most
Bloom your spices in oil. Whole seeds first (cumin, mustard, whatever the recipe wants), let them sizzle and pop for maybe 30 seconds, then ground spices for a few more seconds, then everything else goes in. You have to stand there and watch. Ground spices go from perfect to burnt in about ten seconds and burnt tastes bitter, not spicy. If you take one line from this whole handout, take that one.
Basic Timeline (most curries and dal follow this shape)
- Oil hot, not smoking. Medium heat, patience.
- Whole spices (cumin seed, mustard seed, maybe a dried chili or bay leaf) — sizzle till fragrant, a few seconds.
- Onion, if using — cook till actually golden, not just soft. This takes longer than you think, closer to 10 minutes than 3.
- Fresh ginger and garlic, grated or minced — cook 30-60 seconds till the raw smell's gone.
- Ground spices (turmeric, coriander, chili powder) — a few seconds, stirring, watching.
- Tomato or tomato paste — cook down till it separates a little from the oil. This is a real sign, not me being fussy — it means the base is actually cooked, not just simmered.
- Main ingredient (lentils, chicken, vegetables) plus liquid.
- Simmer till done.
- Taste at the end. Adjust salt, add a squeeze of lemon or a pinch of sugar if it tastes flat. Garam masala goes in near the end, not the beginning — it's more of a finishing spice for me.
The Five Spices You Actually Need
Cumin, coriander, turmeric, chili powder, garam masala. That's it to start. Ignore anyone trying to sell you a spice cabinet — you can build out from here later if you get into it.
Stove Settings (my stove, your stove might run different)
- Blooming whole spices: medium. Not high. High burns them before you can blink.
- Onions: medium, and don't walk away — this is the step I burn if I get distracted.
- Simmering dal or curry: low, lid cracked, stir every so often so it doesn't stick on the bottom.
Rice, Briefly (I'm not the authority here, but this works for me)
Rinse the rice until the water runs mostly clear — three or four rinses, more if you've got hard water like we do here. That gummy rice problem I mentioned in class? Rinsing fixed it for me after months of blaming everything else.
Dal Basics
Lentils, water or broth, turmeric, salt, simmer till soft (20-30 minutes for red lentils, longer for others). Separately, bloom cumin seeds and maybe garlic in ghee or oil and pour it over the finished dal right before serving. That final sizzled topping is called a tadka or tempering, and it's the difference between fine dal and dal people ask you about.
If Something Goes Wrong
- Too salty: a peeled whole potato simmered in it for a while pulls some salt out. Sounds made up. It's not, mostly.
- Too thin: simmer uncovered longer, or mash some of the lentils/vegetables against the side of the pot.
- Too bland: salt first, then acid (lemon), then check your garam masala timing.
- Burnt spices: start over on that step if you can. There's no saving burnt cumin. Open a window and move on.
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That's the whole cheat sheet. Everything else is taste and repetition. You really can't ruin dal — worst case it's a little off, and off dal is still dal.
WorksheetCurries and Dal — Class 3 Worksheet
Curries and Dal — Class 3 Worksheet ## Your Spice Base Cheat Sheet
Okay so this is the sheet I actually want you to take home and tape inside a cupboard. Everything else you'll remember eventually, but this part — the blooming, the order, the timing — is the whole game. Fill it in as we go. Don't worry about neat handwriting, worry about getting the smell right.
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The Five Spices (write in what's in YOUR cabinet)
Spice Whole or ground? What it smells like when it's right Cumin Coriander Turmeric Chili (powder or fresh) Garam masala If you only own these five, you're fine. I mean it. Ignore the internet trying to sell you a spice drawer that costs more than your groceries.
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The Blooming Sequence — fill in the blanks as we demo
- Oil goes in pan, heat to _____________
- Whole seeds (cumin, mustard, whatever whole spice you're using) go in _____________
- Watch for: _____________ (write down what you see/smell/hear)
- Ground spices go in for about _____________ seconds
- Take it off heat or add liquid right away, because _____________
Circle one: I burned mine a little / it looked perfect / I'm honestly not sure
(All three are fine answers. First time I did this I walked away to break up a fight between my boys and came back to charcoal. Opened every window in February. So.)
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Fresh vs. Jarred — your call, write your honest opinion
Ginger and garlic, grated fresh today: ______________________________________
Same dish, imagining the jarred version: ______________________________________
I'm a snob about this one particular thing. You don't have to be. But taste it once and see what you think.
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Dal Checklist (the cheapest, best thing you'll make today)
- [ ] Lentils rinsed until water runs mostly clear
- [ ] Rinsed AGAIN if you have hard water like most of us up here do
- [ ] Simmered, not boiled hard — check at: _____________ minutes
- [ ] Tempering (tadka) spices bloomed separately and poured on top
- [ ] Tasted before salting
- [ ] Salted
- [ ] Tasted again
Note to self about how much water/lentil ratio worked for me: ______________________________________
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Taste-and-Adjust Log
Recipes are a starting point, not a contract. Use this every time something tastes almost-right but not quite.
- Tastes flat → try: a pinch of sugar / more salt / a squeeze of lemon (circle what worked)
- Tastes too salty → potato trick? (ask me about this one, I have a story)
- Tastes like it needs something but I don't know what → ask the person next to you, seriously, someone in this room will know
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One Question for You to Answer at Home
What's the one thing from today you'd actually make again on a random Tuesday? Not the impressive one. The one you'd really cook.
______________________________________
Bring your answer next week. I'm nosy and I want to know.
HandoutHandout 4: When It Goes Wrong (And It Will, Sometimes)
Handout 4: When It Goes Wrong (And It Will, Sometimes)
I've made most of these mistakes myself, some of them more than once. None of them mean you should give up. Curry and dal are both forgiving foods — that's most of why I love teaching them. Here's what to do when things go sideways.
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1. My whole spices burned/turned black in seconds. Yep, this happened to me in my own kitchen once — I walked away for thirty seconds to break up a kid fight and came back to a pan of black cumin and a kitchen that smelled like a campfire. Oh my heck. Whole spices go from perfect to ruined in about ten seconds once they're in hot oil. Don't walk away. If they burn, don't try to save them — dump the oil, wipe the pan, start over. Burnt spices taste bitter, not smoky, and there's no fixing that in the pot.
2. My curry tastes flat even though I followed the recipe. Almost always a salt problem, sometimes an acid problem. Taste it, add a little more salt than you think you need, then a squeeze of lemon or a splash of vinegar. If it's still flat, a small pinch of sugar can round it out. Recipes are a starting point, not a contract.
3. My dal is too thick, or too thin. Too thick: add hot water, a little at a time, and stir. Too thin: keep simmering with the lid off. Dal thickens as it sits anyway, so if you're not sure, err toward thinner and let it firm up.
4. I over-salted the dal. This actually happened to me at a dinner with friends — I added way too much salt and panicked. I'd read that a peeled raw potato added to the pot pulls out some salt, so I tried it. Pull the potato out after 15–20 minutes. It sort of worked. Not magic, but it helped.
5. My rice came out gummy. Rinse it. I mean really rinse it, until the water runs mostly clear, not just a quick swish. Our hard water here doesn't help, and I ignored this for months before I figured out that was my actual problem. Also: resist stirring rice too much while it cooks.
6. My ground spices taste dusty or "off." Ground spices lose their punch fast, especially in dry air like ours. If your garam masala has been in the cupboard two years, that's your issue, not your technique. Buy smaller amounts, more often.
7. Everything smells like curry now, including my coffee. Ask me how I know. I ground garam masala in the same grinder I used for coffee beans and Jason's next cup tasted like a curry. Get a cheap dedicated grinder for spices only. Non-negotiable, honestly.
8. My curry is too spicy-hot for my family. A spoonful of plain yogurt or a splash of cream stirred in at the end cools it down without changing the flavor much. Coconut milk works too if it fits the dish. Serve with plain rice, which dilutes heat better than naan does.
9. My sauce separated or looks curdled. Usually happens when yogurt or cream hits too-hot oil directly. Let the pan cool slightly, or stir the dairy into a small amount of the hot sauce first before adding it back to the pot. It won't ruin the taste even if it looks a little rough.
10. Turmeric stained my counter/hands/toddler. It does not come off easily. I learned this the hard way when my two-year-old got into it and had a yellow hand and cheek for the better part of a day. Wipe up spills immediately, wear an apron you don't love, and don't set a wooden spoon down on a light countertop.
None of this means you did it wrong. It means you're cooking. Adjust, taste again, move on.
podcast_scriptClass podcast — episode 1
Audio coming soon — show notes below.
JESS: —wait, say that again, because I don't think people are going to believe you actually put a whole potato in the pot.
ANNIE: I did. A peeled potato. Raw. Sitting in there like it was going to save my life.
JESS: Did it save your life?
ANNIE: Sort of! That's the annoying answer. I'd read somewhere that a raw potato pulls salt out of a soup if you oversalt it, and I had never once tested that theory, I just panicked and threw it in.
JESS: Okay, back up, because I don't even know the story yet. This is for the podcast, so pretend I don't know things.
ANNIE: Right, sorry. So my friends Christina and Logan came over for what I was calling curry night, very fancy, and I was making dal, and I got distracted mid-salting — I think Lincoln needed something — and when I came back I just kept salting because I couldn't remember if I'd already done it.
JESS: Classic.
ANNIE: Classic. And it was bad. Like, undeniably, this-is-a-problem salty. So I peeled a potato, tossed it in, let it simmer another fifteen minutes, and pulled it out before we ate.
JESS: And?
ANNIE: It helped. Not like a magic trick, it's not like the dal turned perfect, but it pulled enough salt out that we could eat it without wincing. I talked about that potato for a week. Jason was so tired of hearing about it.
JESS: I love that your big win is "we could eat it without wincing."
ANNIE: That's the bar sometimes! That's an honest bar!
JESS: Okay so this is episode one for Indian Home Cooking, Curries and Dal, and I feel like we should tell people what they're actually walking into, because I don't think it's what people picture.
ANNIE: No, and I want to say up front — I did not grow up eating this food. I grew up on the casserole rotation, you know, the one every family in Utah County has some version of. My first curry was from a jar, back when Jason and I had zero money.
JESS: And now you're teaching a class on it.
ANNIE: Which still feels a little funny to say out loud. The real start was Fiji, on my mission. There was a sister I taught who cooked while I sat at her counter asking way too many questions, and she never measured anything, ever. She'd just toss cumin seeds into hot oil and the whole kitchen would fill up with that smell, and I remember thinking, oh — that's what's missing from the jar.
JESS: That's the whole class right there, isn't it.
ANNIE: Honestly, kind of. If people take one thing from six weeks with me, I want it to be that. You bloom your spices in oil. Whole seeds first, then ground spices for just a few seconds, and you have to stand there and watch because they go from perfect to burnt fast.
JESS: How fast are we talking?
ANNIE: Seconds. I toasted my first batch ever and walked away for maybe ninety seconds to break up a fight between my boys, and by the time I got back the cumin was black and the whole apartment smelled like a campfire. In February. I had to open every window.
JESS: Okay, that's the tip, right? That's the thing someone can use tonight without even taking the class.
ANNIE: Yes — stand at the pan. Don't walk away, don't check your phone, don't go break up a sibling fight if you can help it. Whole spices in hot oil, thirty seconds to a minute, ground spices maybe ten to twenty seconds after that. You'll smell it turn. That's your cue, not a timer.
JESS: And you don't need some huge spice cabinet for this.
ANNIE: No, and honestly that's kind of a soapbox for me. Cumin, coriander, turmeric, chili powder, garam masala. Five things. The internet will try to sell you an eighty-dollar spice drawer and I just — ignore that, at least at first. See if you even like cooking this way before you buy a bunch of jars that sit in your cupboard.
JESS: So what are we actually making next time?
ANNIE: Dal. Which, okay so I should say — dal is the cheapest thing I make and it's the best thing I make, and I think people skip it because it looks humble. Lentils are a couple dollars a bag at Macey's. It looks like nothing in the pot and then you taste it and it's — I don't know, it surprises people.
JESS: It surprised you too, from what I remember.
ANNIE: It really did. First time I made it I almost apologized for it at the table, I thought it was too plain, and Jason had three bowls and asked why we'd never had this before. I still don't fully trust that it's as good as people say it is.
JESS: We'll let the room decide.
ANNIE: We'll let the room decide. Bring an appetite and maybe don't eat a huge lunch beforehand.
podcast_scriptClass podcast — episode 2
Audio coming soon — show notes below.
JESS: —wait, say that again, because I think that's the whole class right there.
ANNIE: Which part.
JESS: The rice thing. You just said it like it was nothing.
ANNIE: Oh. The rinsing thing?
JESS: Yeah!
ANNIE: Okay so, this is genuinely embarrassing, but I made gummy rice for months. Like, months. I'd blame the pot, I'd blame the stove, I blamed our elevation at one point, which — fine, elevation does mess with cooking times up here, that part's real. But mostly it was our water. It's so hard here, and I wasn't rinsing the rice enough, and all that extra starch was just sitting there turning everything into paste.
JESS: And the fix was just... rinse it more.
ANNIE: Rinse it until the water runs basically clear. Takes like ninety extra seconds. I was so mad when I figured it out. Ninety seconds! Months of gummy rice over ninety seconds.
JESS: Okay, that's the free tip, everybody. Rinse your rice more than you think you need to, especially with our water. You didn't even have to take the class for that one.
ANNIE: Take the class anyway.
JESS: [laughs] Fair. Okay, so last time you talked a lot about blooming spices, which I know is like, your whole thing—
ANNIE: It is the thing. If you take one thing from this class—
JESS: —take that, yes, you've said it. I want a story though. Give me a spice story.
ANNIE: Oh man. Okay. So this is not from teaching, this is just from my own kitchen, but — the first time I really tried to toast whole cumin seeds properly, I got the oil going, seeds went in, and then Axel and Jose started fighting over something in the other room. Full meltdown. And I went to go break it up, because you have to, right, somebody's about to lose a toy or a limb—
JESS: Sure.
ANNIE: —and I forgot the pan was on. Came back and the cumin was black. Not brown, black. And the smell — it wasn't like burnt toast, it was like a campfire had moved into my apartment. This was February, so opening every window was its own whole ordeal, but I did it. Stood there in a coat, in my own kitchen, airing the place out.
JESS: Because you can't just leave a burning smell.
ANNIE: You cannot. And that's actually the real lesson under the story, not just "oh isn't that funny." Whole spices go from perfect to ruined in like ten seconds. You have to stand there. You cannot walk away, not even for a kid fight, not even for one minute. I learned that one the hard way and I've never left the pan since.
JESS: So the tip inside the story is—
ANNIE: Watch the pan. Don't multitask that part. Everything else in the recipe can wait for you. That step can't.
JESS: I love that it's a real cost. Like, an actual kitchen full of smoke, not a "whoopsie" story.
ANNIE: Oh, it was a whole thing. My eyes stung for like an hour.
JESS: Okay. So last session was the spice base, the blooming, all that. What's next time?
ANNIE: Next time we do dal. Which — I know, on paper it sounds like the boring one. It's lentils, it's humble, nobody's excited for lentils walking in the door.
JESS: But you love it.
ANNIE: It's genuinely the best thing I make and it's the cheapest thing I make. A couple dollars a bag at the store and you've got dinner for the week. I think people skip it because it looks plain in the pot, and I get it, I almost didn't serve mine the first time I made it because I thought it was too simple. Practically apologized for it before anyone even tasted it.
JESS: And?
ANNIE: My husband had three bowls and asked why we'd never made it before. I still don't fully believe it's as good as people say it is, which is a weird thing to admit about your own cooking, but there it is.
JESS: You're going to have to let yourself believe it eventually.
ANNIE: Working on it. But yeah — next session, we build a dal from scratch, we talk lentils, we talk the same bloom technique but applied differently, and we're going to taste it at like four different stages so you can hear what's changing.
JESS: Bring an empty stomach.
ANNIE: Bring an empty stomach and low expectations, and then let me prove you wrong.
JESS: That's the class. See you all next time.
podcast_scriptClass podcast — episode 3
Audio coming soon — show notes below.
JESS: —and you just let it sit in there for a week?
ANNIE: A whole week. I could not stop thinking about it. Every time Jon walked by the fridge I'd go "so which one did you like" and he'd already told me.
JESS: This is the vegetable curry thing, right? For episode three.
ANNIE: Yes. Okay so, quick recap for anyone just joining us — I made the same vegetable curry three different ways in one week because I couldn't decide which version to teach in session three. Different order of spices, different amount of tomato, one had coconut milk, one didn't.
JESS: And?
ANNIE: Jon liked the second one. Clearly. Best one, no contest.
JESS: You said "clearly" with a straight face and I don't believe you mean it.
ANNIE: I immediately started defending the third one! Which had way too much coconut milk, honestly, it was almost soupy. But I'd worked on it the longest, so I felt loyal to it. Which — that's not a cooking principle, that's just me being stubborn.
JESS: That's very relatable though.
ANNIE: It's very me. Jason says I do this with everything. Recipes, paint colors, one time a garage door opener.
JESS: Okay so what did you land on for the class?
ANNIE: The second one. Jon was right. Less liquid, tomatoes cooked down properly before anything else goes in, and that's actually the tip I want people to walk away with even if they never take the class.
JESS: Let's hear it.
ANNIE: Cook your tomatoes down all the way before you add your vegetables or your liquid. Like, past the point where you think they're done. You want them broken down into almost a paste, sticking a little to the pan, oil starting to separate out at the edges. That's when the spices are actually doing something instead of just floating around in wet tomato.
JESS: How do you know when it's there?
ANNIE: Honestly, smell and look. It stops smelling raw. And the color changes, it gets darker, deeper red instead of that bright fresh-tomato red. If you rush that step the whole curry tastes thin no matter what you add after.
JESS: Okay, I'm going to try that with literally any tomato-based thing I make.
ANNIE: Please do. It's not an Indian-cooking-specific trick, it's just a cooking trick. I use it for spaghetti sauce now too.
JESS: Nice. Okay — anything you want to flag before people come to session three? Any veggie substitutions, anything like that?
ANNIE: A couple things. If cauliflower's not in season or you just don't love it, potato works, or even just more peas. I use a lot of peas because Jesse, my fifteen-year-old, will eat this curry and refuses vegetables in literally every other setting. I have never asked him why. I'm scared to ask him why. I don't want to jinx it.
JESS: Don't poke the bear.
ANNIE: Don't poke the bear. Leave the vegetable-eating teenager alone and let him live.
JESS: Anything on the spice side people should know going in?
ANNIE: Same base as always — cumin, coriander, turmeric, a little chili, garam masala at the end. I know I keep repeating that but that's kind of the point. You don't need a big spice cabinet to make a really good vegetable curry. People overthink this one especially because it's vegetarian, like it needs extra help to taste like something. It doesn't. The tomato step does most of the work.
JESS: Good to know. Okay, so next session's the vegetable curry and then what, are we moving toward the finale already?
ANNIE: Session four is the one people ask about most, honestly — chicken curry. We'll do the same base technique but with chicken thighs, and I'll talk about timing so the chicken's cooked through but not dry, because at altitude here things move a little differently than the recipes assume.
JESS: Wait, does elevation actually mess with curry?
ANNIE: Mostly it affects how long things take to reduce and how your water behaves, more than the meat itself. But yeah, I'll get into it. And — okay, I'll say it now since we're plugging it — a former student, Zackary, told me once that my chicken curry was better than the place by Costco. I have held onto that compliment for two years. I bring it up constantly. Jason's tired of hearing it.
JESS: As you should. That's a real compliment.
ANNIE: It's the nicest thing anyone's said to me about my cooking, and it was from a 21-year-old who eats like it's a competitive sport, so I trust it.
JESS: I love that. Okay, so bring your appetite next week.
ANNIE: And maybe don't eat lunch beforehand. That's my actual advice.
Videos worth your time
Hand-picked by your instructor, with notes on what to watch for.
- Beginner’s Guide to SIMPLE INDIAN HOME COOKINGCurries With Bumbi
Watch how she builds a full simple Indian meal so you see dal and a curry cooked together in real time.
- One Pot Dal | Simple, Comforting Indian Lentils (Masoor Dal Recipe)Curating The Table
Pay attention to the one-pot method and the final tempering step that adds big flavor at the end.
- How to make INDIAN DHAL CURRY recipe. Masoor dhal tadka. One Pot Dhal Curry.Get Creative in the Kitchen
Notice the tadka technique where spices are bloomed in oil and poured over the dal for extra aroma.
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