My Indian Pantry Essentials
Recently, Dipti has been bogged down by both moms that she has to learn how to cook Indian food so that Diav gets in the habit of eating it! Of course the first person she went running to was Nina. She asked Nina to come help her learn how to make some basic Indian curries – nothing too crazy as Dipti was already pretty insecure about cooking Indian food. Nina knew from previous visits to Dipti’s place that she did not have all the, what she considered, Indian Pantry Essentials because until now she had not attempted to cook anything! So the first thing Nina did was create a list of all the things she has in her own home which was slowly built from advice from Mommy Vaid and practice – and then she bought it all for Dipti (yes, sometimes we still treat her like the baby of the family). She compiled all of it into one list, which she has linked a share file for you all below! You can also refer back to our Indian Masala Box post for all the essential spices!
So of course Dipti calls her and asks what are the different Indian veggies she can buy to cook with and what are 2-3 things she can make with each? On the second sheet Nina created a “My Essential Indian Veggies” list where they could put their minds together and come up with some ideas. She, again wanted to keep everything easy and basic so that Dipti wouldn’t get overwhelmed and give up (easily done when Mommy Vaid offers to make it for us!)
Nina knew that Dipti would want the basics before she could even think about getting fancy. Nina tailored her list to make sure that all the “essentials” were easy to make and required a simple “vaghar” and preparation. Dipti has been experimenting with Nina’s Essential Items and of course, they’re perfect for a novice cooker like her (tell her to make a spinach and sweet potato mac n cheese – that she can do, but make potato shaak… not quite there).
What do you think of these lists? Is there anything we are missing that you think is a MUST HAVE in your Indian pantry or an absolute must have Indian veggie?
Download your My Indian Pantry Essentials excel file of the above charts to customize to your pantry list today! Enjoy…
