Indian cooking 101 - A table of recipes and spices

I am often told that lengthy ingredients lists deter people from cooking Indian food - the (incorrect) assumption being that the number of ingredients reflects the difficulty of the recipe.  Any of you who have tried the recipes on this blog already will know that:

1. The techniques are not difficult
2. I avoid using any special equipment
3. I try to write the recipes in a logical manner such that as long as you follow them word for word (and don't think too much!) the recipe should work.  

Another deterrent is the cost of buying numerous ingredients that you may only use a pinch of in a single dish.  The remainder of the (inevitably pricey) ingredient loiters in the back of a cupboard, goes off date and then is thrown away - just before you need it again!


For those of you that don't have a well stocked spice rack I have put together a table of the most popular recipes on this blog and placed them in an order that means you need to only buy one (occasionally two) dry spices at a time.  As your spice rack grows you can make more of the recipes.  I have however assumed that you won't mind buying fresh ingredients such as chillies, garlic, coriander and ginger as these are relatively cheap and can be used in many other recipes.

As I have mentioned before please don't buy your spices from your supermarket - go to your local Indian grocery store where you will receive four times the amount of spice for the same price.  The only downside is that you may need a spice cupboard rather than a spice rack!

I hope the table below encourages you to cook more Indian food.  I think you will find that it isn't difficult and the results are delicious.

Recipes

Can do lamb curry

Y

Y

Y

Gujarati meatballs

Y

Y

Y

Corn on the cob

y

y

y

y

Serial killer chicken curry

Y

Y

Y

Y

Spicy spinach

Y

Y

Y

Chickpea curry

Y

Y

Y

Y

Y

Lamb and lentil curry

Y

Y

Y

Y

Y

Spinach and sweet potato

Y

Y

Sweetcorn curry

Y

Y

Y

Y

Y

Killer chicken curry

Y

Y

Y

Y

Gujarati okra

Y

Y

Y

Y

Y

Butterbean curry

Y

Y

Y

Y

Y

Y

Egg curry

Y

Y

Y

Y

Y

Y

Stuffed aubergines

Y

Y

Y

Y

Y

Spicy prawns/ fish/ bread

Y

Y

Y

Y

Y

Yoghurt chicken

Y

Y

Y

Y

Y

Y

Y

Chicken biryani

Y

Y

Y

Y

Y

Y

Y

Pav bhaji

Y

Y

Y

Y

Y

Y

Y

Y

Y

Potato curry

Y

Y

Y

Y

Y

Y

Y

BBQ recipes

Lamb kebabs

Lamb chops

Y

Y

Y

Y

Chicken tikka

Y

Y

Y

Y