Building an Indian Pantry | Stocking Pantry Essential Items

I was very paranoid about cooking the first few days after moving to USA since I had not tried cooking entirely by myself before marriage (always had mom or the help around).  I had to start from scratch here on my own, and what more - I did not come prepared with anything for the kitchen: no recipes, no list of things required in the kitchen, no tips, no experience, and basically NOTHING.

My first challenge was to stock the pantry with essential pantry items.  Then as I began experimenting more dishes, I started building my Indian pantry with spices, grains, flours, lentils, seeds, powders, and so on.  Since then, I have been gradually stocking up items to my pantry, understanding the basics, the essentials, the substitutions, the extras and unnecessaries, learning about a new ingredient, challenging myself to cook a new dish, making mistakes and learning from them.

Here are some spices, grains, flours, lentils, seeds, powders, etc from my kitchen with their English and Hindi names.  These are probably just 5% of the entire stock in my kitchen.  I will add more, gradually.

Pantry Essentials for the Indian Pantry (and beyond…)

Indian Pantry Essentials: Black Pepper Powder | Hindi: Kali Mirch Powder

Indian Pantry Essentials: Cinnamon Sticks | Hindi: Dalchini

Indian Pantry Essentials: Beaten Rice or Flattened Rice | Hindi: Poha

Indian Pantry Essentials: Cloves | Hindi: Laung

Indian Pantry Essentials: Crushed Red Pepper or Red Chilli Flakes

Indian Pantry Essentials: Fennel Seeds | Hindi: Saunf

Indian Pantry Essentials: Green Cardamom | Hindi: Hari Elaichi

Indian Pantry Essentials: Split Bengal Gram or Split Chickpeas | Hindi: Chana Dal

Indian Pantry Essentials: Split Pigeon Peas | Hindi: Toor Dal, Arhar Dal, Tuvar Dal

Indian Pantry Essentials: Split Skinned Yellow Mung | Hindi: Dhuli Moong Dal

Indian Pantry Essentials: Green Gram or Whole Green Mung Bean | Hindi: Sabut Moong Dal

Indian Pantry Essentials: Nigella Seeds | Hindi: Kalonji

Indian Pantry Essentials: Peanuts | Hindi: Moongfali

Indian Pantry Essentials: Pearl Sago or Tapioca Pearls | Hindi: Sabudana

Indian Pantry Essentials: Red Kidney Beans | Hindi: Rajma

Indian Pantry Essentials: Soybean | Hindi: Soyabean

Indian Pantry Essentials: Coriander Seeds| Hindi: Sabut Dhaniya

Indian Pantry Essentials: Split Green Gram | Hindi: Moong Chilka or Chilkewali Moong Dal

Indian Pantry Essentials: Split Orange Lentils or Red Lentils | Hindi: Masoor Dal

Indian Pantry Essentials: Split Skinned Black Gram | Hindi: Dhuli Urad Dal or Safed Urad Dal

Indian Pantry Essentials: Whole Brown Masoor | Hindi: Sabut Masoor Dal

(to be continued...)

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