An Indian home kitchen runs on about eight everyday spices, not fifty. Haldi, jeera, dhania, rai, hing, ajwain, methi and garam masala do almost all of the work. This guide explains what each one tastes like, when it goes into the pan, and why the same handful of spices produces dal one night and rajma the next.
Key takeaways
- Indian home cooking uses a small, repeated set of spices - most of them live in one steel dabba on the counter.
- Spices are added at two different moments: at the start, into the masala, and at the end, in a tadka.
- Whole spices give aroma. Ground spices give body and colour. Most dishes use both.
- Home cooking is spiced, not hot. Chilli is one ingredient among many, not the point of the dish.
- Saakshi's Kitchen grinds and blends its spices in our FSA 5-star kitchen and builds the masala from scratch for every batch.
What spices does an Indian home kitchen actually use?
Almost every Punjabi household keeps the same core set in a masala dabba - a round steel tin with seven small bowls inside it. Here is what is in ours, and what each one does to a dish.
| Spice | Hindi name | What it tastes like | Where it goes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Turmeric | Haldi | Earthy, faintly bitter, almost no aroma once cooked | Into the masala early, with the onion and tomato. It is what makes dal yellow. |
| Cumin | Jeera | Warm, nutty, smoky once it hits hot ghee | Whole seeds first into the pan, or ground into the masala. The base note of most sabzi. |
| Coriander | Dhania | Citrusy and mellow, more body than heat | Ground, in generous spoonfuls. It thickens a gravy as much as it flavours it. |
| Mustard seeds | Rai | Sharp, then sweet once they pop | Straight into hot oil for a tadka. If they are not popping, the oil is not hot enough. |
| Asafoetida | Hing | Pungent raw, savoury and onion-like cooked | A pinch, in the first seconds of a tadka. A little is plenty. |
| Carom seeds | Ajwain | Thyme-like, slightly bitter | Into paratha dough and besan batters. |
| Fenugreek leaves | Kasuri methi | Bittersweet, a bit like maple and hay | Crushed between the palms and scattered over a finished curry. |
| Garam masala | Garam masala | Warm and sweet - cardamom, clove, cinnamon, black pepper | Last, off the heat. Cook it too long and it goes flat. |
What is a tadka, and why does it come at the end?
A tadka is a spoonful of hot ghee or oil with whole spices bloomed in it, poured over a finished dish. The heat pulls the aroma out of the seeds in seconds, and pouring it over the top means none of that aroma is lost to a long simmer.
This is why dal in an Indian home tastes different from dal that has sat in a pot all afternoon. The lentils are cooked plainly. The character arrives in the last thirty seconds, when jeera, hing and sometimes dried red chilli hit hot ghee and go straight over the bowl. Our Yellow Dal Tadka and Green Moong Dal Tadka are both finished this way.
Why does home-cooked Indian food taste different from a curry house?
Because a curry house builds from a standing base gravy and a home kitchen does not. Most British curry houses pre-cook one large master sauce in the morning, then differentiate dishes at the pass with ratios of chilli, tomato, cream and sugar. It is a brilliant system for serving a hundred covers quickly, and it is not how anybody cooks at home.
In a home kitchen the masala is built from scratch for each pot: onion, tomato, ginger and garlic, bhuno'd down properly until the oil separates, with the ground spices going in at the right moment for that particular dish. Rajma and chole start the same way and end up nothing alike, because the spicing and the cooking time are different, not because a different sauce came out of a different tub.
That is a difference in method, and it is the reason the spices read so clearly. We do not keep a standing gravy base, and we do not finish everything with cream and butter for consistency.
Is Indian home cooking hot?
It is spiced, not hot. This surprises people who learned Indian food from a takeaway menu where the choice is korma, madras or vindaloo - a scale made entirely of chilli. In a home kitchen, chilli is one ingredient sitting alongside seven others, and the heat level is the one a family actually eats at, children included.
Our meals are milder than a restaurant curry. You will taste the jeera and the dhania rather than fighting your way through them.
Which Saakshi's Kitchen dishes show off which spices?
- Jeera and hing - Yellow Dal Tadka. The tadka is the whole dish.
- Dhania and haldi - Amritsari Chole. Slow, dark, coriander-heavy.
- Kasuri methi - Butter Chicken and Shahi Paneer, crushed in at the end.
- Rai and curry leaf - Sambhar, tempered the southern way.
- Ajwain - Aloo Paratha, in the dough.
- Smoke rather than spice - Baingan Ka Bharta, where the aubergine is charred before anything else happens.
See what is in the kitchen this week - the full ingredient list is on every product page.
How the food reaches you
Saakshi's Kitchen cooks in one FSA 5-star rated FSA 5-star kitchen. Meals are cooked in small batches and then frozen, so they arrive frozen and go straight into your freezer. Cook or reheat straight from frozen until piping hot all the way through, following the pack instructions. Once a meal has defrosted, never refreeze it - eat it within 24 hours.
We deliver across UK mainland. Some areas we cannot reach, so it is worth checking your postcode before you order.
Frequently asked questions
What are the most common spices in Indian cooking?
Turmeric (haldi), cumin (jeera), coriander (dhania), mustard seeds (rai), asafoetida (hing), carom seeds (ajwain), dried fenugreek leaves (kasuri methi) and garam masala. Most Punjabi home dishes are built from that list.
What is the difference between whole and ground spices?
Whole spices are bloomed in hot fat and give aroma. Ground spices are cooked into the masala and give colour, body and depth. Most dishes use both, at different moments.
Is garam masala the same as curry powder?
No. Curry powder is a single all-purpose blend sold in Britain. Garam masala is a warm finishing blend - cardamom, clove, cinnamon, black pepper - added off the heat at the end, and Indian homes rarely use curry powder at all.
Are Saakshi's Kitchen meals very spicy?
They are spiced, not hot. The heat level is the one a family cooks at every day, milder than a typical restaurant curry.
Where to go next
- This week's menu - the dishes currently cooking in Brighton.
- What is a tiffin service? - how the weekly meal plan works.
- Check your postcode - where we deliver.
- Indian home cooking vs a takeaway curry - the method difference in full.