Curry Spices

Buy spices in small amounts, starting with cumin, coriander, black peppercorns, cloves, fennel and mustard seeds. Other spices to start with are cinnamon, cardamom, ground turmeric and fenugreek. Fresh additions, like ginger root, coriander leaf, garlic, shallots, mint and hot chillies, make all the difference and, as with the majority of ingredients in Indian cooking, they can be used in many dishes that are not Indian per se. The great thing is to use different spice combinations so you can make a number of dishes which have very different flavours and textures without going to any great trouble.