Pantry essentials

I like to keep a well-stocked pantry, so that if I am ever busy, or running late, I save myself a trip to the shops. If you are just starting out building up your own pantry, start small. Buy new ingredients as you need them, and soon enough you will have built up your own repertoire of aromatic spices and multi-coloured pulses. Asian cooking calls for many different pastes, spices and other little bits, which can often be overwhelming. Here is a list of some of the more niche ingredients used in this book, where to find them, or how to substitute them if you can’t get them where you live. A general rule of thumb in your search for some of these ingredients (as with most things you will ever need to buy) is that you can almost always find them online.