My dearest Komal, Anjli and Amar,
To be a regular great cook, you need a well equipped kitchen. In view of that and with the Indian/Gujarati kitchen theme, I have devised the following essential item lists for setting up the kitchen. A well equipped kitchen will make cooking easier and will draw you to the kitchen more often. Even though I divulge this list to you, I always hope that I shall be involved in setting up your cooking environment!
Spices
There are many other spices I have not included above, but my advice would be to source fresh spices when needed for a particular recipe.
Flours
Grains and Lentils
For more options, look up the other pages under ‘The Gujarati Kitchen‘. This is not a comprehensive list and all the additional ingredients will depend on your cooking style.
When I moved to Pune , our landlady took me to a local store on Mahatma Gandhi Road to buy all the various items to set up the kitchen. I thought I would remember everything once I stepped into the shop! Now I wish I had a few lists to follow because I ended up visiting the store a few more times before cooking became smoother! Luckily for our move to Switzerland, I had Lalitaba’s verbal and physical input which made life easier.
Essential Equipment
If you have these basic items, then preparing simple meals will be easier. I shall be very curious to know about all the other additional items you furnish for your kitchen.
There are enough pictures for you to digest and do let me know of any other essentials I have missed out here. As usual I wish you all happy cooking and await to taste your next culinary masterpiece.
With lots of love, hugs and kisses,
Vishfully yours
Mum
Thank you for your comment Anjli. Looking forward to being with you soon. Miss you!
Really glad to see you are spending more time in the kitchen Komal. Keep it up. I need your technical support, Why has your comment come up as ‘anonymous’?
Sorry Himanshu, I didn’t miss the cloves. Look again! Whole cloves in the vaghaar are a very distinctive Gujarati/Indian taste. An absolute essential in the Indian Store Cupboard.
Thanks mum!! Love this, the photos attached to the names are brilliant especially for the lentils which I’m always getting confused about. Really useful reference point for my cooking queries.I’ve started to really refine my bhaji paneer but now I think I’ll get into the bhaji with the daal.
Thanks for this mum! Will keep it in mind when I move to London! Want to kit the kitchen out properly to set myself up for success 🙂 You’ve given me loads of inspiration this last year, I’m missing all that amazing variety right now in NY. Def don’t have the Indian essentials here but making do here and there with what I have. Miss you, see you soon!
– Anj
I am pretty sure you will be helping the Kitchen set up! 🙂 you missed cloves in the list though your Lakadyu has some!