Indian Cuisine

There are many herbs, spices, exotic fruits and vegetables used in Indian cuisine, and dishes vary in colour, flavour and composition from region to region in India – sometimes even across cities within the regions and countries. South African Indians, for example, also have their own way of preparing Indian inspired dishes too, which does make the Indian cuisine landscape that much more intricately weaved, as I am sure similar celebrated differences exist in other cuisines too.

South Africa’s iconic Bunny chow has recently been celebrated by CNN, after listing the dish in their World’s Fifty Best Foods in 2021. South Africa also has its version of Biriyani, which contains brown lentils, locally referred to as masoor. The South African Durban curry is fiery hot with tomatoes, green chillies, Mother in Law’s spice and lots of fragrant curry leaves.

Indian Inspired Ingredients

We have compiled a list of Indian inspired ingredients so whether you are thinking of heading to the kitchen or need a little help to innovate for product development, we are sure that there is something on this list to get the perfect result!

·       Amchur

·       Aniseed

·       Asafoetida

·       Bhut jolokia chilli

·       Black Cardamom

·       Black cumin

·       Black Mustard seeds

·       Black Pepper

·       Black salt

·       Carom seeds

·       Cayenne pepper

·       Chaat masala

·       Cilantro or fresh coriander

·       Cinnamon bark

·       Cloves

·       Coconut

·       Coriander seeds

·       Cumin seeds

·       Curry leaves

·       Dried Fenugreek leaves 

·       Dried Pomegranate seeds

·       Fenugreek seeds

·       Garam masala

·       Garlic

·       Ghee

·       Ginger

·       Green cardamom

·       Holy basil

·       Indian green chillies

·       Jaggery

·       Kalonji seeds

·       Kashmiri chilli powder

·       Kokum seed

·       Mace

·       Mustard flour

·       Mustard oil

·       Paprika

·       Poppy seeds

·       Ratan Jot

·       Rose petals

·       Rose water

·       Saffron

·       Star aniseed

·       Stone flower

·       Tamarind

·       Tej Patta

·       Turmeric

·       White cardamom

·       Whole dried red chillies

·       Yellow Mustard seeds