The old adage says you shouldn’t go shopping hungry, but I dare you to spend more than 5 minutes in this Jackson Heights megamarket and not feel a little rumbling in your tummy.  It’s impossible not to dream up fantastic Indian feasts, or if you’re like me, plan what savory snack you’re going to buy for the long subway ride home.

I’m a lover of condiments, so I always head for the back right corner of the store to get a little inspiration.  There’s coriander chutney, sweet lime chutney, tamarind paste, gor keri (a relish of mango cubes, mustard seeds, fenugreek, red chili and spices), chhundo (a sweet & tangy shredded mango chutney with a touch of cumin and date palm sugar), tahini and sriracha (sun-ripened chilies ground into a paste with garlic, sugar, salt and vinegar). more…

In Indian cooking the combinations of spices are often what make the dish.  The word masala translates to a blend of aromatic spices.  The cookbook Classic Indian Cooking says that garam masala is the most important of all of the spice blends.  It is possible to do the leg work and make the masala ones self, but much easier to find a spice store that carries these ingredients already blended together.  At Dual Specialty Store on 1st Avenue in the East Village, they have the entire gamut of spices, dried beans, dried fuits, nuts, rices and chutneys someone would need to make any Indian dish.

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Garam masala in a blend of cardamom pods, cinnamon, cloves, pepper, cumin seeds and coriander seeds. For recipes that use garam masala or other masalas, check out Sailus Kitchen, an food blog on Indian recipes, Andhra food and flavors from around the world.

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