Don't you hate it when you buy an ingredient specific to a particular recipe and it sits there in your pantry for months after you use it once? I do! I think that is the main reason why not many people try to cook Indian food at home. Most of the Indian recipes require ingredients that are used only in other Indian recipes. There are so many healthy, tasty, mouth watering Indian recipes, but not one American that I personally know has tried them at home, and they all love Indian food!

So, here's what I am going to do. I will make a list of 3 ingredients (mostly spices) and give 5 easy that use all those 3 ingredients. Then I switch to another 3 ingredients and 5 more easy recipes. Now you have 6 ingredients and 10 recipes. What if I gave you another 5 recipes that use all the 6 ingredients, maybe a little bit complicated recipes, but very yummy? Your pantry will no more be stacked with unused bottles of Indian spices! And you will learn to cook easy yummy Indian food at home!

So, here you go! The first three ingredients are:

1. Mustard seeds (brown smaller mustard is what Indians use)

2. Cumin seeds

3. Curry leaves (fresh curry leaves can be found in any Indian grocery store)

And here is the first recipe:

You are going to make a simple salad.

All ingredients:

1. One big cucumber

2. Two big carrots

3. Mustard seeds-1/4 tsp.

4. Cumin seeds-1/4 tsp.

5. Curry leaves-1 spring

6. Cilantro-1/4 of a bunch

7. Lemon juice-1 tsp.

8. Olive oil-1 tsp.

9. Salt to taste

Wash and peel the cucumber, cut into small pieces. Wash and peel the carrots, grate them. Mix them both in a bowl.

For seasoning:

In a small pan, heat oil on medium (maybe for a minute).

Add mustard seeds, when they start cracking, add cumin seeds. Leave them on low to medium heat for maybe 30 seconds. Add washed curry leaves and turn off the heat. You will see the curry leaves turn crisp...yummy!

Add this seasoning to the bowl with cucumber and carrots. Do not mix them until you are ready to serve. Add salt to taste, sprinkle lemon juice and garnish with chopped cilantro just before you serve.

This is a great starter for any meal and very healthy.

Two more recipes coming up with same three ingredients, mustard seeds, cumin seeds and curry leaves!

Enzoy!