ISO some advice on finding some ingredients

[georgevan]

I have a chicken curry recipe that calls for `kasmiri chili' and `Kasumi methi'. I have no idea where to get them. Any ideas of what to do?

[dragnlaw]

Kasumi Methi, are sundried Fenegreek leaves. maybe just use fresh? or ground powdered/seeds?

Kashmiri Chili powder - just looked it up - is a very mild chili powder, possibly use a spicy paprika?

[pepperhead212]

A good substitute for the kashmiri chili is a mild Numex chili - chimayo powder is a little hotter, but fairly available, and a very similar flavor.

Do you have fenugreek seeds? You can substitute about 1/3 powdered seed, if no leaves are available. And it might be better than many of the dried leaves on the market, even from Indian groceries. I never could find any that had that much flavor - like dried basil! But several years ago, I ordered some directly from India, on ebay, on a whim! I was ordering some other ingredients, that they didn't sell here anymore, and saw those on their "store". The amount I got was incredible, due to the dry herb, and the flavor was also incredible - like it had just been dried yesterday! I vacuum sealed it, in a few batches, and put them in the freezer, and and put some in about a 1/2 c jar, for regular use. The asafoetida (a.k.a. hing) was the spice I was originally ordering from there, and it was much better (I know you're asking "How can asafoetida be good?" ) than the greatly diluted stuff they sell here. And another thing I got, that the markets stopped carrying, was the black salt, that was not in powder form - now, the local markets only sell powder, which is diluted with salt! I was surprised how cheap all this was, with no shipping charges - included in the food cost.

[buckytom]

george, a better question is where do you live, and what access do you have to markets that have various international ingredients? We can help you narrow it down from there.

[taxlady]

Originally Posted by buckytom

george, a better question is where do you live, and what access do you have to markets that have various international ingredients? We can help you narrow it down from there.

That's an excellent point. Where you live will make it easier or harder to find "exotic" ingredients. I'm lucky. Where I live there are a lot of ethnic stores within three or four kilometres: at least three South Asian (Indian, Sri Lankan, Pakistani, etc. cuisine), a number of Middle Eastern and North African grocers, at least two East Asian grocers, five or so Caribbean grocers, Italian, and that's just what I can remember off the top of my head. It does make getting some ingredients a whole lot easier. So, it does depend on where you live. Ethnic stores won't all have everything you are looking for.

I still find it daunting. There are just so many exotic ingredients and before I buy something, I don't even know if I will ever want to use it again.

[karadekoolaid]

If there´s a Patel Brothers Indian grocery near you, you can find the ingredients there.
You could also but the ingredients online; I always use ishopindian.com