Beginner at cooking?
Let us get you started by getting you sorted by sharing a list of must-have ingredients in your kitchen for your day-to-day cooking.
1. Olive oil: Use it for sautéing, roasting or making a simple homemade salad dressing; you can do it all. The antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties make it an absolutely healthy choice. Since it majorly consists of monounsaturated fatty acids (MUFAs), this help to reduce LDL or "bad" cholesterol and the risk of heart disease. It is also beneficial for insulin levels and blood sugar control. Though it was chiefly a part of Mediterranean cooking but the oil's nutritional benefits have now led to an increase in its use globally.
2. Onions: Onions alone have the potential to lift up the flavours in any meal. Add them raw to your plate of salad or cook them, but you can not miss them. Well, that is the kind of versatility onions offer to your meal. Also, these have various health benefits and are rich in fibre.
3. Garlic: It is one of the most powerful ingredients to add to any dish. In everyday cooking, almost every dish we make seems to have a few cloves tossed in. It can be infused into oils, used in spice rubs, or made into garlic butter. However, roasting it or sautéing it with garlic and onion is generally the way of adding it into the recipes.
4. Lemons: Imagining a kitchen without lemons is next to impossible. Whether it is adding flavour to baked goods, sauces, salad dressings, marinades, drinks, and desserts, lemon can do it all. It is a surprising fact that almost 70% of chefs use lemon zest in their dishes to get that perfect taste & aroma. The sourness help elevate the taste of the dish, making it the reason why those who like cooking love to play around with its zing, teaming it with many other ingredients.
5. Yogurt: Yogurts can be used for marination and adding a tint of sourness. These are high in protein, calcium, vitamins, live culture, or probiotics. These properties can help boost the immune system and promote a healthy digestive tract.
6. Cheese: Cheese making has been in practice for over 8,000 years by various cultures around the world. Over a thousand types of cheese exist and are produced in multiple countries ranging from mild to mature in flavour and low- to high-fat in composition. In general, we can process cheese from the milk of cows, sheep, goats, and other animals. Add it to sauces, soups, pastries, and many other dishes and enjoy the mouthwatering aroma.
7. Sour cream: Made of fermented dairy cream, it can add the required creaminess to your gravies and enhance the texture of your desserts. The tang of yogurt and the richness of buttery cream offer your dish an exoticness, distinguishing it from the basic.
8. Butter: Butter is one of the most complex ingredients of all dietary fats, containing more than 400 different fatty acids. It comprises about 80% fat, and the rest is mostly water. Whether warming a crusty bread or garnishing your soup, a cube of butter can shower magic over the simplest of meals and make them taste incredible. Swirling it right before serving adds both richness and body. Those in doubt because of the fat content, don't fret; butter, along with its saturated fats, can absolutely be part of our diets if you choose to cook fresh whole foods. Moreover, adding the butter at the very end makes a remarkable impact on the presentation owing to the sizzle and fragrance.
9. Jaggery: A natural sweetener made from sugar cane juice, it is a good source of Sucrose and Iron. Jaggery is used as an ingredient in both sweet and savoury dishes, especially in South Asian countries. It is also added to lentil soups (dal) to add sweetness to balance the spicy, salty and sour components. In addition, using jaggery is an excellent way to cut down on the amount of refined or white sugar if you are monitoring your calories.
10. Spices: Last but not the least, Spices like Turmeric, Cumin, or Cinnamon are the real game changers in any recipe. Use them as per your taste and choice and see the flavours evolving. You can add these basic spices to your spice rack now with pepper, curry powder, bay leaves, dried parsley, dried basil, paprika, oregano, cumin & cinnamon.
At Clove, The Art of Dining, we make sure all the ingredients used are fetched fresh and of the best quality. The core ingredients are carefully chosen and added in quantity apt as per the desired tastes. Book your tables now to witness the magical flavours of these condiments.
