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I'm interested in slowly getting started with Indian cooking and building up my store of spices. However, I generally don't have as much time to cook as I would like and really don't have enough space to go out and binge spend on cooking materials for Indian food.
What are the bare minimum ingredients / spices / etc that I would need, to make some tasty dishes for a wide array of palettes (in case I can convince friends to try my cooking).
Indian foods uses a lot of spices. Almost in a level that you will find one new spice in every new recipe.
Still the most common spices AFIK are the follows in the decreasing order of frequency of use
Also asafoetida, fresh coriander leaf, whole cumin seeds, whole mustard seeds. Also, if you can get some ajowan, get it: While not useful in every recipe, it is really great in eg samosas and tikka marinades.
Also, these are very commonly used ingredients
Also always make some yogurt (Unflavored and unsweetened) available
Most common vegetables are
Most common grains are
Traditionaly different kind of oils are used but now a days mostly vegitable oil is used. You will also need ghee (Similar to clarified butter) to make some complex and rich dishes.
I think you can get started quite easily with only two spices: cardamom and garam masala, the second being more important. Many of the other spices and flavors are quite common to a decently stocked kitchen. Garam masala is the quintessential indian spice mix. Add some cream, sub butter or oil for ghee, and use some fresh veg and chicken, and you can start putting together nice curries, etc.
Other useful spices (that I believe are fairly common) are: turmeric, chili, cumin, coriander curry powder, star anise, black pepper, cloves and cinnamon sticks.
Here's the list of four Indian spices I can't live without:
Garlic - not really known as Indian spice but used in many dishes; if you're cooking Hare Krishna recipes but are not into Hare Krishna beliefs I recommend replacing asafoetida with garlic. And I recommend Hare Krishna recipes (unlike their beliefs), they are usually extremely detailed since they can't taste the dish before they offer it to Krishna.
Turmeric powder - this is the spice that gives color to curry, and it likes to give color to anything it touches, especially wood and plastic. If you spill it, it'll stick more if it's wet.
Caraway powder - most recipes use cumin seeds, but in my opinion powder fits better with most dishes, and I like caraway more because it has similar but more intense taste.
Chilli powder - again, I like powder because it allows for more precise dosage.
Obtain these and you can cook many dishes. And then there are non-essential but more often used spices:
Coriander - seeds and powder are interchangeable; but coriander leaves can be replaced with parsley
Cinnamon - powder or sticks
Ginger - fresh ginger is better than powder, but it doesn't last
Garam masala - a combination of spices, usually mixed in the dish before serving
There are a lot more spices in Indian cuisine, but for most dishes this is more than enough. Rincewind's remark is valid - I prefer most of the spices in the list in the form of a powder, but they last longer in the seed form, and taste better if they're freshly ground, but the difference is not as important, especially if you're still experimenting.
Most of the Indian dishes use pretty ordinary ingredients - it depends on the recipe itself. Once you cook your first dishes, you can try making ghee, paneer or chapatis yourself. But until then, you can replace ghee with butter, and paneer with tofu, and skip the chapatis.
The absolute minimum spice rack I'd use for indian food would be: - Coriander seeds - Cumin seeds - Chilli powder (and whole chillis) - Black & White pepper.
From this you can mix many spice pastes for some reasonable curries, masallas or kormas.
To get more into the authentic flavours you will have to build up an extensive selection of spices. If you don't cook too often, then try to buy your spices whole. They will keep their flavour longer than ground spices. If kept dry, most whole spices can last years.
youssarian's list is great as far as my experience goes. as far as other ingredients go, lentils and rice (basmati) are usually very easy to get ahold of. start with that and some meats or tofu, and try some basic dal or other recipes. you'll be up to speed in no time!
@yossarian has pretty good list (though I'd argue that cumin and turmeric are more useful than cardamom). I'd add ginger and chiles (fresh or dried cayenne, serrano or Thai green) to the list of essentials, and you'd be all set to make some delicious basic curries.
