Indian Ingredients

[doriball]

I've been cooking a lot of Indian food lately (can't get enough after having great Indian food in London last year), and figure there must be an Indian market somewhere in DC where I can get spices, rice, lentils, and other staples. Hard to find things like fenugreek and other seasonings in quantities in specialty grocery stores. Can anyone point me in the right direction?

[grover]

I saw a small Indian grocery store (Eastern World Market) in Brookfield Plaza. I am not sure if you are living close to this area, though. For the seasonings, you can find them at Penzeys Spices.

[lperry]

There used to be one in Annandale by the Harris Teeter. There's another next to the little Indian carryout place on LRT close to Braddock road.

[zoramargolis]

I've been cooking a lot of Indian food lately (can't get enough after having great Indian food in London last year), and figure there must be an Indian market somewhere in DC where I can get spices, rice, lentils, and other staples. Hard to find things like fenugreek and other seasonings in quantities in specialty grocery stores. Can anyone point me in the right direction?

I don't think there are any Indian grocery stores in DC--you'll have to head for the 'burbs, I'm afraid. I recently went to Aditi Spice Depot on Route 123 in Vienna, VA.

Here's a link to a site listing Indian grocery stores in Arlington. For a great resource for ethnic foods, check out Julia Watson's wonderful website eatwashington.com.

[Arlington Foodie]

Unfortunately my favorite Indian Market in Arlington (Indian Spices and Appliance) closed the Arlington location some years ago -- I mourned for months. But India A-1 Grocery on Lee Highway will likely have most of what you need. I am able to buy all of the spices, rices, etc. I need there -- though you may be a more sophisticated Indian cook than I am! I should note that I haven't been there for about 6 months or so, so someone else may have more current info. Since it's on Lee Highway, it's easy to access from DC.

[LauraB]

I've been cooking a lot of Indian food lately (can't get enough after having great Indian food in London last year), and figure there must be an Indian market somewhere in DC where I can get spices, rice, lentils, and other staples. Hard to find things like fenugreek and other seasonings in quantities in specialty grocery stores. Can anyone point me in the right direction?

I get my Indian food ingredients at Patel Brothers in Rockville (15110 Rockville Pike, in the shopping center where Magruders is.) They have a couple of other locations in the area in Hyattsville and Fairfax.

[leleboo]

We actually have a thread on Indian Grocery Stores -- which started as a request for locations in Rockville/Gaithersburg, but such topics tend to branch out geographically.

[New members -- check out the Shopping and Cooking Indexes when you have a chance! We have oodles of topics and welcome input in all areas. The quickest way to find out if we have a thread already started is to use the "find" function of your web browser instead of the Invision search function, so use Ctrl+F (or Open Apple+F) and give it a whirl. Enjoy! )

[Tweaked]

yeah, don't even try to buy all the various spices in a non-Indian (or non-ethnic) grocery store, you will get ripped off.

depending upon where you live in DC, Patel Bros is a solid choice in the burbs, several locations convenient in Maryland, esp. if you live in NW DC.

[wlohmann]

I've been cooking a lot of Indian food lately (can't get enough after having great Indian food in London last year), and figure there must be an Indian market somewhere in DC where I can get spices, rice, lentils, and other staples. Hard to find things like fenugreek and other seasonings in quantities in specialty grocery stores. Can anyone point me in the right direction?

There is a grocery in Alexandria, on Duke Street just east of Landmark shopping center that is, I believe, Bangladeshi-owned, but which has always had everything I needed for my Indian recipes. I think honestly it may just be called "Indian Grocery" but I can't recall the name- -you can't miss it though (although be careful not to mistakenly walk into the Jamaican grocery on the same block!!).

Very friendly people and extremely helpful as I fumbled through my list of spices.

[johnb]

Back in my day, Indian market central in the DC area was around the intersection of New Hampshire Ave. and University Blvd., about 2 miles inside the beltway (is that officially Hyattsville??). By far the greatest concentration of Indian markets, Indian restaurants (Tiffin, Udipai) Indian culture, and Indians generally. So much so that even the Safeway there had an Indian foods aisle (I'm not recommending that however). Surely worth a visit to the area.

[rvanrens]

It's been my experience that Wegman's generally has a better selection of Indian foods than other grocery stores. Of course, that may be because the Dulles and Leesburg stores cater to a fairly large Indo/Pakistani/Bangladeshi population, so that may not be the case at other stores.