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Learn Indian Cooking

Cook dal, curries and flatbreads by learning how Indian spices work.

Free to start. Built from a single prompt. No credit card.

Indian cooking covers many regional cuisines, from Punjabi tandoori dishes to South Indian dosa and sambar, but a few techniques run through most of them. Whole spices are bloomed in hot oil or ghee in a tadka, an onion, ginger, garlic and tomato masala is cooked down until the oil separates, and ground spices like turmeric, cumin and coriander go in at specific moments. Learn those and dishes like dal tadka, chana masala and jeera rice follow. Learnr builds a personalized Indian cooking course from one prompt, teaching techniques and dishes in short interactive lessons.

How to learn Indian Cooking, step by step

Build a small spice pantry. Start with cumin seeds, black mustard seeds, turmeric, ground coriander, Kashmiri or mild chili powder, garam masala and a pinch of asafoetida (hing). Add ghee, fresh ginger, garlic, green chiles and dried curry leaves if you can find them.
Master the tadka. Heat oil or ghee, add whole spices like cumin or mustard seeds, and wait for them to sizzle and pop before adding anything else. Seconds matter: cumin turns from fragrant to bitter quickly, so keep the next ingredient ready.
Cook the masala base until the oil separates. Soften onions until golden, add ginger-garlic paste, then ground spices for a minute, then tomatoes. Keep stirring until the mixture darkens and oil glistens at the edges. Rushing this step leaves curries tasting raw and sharp.
Start with dal and chana masala. Simmer split lentils with turmeric until soft, then pour a fresh tadka over the top. For chana masala, simmer chickpeas in the masala base and finish with garam masala, which goes in late to keep its aroma.
Cook basmati rice and chapati. Rinse basmati until the water runs mostly clear and soak it briefly before cooking for long, separate grains. For chapati, knead whole wheat atta with water into a soft dough, rest it, roll thin and cook on a hot dry pan.
Handle food safely and practice weekly. Marinate meat in yogurt in the fridge, cook chicken to 165°F, and cool leftover rice quickly and refrigerate it, since rice left warm can grow bacteria. Cook one new dish a week and review its technique in a short Learnr lesson.

What you'll learn

Stock a working Indian spice pantry and know each spice's role
Bloom whole spices in a tadka without burning them
Cook an onion, tomato and ginger-garlic masala base properly
Make dal, a chickpea or vegetable curry and fluffy basmati rice
Knead and cook chapati from atta flour

What's inside your Indian Cooking course

A sample path Learnr builds for Indian Cooking. Your real course adapts to your goal and level.

1. Regions, ingredients and the spice pantry
2. Tadka: blooming whole spices
3. The masala base and when to add ground spices
4. Dals and legumes
5. Curries, yogurt marinades and rice
6. Flatbreads, chutneys and raita

How long does it take to learn Indian Cooking?

With weekly cooking, most beginners make good dal, a simple curry and rice within a few weeks. Comfort with a broad range of regional dishes and flatbreads takes several months. Cooking often and tasting as you go matter more than collecting recipes.

What you need before you start

Basic kitchen skills like chopping onions and using a stovetop. A heavy-bottomed pot, a frying pan and a small pan for tempering spices are enough to start.

Common mistakes to avoid

Adding ground spices to a dry, very hot pan, where they scorch in seconds. Cook them briefly in oil with the onions or a splash of water.
Undercooking the onion and tomato base. Keep going until the oil separates, or the curry will taste raw.
Adding garam masala at the start of a long simmer. Stir it in near the end so its aroma survives.

How Learnr builds your course

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Indian Cooking questions, answered

Do I need a pressure cooker for Indian cooking?

It helps, especially for dried beans and lentils, which it cooks much faster. A heavy pot works fine too; split lentils like masoor dal soften quickly without one.

Is all Indian food spicy?

No. Many dishes are mild, and heat usually comes from fresh or dried chiles you can reduce. Spices like cumin, coriander and turmeric add flavor and aroma rather than heat.