You don’t really need a lot to get started in the Kitchen, we all look at cooking the simpler and smarter way, spending less time in the kitchen at the same time being creative and perfect in flavours.
This is possible if you have the right tools, pots and pans and appliances for cooking. Investing a really good quality cookware will make your life a whole lot easier and allow you to cook with ease. For most of us the “essentials” evolve over a period of time and slowly we tend to collect kitchen stuff to suit our cooking needs.
Also if you are setting up a new kitchen, this list of useful and essential pots and pans will surely help you to set it up. These pots and pans are enough for your basic cooking and can be used for making different delicious recipes.
After due research, we have collated the must have “Essential Pots & Pans for Every Kitchen” that will help you cook better and smarter.
1. Iron Tawa (Skillet) For Dosas, Rotis & Parathas
A Roti tawa or a flat skillet is a must in an Indian Kitchen. Roti is a daily bread across all households in India where the phulkas/ roti are cooked on a tawa first and later put on flame directly for it to rise and puff. This Tawa is really handy to cook soft roti’s and make dosas. But ensure that you have a separate tawa for roti and a separate tawa for dosa. Irons pans require greasing before you can begin to use them, so the dosa does not stick on the pan.
Recipes Made: Phulkas/Roti, Dosa and Parathas
Recommended Appliance to Buy: Iron Roti Tawa by Prestige, Non-Stick Flat Dosa Tawa by Pegion.
2. Skillet or Stir Fry Pans
This Tawa would come handy to make crepes/pancakes, cheelas or half boiled egg, omelette and shallow fried cutlets. This tawa would also be helpful to make stir-fry sabzis. Iron skillets are a good medium for cooking as they preserve the heat evenly and your dishes get cooked well. You can also put the Lodge iron skillets into the oven and bake your dishes in them. Iron skillets need a lot of care and maintenance.
Recipes Made: Egg Omellete, Frittatas, Indian Curries and Sabzis
Recommended Appliance to Buy: Lodge Cast Iron Skillet and tempered glass cover black by Lodge or Stainless Steel Stir Fry Pan by Prestine.
3. Iron Kadai /Wok
A Kadai is a must for Indian Kitchen for the Indian Curries and sabzis. The wok is one of the most versatile tools in the kitchen. Due to wide shape and large volume, it is easy to fit plenty of food and best for stir fry sabzis, noodles and more. Using iron as a cooking medium, helps in cooking food in an even heat, in addition reducing the amount of oil used for cooking.
Recipes Made: Noodles, Aloo Bhajia, Kadai Paneer and more.
Recommended Appliance to Buy: Iron Kadai by Kitchen Essentials.
4.Deep Frying pan
These are Deep Fry Pans, and best used for deep Frying. Using a deep dish and a stainless steel strainer for fishing out the deep-fried items helps in even frying of the food that you cook. The sloped sides of the pan minimize splatters and in addition you can still fry a lot of food because of the amount of surface area available at the top of the pan.
Recipes Made: Fritters, Cutlets, Fried Kachori's or Mathris.
Recommended Appliance to Buy: Deep frying Pan by Hawkins.
5.Saucepan with Lid (Cook & Serve)
A Saucepan with lid is really helpful pan when you want to cook one pot dishes like biryani and curries. It is also great when you are steaming rice, vegetables for curry or legumes. It comes in handy to cook pasta like penne or spaghetti for dinner
Recipes Made: Pastas, Biriyani, Pulao and Curries.
Recommended Appliance to Buy: Large Sauce Pan with lid.
6.Regular Saucepan (Small)
This is a perfect pan to make tea, boil milk for coffee or even boiling a small portion of soup for your family.
Recipes Made: Masala Chai and Turmeric Milk.
Recommended Appliance to Buy: Regular Saucepan by Vinod.
7.Kuzhi Paniyaram Pan
A paniyaram pan has cavities which makes it easy to pan fry small portions of a muffin, frittata, paniyaram, pakoras and vadas . The number of paniyaram cavities varies for different sizes. The cast iron pan requires more oil to fry, whereas non stick pan requires very less oil. You can use the same pan to prepare low fat vada, bonda or pakoda, etc.
Recipes Made: Dahi Vada, Medu Vada, Broccoli Pakora, Paniyaram and many more.
Recommended Appliance to Buy: Paniyaram Pan By Tosaa.
8.Cast Iron Grill Pan
Using these Grill Pan would help you grill without Charcoal and can provide you a great way to emulate outdoor grilling.They are easy to use and you can make your perfect Tikkas, Sandwiches and grilled vegetables. The cast iron grill pans are sure a great investment and will last you a lifetime and even generations to come.
Recipes Made: Paneer Tikka, Kebabs, Sandwiches and more.
Recommended Appliance to Buy: Non- Stick Tadka Pan by Pigeon.
9.Tadka Pan
This pan has a very traditional use in every Indian kitchen. Making a tadka or seasoning is very common. Tadka is an Indian technique of cooking to bring the flavours of spices and aromas of onion and garlic into the food. Using a small pan like this, helps you to consume less oil as well.
Recipes Made: Burani Raita, Tadka Dal, Dhokla and many more.
Recommended Appliance to Buy: Non- Stick Tadka Pan by Pigeon.