Cashew nuts are a popular snack and food source. Cashews, unlike other oily tree nuts, contain starch to about 10% of their weight. This makes them more effective than other nuts in thickening water-based dishes such as soups, meat stews, and some Indian milk-based desserts. Many southeast Asian cuisines use cashews for this unusual characteristic, rather than other nuts.

Pepper is a flowering vine in the family Piperaceae, cultivated for its fruit, which is usually dried and used as a spice and seasoning. The fruit, known as a peppercorn when dried, is approximately 5 millimetres (0.20 in) in diameter, dark red when fully mature, and, like all drupes, contains a single seed. Peppercorns, and the ground pepper derived from them, may be described simply as pepper, or more precisely as black pepper (cooked and dried unripe fruit), green pepper (dried unripe fruit) and white pepper (ripe fruit seeds).

Chilli is the dried ripe fruit of the genus Capsicum. Capsicum annuum is an annual sub shrub, the flowers of which are borne singly and fruits usually pendent, which provide red peppers, cayenne, paprika and chillies and sweet pepper (bell pepper) a mild form with large inflated fruits.

All parts of the Coriander plant are edible, but the fresh leaves and the dried seeds are the parts most traditionally used in cooking. Coriander is common in South Asian, Southeast Asian, Indian, Middle Eastern, Caucasian, Central Asian, Mediterranean, Tex-Mex, Latin American, Portuguese, Chinese, African, and Scandinavian cuisine.

Fennel seed is a highly aromatic and flavourful herb, derived from a shrub. The seeds are pale greenish in colour and have a faintly sweet and refreshing flavour.Fennel seeds are mostly eaten after meals, as they aid digestion and also act as a mouth freshener.It is an essential herb in the Bengali five-spice mix (panch phoron), which is used to flavour vegetable dishes and curries.

Mustard are the small round seeds of various mustard plants. The seeds are usually about 1 or 2 mm in diameter. Mustard seeds may be colored from yellowish white to black. They are important spices in many regional foods.

Ginger is a key ingredient, especially in thicker gravies, as well as in many other dishes, both vegetarian and meat-based. Ginger also has a role in traditional Ayurvedic medicine. Ginger is also an ingredient in traditional Indian drinks, both cold and hot, including spiced Masala chai.In Western cuisine, ginger is traditionally used mainly in sweet foods.