Making Spice Masalas - Garam Masala

Every now and then I make a fairly large batch of garam masala, because we get through it quite quickly in my house. As well as using it in traditional Indian dishes, mostly North Indian ones, my Mum also likes to add it at the end of making the very Anglo-Indian curries that she is so fond of, containing fruit and so on. She says it makes the flavour much more complex and delicious.

Garam means hot or warm, and masala refers to a spice mixture. So garam masala is a mixture of warming spices, which can be whole or ground. The spices in it can vary, from a very simple mixture of just cinnamon, cloves, cardamom and black pepper to elaborate concoctions with many more spices. The recipe I give in Mango Soup is quite elaborate, and even contains the less commonly used star anise.


A lot of commercial garam masala is padded out with a lot of the cheaper spices, such as coriander and even turmeric (I would never put turmeric in garam masala!). That's why it's a good idea to make up your own mixture. It's very easy. You just dry roast all the spices in a large, heavy-bottomed pan. I roast all the spices at once. Here is a picture of all the spices in the pan.


When the spices have darkened a few shades and smell fragrant, they are ready for grinding. I transfer them to a bowl and let them cool a little first.

The easiest way to grind the spices is in a clean coffee grinder, preferable one reserved exclusively for grinding spices (or your coffee might taste a little strange!). My coffee grinder is quite small so I do the grinding in batches.



Of course, purists will insist that you use a mortar and pestle. I've got to admit, there is something very satisfying about hand grinding spices, and if you have a good, heavy pestle it doesn't actually take much effort or time. The weight of the pestle does most of the work for you. here is a shot of some of the garam masala in my pestle and mortar. I have a big heavy one made of some kind of stone and it makes a good job of grinding all spices, and even grains and dals.


The finished mixture smells divine, and can be stored in a tightly sealed box. If you don't use garam masala very often you could halve the ingredients, as you don't want it sitting around too long.


Since the spices are dry roasted before being grind, you can use the garam masala right at the end of cooking if you like, just sprinkling it in a few moments before serving. However, frying it in ghee or oil is the best way to extract the flavour. To get a balance between not over-cooking it and also using fat as a flavour medium, you could fry some up in a little ghee and tip it over your dish right at the end. I also like to sprinkle a little into salad dressing!

My question for today is, what kind of recipe for garam masala do you prefer? The ones which use tonnes of spices and result in a really complex flavour, or the simple basic kind? At what point during cooking do you add garam masala to a dish?

If you like the look of this recipe, please buy my book, Mango Soup, which contains the full version of this recipe and many more: http://www.authorhouse.co.uk/Bookstore/ItemDetail.aspx?bookid=49169