Indian cooking is an amalgamation of a plethora of spices - the silk route that led to its invasion and multicultural heritage. In fact, one of the first things that one can think of while talking about Indian cuisine is the marriage of various of flavours through the use of a mix of whole, ground or blended spice & herb bases.
Be it North or South Indian - Cinnamon, Pepper, Cardamom, Cloves, Nutmeg, Turmeric, Coriander and Cumin. Pre - dominantly dominate the pantry of any Indian kitchen pantry and find themselves in various preparations.
If you're an avid cook and understand the aromas of various spices & ingredients. You would surely agree that there is a huge variance in the quality, that strong whiff which you get as you open a homemade pudi/masala vs a store-bought vacuum sealed pack.
But there's one spice mix that I personally consider as a King - the Garam Masala.
A drizzle of this fragrant spice concoction elevates any dish with amazing flavours - be it gravies, curry, a simple aloo dry fry, you name it. The humble Garam Masala - is sometimes considered as a super-secret recipe in most households, every professional chef has his own blend to make this flavour bomb packed powder.
With the onset of pandemic & the preceding lockdowns, I started documenting everything homemade from my mother's kitchen. A time when nothing was commercialised and everything was passed down from mothers-in-law, mothers and grandmoms - that's how mommy learnt her cooking style. Considering we decided to buy the bare minimums from outside, by not stepping out much and avoiding contact to keep ourselves safe - I watched and learnt what my mother did best, cooking up a storm with easily available ingredients. Curry powders, pickles, concentrated syrups - there is still so much left to learn from her and document them here.
This is my mother's Garam Masala recipe :)
INGREDIENTS - makes about a nice medium bottle of masala.
2 Inch Cinnamon Stick
150g Coriander seeds
60g Cumin seeds
20 Green Cardamom
30 Cloves
6 Black Cardamom
4 Red Chillies
2 tsp - Whole Black peppercorn
1 tsp - Ginger powder
1/2 tsp - Nutmeg, grated
PROCEDURE :
Dry roast all the whole spices (except nutmeg) individually in a dry frying pan over medium flame. Until they are fragrant and immediately transfer them into your mixie jar.
Add in grated nutmeg, ginger powder and then blitz everything until a fine powder is formed.
You may pass this mixture through a sieve to remove any fragments and grind them again to ensure fineness in your masala powder.
Store in an airtight container, away from sunlight.
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