“Masala’ means spice blend and ‘Garam’ means hot. Garam masala literally means a hot spice blend!” Garam masala is a mixture of warm spices is usually added as a seasoning at the end of an Indian dish rather than at the start. It’s a finishing spice mix. This spice mix elevates the whole dish by infusing a delicious aromatic punch and providing depth. So a little goes a long way.
There are two parts to this recipe; the finishing spice powder (dry) and curry paste(moist)
I think I’ve mentioned this before I like to make my spice blends and seasonings in small batches. Garam masala is the cornerstone to a tasty Indian curry. There is no one recipe that one can call the best, every household has there own blend. Some of the store blends are good, but making your own is better and has some advantages.
1. For one you know it’s not stale sitting on the store shelves for ages, losing its precious aroma.
2. you can customize the masala blend specific to each classic dish. For example Chana has more cumin and cloves, Biryani has more cardamom so on and so forth.
I have one standard Garam masala recipe and then I tweak one or a couple of spices to customize it to a particular dish. For example I like more cardamom in makhni so I’ll add an extra pod when I blend spices for makhani. For greens, nutmeg has a prominent flavor. I wrote this recipe to show you how to make the basic spice blend and curry paste to get started.
Indian curry paste unlike Thai curry paste is not-put-everything-in-a-food-processor and blend to a specific color. The bhuna masala is a process of sautéing and layering the aromatics that builds the flavors, texture and consistency. It’s not just about adding a bunch of spices. It’s a fairly simple process but a little time consuming. You can double or triple this recipe and freeze it in ice cube trays that way you can pull out as many as you need and not defrost the whole thing. It’s also a great idea to make a large batch for winter when ventilating cooking odors can be a problem and you don’t want everything in the house smell of curry, specially the jackets and towels. Trust me it’s amazing how kitchen odors travel.
Garam Masala (dry spice powder)-
- 1 tablespoon cardamom seeds
- 1 tablespoon coriander seeds
- 2 ½ teaspoons cumin seeds
- 1 ¼ teaspoons black peppercorns, tellicherry preferred
- nutmeg about 1/4 teaspoon
- 2 inch piece cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon whole cloves
- ½ star anise
- 1 small bay leaves
In a small dry skillet over low heat. Add the whole spices except cinnamon and nutmeg.
Dry toast by sliding the pan back and forth so the spices don’t burn, toast them until they smell fragrant, after a few minutes. Let cool, then grind all the spices including the cinnamon and nutmeg in a spice grinder until powdered. Transfer to an airtight dark container. Should stay fresh for 8-10 weeks. Use about 1/-1 teaspoon or as needed.
To make the curry paste
1 medium onion chopped or pureed depending on how you like the texture
1 pound tomatoes puréed or diced tomatoes about 3-4 plum tomatoes ; depending on how you like the texture
4 garlic cloves chopped
11/2 inch piece ginger chopped
1 tsp turmeric
2 tbsp any neutral oil, I like avocado or grapeseed or sunflower
Salt to taste
Blend together onions, garlic and ginger in a food processor or blender. Use about 3-4 tbsp of water as needed to move things along. Set aside.
Heat oil in a thick bottom pan, add the onion paste.
Cook it on medium high heat until all the moisture has evaporated. Once the paste starts getting thicker reduce the heat to medium low, add salt, cayenne and turmeric.
Cook until the paste starts changing color and gets golden brown in color.
Blend or finely chop the tomatoes. Add it to the onion mixture sauté to mix well and then let cook on medium heat till all the liquid has evaporated. Add Garam masala (dry) as needed. Mix everything well together. The curry paste is ready.
You can use this paste for mixed or single vegetable curry, it’s delicious with beans or legume curry like chickpeas, black eyed peas, red kidney beans. . You can also add it to proteins like firm cubed tofu or chicken. It’s really nice in any grain like rice or quinoa pilaf with a few vegetables.
This curry paste can be stored in a refrigerator for upto 2 weeks. Let the paste cool completely and then transfer it to an air tight container or can be frozen.
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