Making Garam Masala
I love to cook Indian style dishes and for that there are a couple of complex ingredients you need; Garam Masala and Tamarind Paste.
Recently I ran out of my Garam Masala and went to replace it. There are MANY theories and recipes for what makes a perfect Garam Masala – almost as many as there are for Gumbo. So, when buying prepared Garam Masala, you never know what you’re going to get.
I bought one that seemed nice but neglected to notice that BLACK PEPPER was the FIRST ingredient. SHEESH! When I say that it was so hot it made my Butter Chicken INEDIBLE, I am not exaggerating; we tossed most of it out.
This led me to try my hand at making my own.
I mean, all I had to do was follow a recipe and simply pay attention to the heat elements. How hard could it be? Not at ALL! This is the recipe I got from Bal Arneson, The Spice Goddess from Cooking TV.
Tune in soon for my “Making Tamarind Paste” post.
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon coriander seeds
- 1 tablespoon cumin seeds
- 1 tablespoon mixed peppercorns
- 6 green cardamom pods
- 5 brown cardamom pods (which I got from Captain Scott Berg, who commissioned the “Flyer Song” video)
- 6 cloves
- Two 2-inch pieces cinnamon stick
Directions:
Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F.
Put the coriander seeds, cumin seeds, peppercorns, cardamom pods, cloves and cinnamon sticks on a baking sheet and toast in the oven until they are aromatic, 15 to 20 minutes.
Grind to a powder in an electric spice grinder (I used an old coffee grinder).
Store in an airtight jar.
