REPOST OF RECIPE: Garam Masala - Kashmiri Style

[Guest guest]

Here's a recipe for a Garam Masala I posted back in November 2006 - the whole

message

follows:

 

I'm running low on Garam Masala and am about to mix up some more.

Freshly roasted and ground home-made mixes taste so much better than the

products you can buy commercially - truly they do - and only take a few

minutes.

 

A note before starting: cardamom is an expensive spice, so most commercial

mixes of garam masala or curry powder skimp on it :=( That's why it's so nice

to roast, grind and mix your own.

Try this one:

 

GARAM MASALA - KASHMIRI STYLE

 

For this spice mix it is assumed that you have whole seeds - fresher, of

course, and you know they haven't been mixed with anything else ever. If your

cardamom comes from pods (I buy both kinds - seeds and pods containing

seeds. I would use the former for this mix.), measure them after removing from

pods so that you have the measure of the seeds only.

 

Ingredients:

 

2 tsp cardamom seeds

1 tsp black cummin seeds

1 tsp whole black peppercorns

2 cinnamon sticks, each 5 cm or 2 in

1/2 tsp whole cloves

1/4 whole nutmeg, grated

 

Method:

 

Roast the spices except for the nutmet in a dry pan *separately* (removing,

say, the cardamom before roasting the cummin - they all are different sizes

and will roast at different rates). Be careful not to let them scorch. You will

smell the wonderful scent when each one is ready. Grind roasted spices to a

fine powder (I have a separate coffee grinder just for grinding spices). Add the

freshly grated nutmeg. Store in an airtight jar.

 

Fantastic! ;=)

 

(And yes, if your spices are already ground and you have run out of garam

masala, even mixing together the ground spices in these proportions would

be nicer than commercial products provided that your spices are fresh. But

hey, next time buy them whole ;=))

 

Best,

Pat ;=)