I was looking at my spice rack, and noticed that I was almost out of Garam Masala.
This isn't a spice I purchase, as it's actually a spice mix and the ones you can purchase are almost ALWAYS too spicy for me to handle. This was actually the inspiration for this blog, as it occurred to me that every recipe for Garam Masala calls for dried chili's and/or cayenne pepper.For this recipe, I always use whole spices that I roast and then grind in a coffee grinder. My coffee grinder has never actually ground coffee, only spices. You, however, can feel free to mix this up with any pre-ground spices that you have lying around.
Ingredients:
1 tbsp Cumin Seeds
1 tbsp coriander seeds
4 cardamom pods (green) and feel free to throw in a black one if you have one
1/4 - 1/2 tsp whole cloves
2 dried bay leaves
2 inch cinnamon stick
1 piece of nutmeg (I don't use the whole thing - only 1/2)
1/2 tsp peppercorns (optional)
1/4 tsp fennel seeds (optional)
1/4 tsp caraway seeds (optional)
I dry roast all the ingredients in a small pan (it's actually a pan for frying an egg). Dry roast until they pop and crackle, stir often (I shake the pan) - DO NOT BURN!
Then I put them all into the coffee grinder and grind them up. I peak inside after a few grinds, and pull out the nutmeg piece when it's about 1/2 it's original size then finish grinding until the mixture is powder.
If you do not have whole spices, or prefer to use pre-ground spices, then feel free to approximate.
Use about twice as much cumin as coriander (say 2 tsp to 1 tsp),
about 1/4 tsp cardamon,
1 tsp cinnamon,
1/2 tsp pepper (if using)
and 1/4 tsp nutmeg and cloves.
As for fennel and caraway, if you can find those ground, awesome, but don't use more than 1/8 tsp as they are very strong flavors.
For the bay leaves, as they only come in leaf form, see if you can crush them down with a mortar and pestle, or put them in a small zip loc and run a rolling pin over it until crushed small.
Store your mixture in a tightly sealed jar.
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