Aromatic Garam Masala

Grocery store shelves and online stores offer a plethora of spices and spice blends. Some great and most Meh! flat and straight up flavorless. To be honest after experimenting with everything from artisanal spice blends to regular I have never come across anything like homemade. The fact is ground spice start to lose their flavor, color and aroma the minute they’re blended, and most lack the proper balance of individual spices.

Making homemade spice blend like garam masala is way simpler to make than you think. Garam masala was one the first recipes my mother taught me when cooking peaked my interest as a little girl. She taught me to identify various spices and allowed me to taste them. Ever since then I have been experimenting various combinations and I make a few different ones for specific curries and for every season. To make your own garam masala means you need to buy individual whole spices or chances are you already have a well stocked cupboard full of spices, in that case you’re on your way to creating your own signature garam masala.

Garam in Hindi means warm or hot. Masala is spice blend. “Garam masala” literally translates to blend of warm spices. Ayurveda’s ancient wisdom prescribes proper use of spices into our diet that can preserve, heal, detox, balance and help with the overall well-being of our mind, body and spirit. Indian cuisine adopts many of these teachings in it’s cuisine and has been a part of traditional Indian cooking for centuries.

Know Your Spices

Every spices has volatile organic chemical compounds making each very different in terms of aroma, pungency and flavor. The secret to cooking with spices is to preserve the aroma and infuse the flavor in food. Most spices are fat soluble and some are water soluble, its important to always use some fat, water and heat so the essential compounds are bioavailable for our body to absorb its nutrients. When it comes to spices little goes a long way. Here are some of my favorite and common spices used in garam masala and in other cuisines.

• Fennel seeds: Aromatic, sweet, cooling it regulates digestion balances the heat and pungent flavors from the other spices. Its also estrogenic and can help with breast milk production.
• Clove: Strong, warming, helps with detoxification, blood circulation, digestion, breath freshener, tooth and gum health.
• Green Cardamon: Sweet, cooling, calms nerves, digestion, mouth freshener, protein metabolism and persistent cough.
• Cinnamon: sweet, warming helps regulate blood pressure, aids digestion, improvers circulation, helps metabolize blood glucose.
• Black Cardamom: Warming Detox, metabolizes protein, improves sluggish digestion.
• Black Pepper: Warming, helps blood circulation, breaks down hard mucus.
• Bay Leaf: Sweet, Astringent aids digestion, abdominal pain, diuretic
• Coriander Seeds: Sweet, cooling offsets spicy foods, diuretic, relieves gas, helps detox, protects from acidity.
• Cumin Seeds: Warming, astringent, great for digestion, detox, congestion and helps probiotic bacteria flourish in the gut.
• Fenugreek Seeds: Bitter, warming helps maintain bone health, supports liver, pancreas health, regulates fat metabolism and insulin to regulate glucose metabolism.
• Curry Leaf: Sweet, cooling, supports liver detox, manages cholesterol, blood glucose.
• Turmeric: Warming, astringent, strong, helps with detoxifying liver by breaking down fats, aids digestion, anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, aids blood clotting, improves skin texture.
• Nutmeg and Mace: Sweet, warming, calms mind, helps sleep, relieves cold and coughs, helps with morning sickness, Men’s reproductive health, arrests diarrhea.
• Asafoedita: Very warming, helps reduce bloating, helps digestion of heavy foods like beans, meat etc, improves appetite.

How to Make Garam Masala and Use it

• Buy non-irradiated, organically grown whole spices if possible. Whole spices retain maximum amounts of essential oils when whole. In addition ground spices may not be 100% pure many manufactures may use fillers.
• Buy small batches, I know they’re a tad expensive than bulk. But spices are very sensitive to light and fluctuation in temperature. Keep them in airtight containers away from light and heat in dry pantry not displayed on kitchen counters. Whole spices will stay good for up to a year and ground spices are best used within a month under the conditions I mentioned above.
• Dry roast the spices and cool them. My Protip: Chill them in the freezer for 1 to 2 hours, transfer them to a blender and grind them into a powder. This little extra step reduces the natural oil release and grinds the spices fast.
• Most ground spices and garam masala are added in the early stages of cooking to layer, build and release maximum flavors and medicinal properties. But finishing garam masala which has a blend of fewer spices is added at the end of the cooking process to inject a lasting aromatic flavor. .
• Whole spices should be toasted in some fat, they are again added in the early stages of cooking. Warm oil activates their essential oils, opens the spices and they slowly release in the cooking.
• Garam Masala varies greatly based on ones preference of spices. I love a predominant flavor and aroma of green cardamom, some like cloves so on and so forth. The idea is to play around with different combination and variations in small batches to make your own unique signature spice blend.
• I leave out turmeric and chillies in my garam masala. I find its easier to build heat as the recipe needs it and add dried chillies as needed. The same with turmeric, I prefer to add turmeric as needed by the recipe, not all curries need turmeric and vice versa.
• If you noticed in the spice description I use the term cooling and warming. Because thats exactly the effect spices have on the body. Cooling spices like fennel, green cardamom and good to use in warmer months to have cooling effects on the body and spices like cinnamon, cloves warm the body. This is just a preference not a rule.

Basic Garam Masala

Ingredients

• ¼ cup coriander seeds
• 1 tablespoon cumin seeds
• 1 tablespoon green cardamom seeds
• 1 teaspoon cloves
• 1 tablpoon fennel seeds
• 1 tablespoon black whole peppercorns
• 2-3 inch piece cinnamon bark
• OPTIONAL BUT RECOMMENDED
• ½ teaspoon freshly ground nutmeg
• 1 star anise
• 2-3 black cardamom whole
• 2-3 blades mace
• 2-3 medium bay leaves

Instructions

• Heat a small skillet or frying pan & add green and black cardamom, bay leaf, star anise, nutmeg, mace, cinnamon, cloves and black peppercorns. 
• Roast them on a low to medium heat for 2-3 minutes stirring constantly. Once aromatic take it off the heat and transfer to a plate. 
• In the same skillet add coriander seeds and roast for 3-4 minutes stirring frequently to preventing burning. Once aromatic transfer this to the same plate.
• Finally add the fennel seeds, roast for 30 seconds then add cumin. Toast for 2-3 minutes until both spices are aromatic.
• Transfer to the same plate and cool completely.
• You can freeze the spices for an hour, this helps the grinding them into a fine powder minimizing the spices releasing their essential oils.
• Grind them in a clean coffee grinder until ground into a fine powder. Remember once you use it for spices, the aroma of the spices stick to the coffee grinder and seep into the coffee. I recommend buy a separate coffee grinder for spices, they are fairly inexpensive on Amazon or Walmart.
• Transfer the spice mix into a airtight container and keep it in a cool dark cupboard. Makes about 1 ½ cups.
• Use this spice mix right after you sauté onions, ginger and garlic. Toast it along with the onion mix until well incorporated and built the curry from there. Use this masala to marinate chicken, fish, tofu, vegetables before grilling. Pan fry a tablespoon of this spice mix with oil or ghee and add it to rice before cooking. The possiblities are endless.