Garam Masala

Garam masala is a basic blend of ground spices common in the Indian cuisine, especially important in the North-Indian part. Probably, there are as many variation as cooks. Some common ingredients are black and/or white peppercorns, cloves, black cumin, cumin seeds, cinnamon, black, brown and green cardamom, nutmeg or mace, star anise and coriander seeds. Some, that are based on pepper and clove, can be pretty hot, others, that are based on mace, cinnamon and cardamom, are rather mild and aromatic. If you add black pepper, but do not want to use the mixture immediately, then do not do so, because this may change the whole character of your mixture as time goes by.


I decided to prepare a mixture that is common in the Punjab area. It is spicy and hot, but the great thing about these mixtures is that you can play with the amount of ingredients as you desire.


Ingredients:
1 stick cinnamon
2 bay leaves
20 g cumin
15 g coriander seeds
10 g green cardamom pods
10 g black pepper
7 g clove
7 g ground mace

Break cinnamon stick in pieces, crumble bay leaves. Roast spices for 2-3 minutes over medium heat, until they begin to get dark. Let it cool and grind together with the mace. Some sources say not to roast the spices for this mixture, so it is up to you! The mixture can be kept for 3-4 months.