Garam Masala

The spice blend Garam Masala means 'warm spice' and is used in both Indian and Pakistani cooking. Other variants can be found in countries such as Trinidad and Guyana, where local spices have been added to the blend. As the name implies only spices that heat the body, black cardamon, black pepper, cinnamon, nutmeg, cumin and green cardamon should be used to make it. As these are expensive, however, this can be cut with cheaper spices, such as coriander.

Shop bought Garam Masala doesn't keep as well as home made and is less potent. In view of this additional potency you should therefore use less of the home ground variety than it's mass produced weaker cousin.

Garam Masala is often added to a dish at the end of the cooking process, when the full aroma isn't lost and it can add a wonderful fragrance to your dish.

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Ingredients

• 1 tbsp Cardamom Seeds
• 1 tsp Black Peppercorns
• 1 tsp Whole Cloves
• 1 tsp Cumin Seeds
• 1/3 a nutmeg
• 2-3 inch (5 - 7 1/2 cm) piece of Cinnamon Stick

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Preparation

• Grind the spices in batches as finely as possible. The Cinnamon stick is a beast to grind so I'd recommend using a heavy cleaver to chop it finely before you attempt to grind it. This is especially true if you are using a mortar and pestle. For the other spices you can also use the cleaver to take out some of the grunt work. First crush them under the flat of the blade, then rock the blade back and forth over the spices to roughly chop them.
  

• Store in an airtight jar, in a cool dark place. A badger sett would be ideal, but watch out for the badger!

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