Home Made Garam Masala

 
So In light of it being my day off and I'm beyond myself with boredom, I'm sharing some of my favourite recipes. I hate going to Bulk Barn or the Grocery store (which I have aptly re-named Lowblows tee hee hee) I started making my own spice mixes. I actually started this garam masala concoction when I worked at The Manotick Village Butcher in Ottawa Ontario and had many an opportunity to make a wonderful Butter Chicken and Chicken Curry that pissed the butcher off to no end.. What do I care.. It sold every time and furthermore it was requested by some of the patrons!!

Garam Masala is a Hindi term meaning Hot (garam) and Mixture (Masala). I make mine quite spicy but for those who don't appreciate the eye-watering, mouth-on-fire sensation that I seem to be immune to here's a good recipe to follow. I make quite a large batch as I use it often but you can easily reduce this recipe by half if you don't make Indian food as often as I do.

     * 1/4 cup cumin seeds
     * 2 Tbsp Coriander seeds
     * 4 Black or Green Cardamom pods cracked
     * 2 Tbsp black peppercorns
     * 2 tsp ground mace
     * 3 sticks cinnamon broken into smaller pieces
     * 2 tsp ground nutmeg
     * 10-15 cloves
     *  6-8 strands of saffron
     * 2 malabar leaves crushed (basically the East Indian version of the bay leaf- use bay leaves if you like)
     (*Kick it up a few notches like I do and add anywhere from 1/2 tsp to 1 Tbsp of cayenne powder)

Start with all your whole spice ingredients and toast them lightly in a dry non-stick pan. 3-4 minutes on a medium-low heat, continuously moving them around should do the trick. Add in any powdered spices you have and toss them around for about 10 seconds on the heat. Turn off the heat and let the spices cool in the pan. Once they are cool grind them in a coffee grinder and store in an air-tight jar.
And as they say in Hindi आप का खाना स्वादिष्ट हो (āp kā khānā svādiṣṭa ho).. Means Bon Appetit!!