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Cooking adventures in a small, closet sized, kitchen. - I came to realize that my meals were boring and that I had been eating the same few dishes over and over again for years. It was time for a change! I now spend my free time searching for, creating and trying tasty new recipes in my closet sized kitchen.

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Garam Masala

[heart_this] · Jul 26, 2008 · 37 Comments

Garam Masala

I have been wanting to try getting into more Indian cuisine for a while now. The one thing that I noticed right away was that a lot of recipes called for garam masala. Garam masala is a blend of ground “warm” spices and I figured that it would be a nice place to start exploring Indian cuisine. Finding a recipe for garam masala turned out to be a bit more difficult than I thought it would be as there seems to be an infinite number of variations. I looked through a many of them and decided to go with a pretty basic blend of some of the more common components of the garam masalas that I had seen. I have learned that it is a good idea to toast the spices to bring out their flavour. Once the garam masala was all toasted and ground it had a really nice aroma. The garam masala at this stage did have a nice warm taste to it. It was fun toasting and grinding up my own garam masala and now I look forward to using it.

Garam Masala

Garam Masala

Garam Masala

Prep Time: 15 minutes Cook Time: 2 minutes Total Time: 17 minutes Servings: 15
ingredients
  • 1 stick cinnamon
  • 1 whole nutmeg seed
  • 1 1/2 tablespoon cardamom pods
  • 1 1/2 tablespoon cumin seeds
  • 1 1/2 tablespoon peppercorns
  • 1/2 tablespoon cloves
directions
  1. Toast everything in a pan one at a time until fragrant.
  2. Grind everything in a grinder.
Use in:
Cashew Chicken Curry
Butter Paneer Masala
Egg Curry
Asparagus with Garam Masala, Butter and Toasted Hazelnuts
Grilled Tandoori Chicken
Garam Masala Roasted Halibut in a Tomato Curry Sauce
Butter Chicken (Murgh Makhani)
Palak Paneer
Curried Cauliflower Rice
Butter Chicken Noodle Soup
Chicken Tikka Masala

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Food, Gluten-free, Indian, Recipe, Spice Blend, Vegetarian

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Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Jeanine says

    July 26, 2008 at 2:02 am

    Wow, blending your own spices now, way to go, Kevin! I can imagine those spices together smell pretty good. Can’t wait to see what dishes you create using this blend!

    Reply
  2. Manggy says

    July 26, 2008 at 2:20 am

    Wow, thanks for this recipe Kevin! I’ve been avoiding making garam masala because some of the recipes I’ve seen use both black and green cardamom pods– not very friendly to my pantry! 🙂

    Reply
  3. Rindy R says

    July 26, 2008 at 2:45 am

    Wow Kevin – You are one dedicated chef. I am completely impressed with your spice blending – can’t wait to see the dish you make with it.

    Reply
  4. Esi says

    July 26, 2008 at 2:52 am

    Cool! What kind of grinder did you use?

    Reply
  5. Jaime says

    July 26, 2008 at 3:01 am

    wow, you made your own? i’m super impressed! you should try the chicken tikka masala recipe in my blog – i think you’d quite enjoy it 🙂

    Reply
  6. Jen Yu says

    July 26, 2008 at 3:55 am

    Kevin, I’m totally impressed. I was craving Indian food several months ago and when I couldn’t find Garam Masala in the stores, I contemplated making my own but… too lazy. But you make it look so easy! You’re an inspiration 🙂

    Reply
  7. Dee says

    July 26, 2008 at 5:04 am

    This is a pantry staple for me. Have you decided what you’re going to cook yet?

    Reply
  8. Jan says

    July 26, 2008 at 6:06 am

    Wow – I’ve never even thought of making it from scratch. Can’t wait to see what you’re going to cook using it!

    Reply
  9. Paula says

    July 26, 2008 at 6:37 am

    This looks like a great spice mix. I bet your kitchen smelled wonderful as you were toasting the ingredients! Looking forward to seeing what you create with it!

    Reply
  10. noobcook says

    July 26, 2008 at 8:19 am

    wow you’re now making your own spice blend!! U are incredible!!

    Reply
  11. HoneyB says

    July 26, 2008 at 10:51 am

    I’m looking forward to seeing what you make with this!

    Reply
  12. Adam says

    July 26, 2008 at 11:50 am

    Good luck with the Indian food. That spice mix is everywhere in their food. You’re def lucky to find fresh spices like that.

    Reply
  13. VeggieGirl says

    July 26, 2008 at 12:27 pm

    Such a wonderful, flavorful spice mixture!

    Reply
  14. OhioMom says

    July 26, 2008 at 1:43 pm

    I really like these spices blended together, can’t wait to see what you cook with them.

    Reply
  15. Robin says

    July 26, 2008 at 2:21 pm

    I always spend a lot of time getting the seeds out of the cardamom. So I’m surprised to see you using the whole pod?!?!

    Reply
  16. Elra says

    July 26, 2008 at 2:53 pm

    Kevin,
    I admire your adventurous in cooking. How about join this even about cooking around the world. Since you cook almost everyday, it be nice to cook food from another part of the world once a week, plus it is a good way to learn the culture through its cuisines. If you interested, here is the website http://www.mykitchenmyworld.blogspot.com

    Reply
  17. jodycakes says

    July 26, 2008 at 3:04 pm

    Most excellent…I love Indian Food – one of my fave’s – thanks for an easy, go to recipe

    Reply
  18. noble pig says

    July 26, 2008 at 3:25 pm

    I love this spice, I make one of my fave chicken dishes with it…thanks for posting this.

    Reply
  19. Sweet Bird says

    July 26, 2008 at 3:26 pm

    I’ve been tinkering around with making my own curry spices so it’s great to see an easy blend for garam masala. I usually just buy a blend of whole spices from my spice merchant and grind as needed.

    Btw, your grind looks nice. Do you use a coffee grinder to grind your spices? And if so, how did it handle the whole nutmeg?

    This, like so many of you recipes, is being immediately bookmarked!

    Reply
  20. Kevin says

    July 26, 2008 at 3:39 pm

    Esi, Sweet Bird: I used a cheap coffee grinder to grind up all of the spices. I broke the cinnamon sticks into pieces that fit in the grinder. The grinder had a bit of trouble with the nutmeg but it was eventually able to get most of it ground. There were a few bit of the nutmeg that did not grind and I picked those out.

    Reply
  21. Anonymous says

    July 26, 2008 at 5:02 pm

    This is great stuff! Nice recipe.
    Love the picture too. For some reason ground-up spices are very photogenic.

    Reply
  22. Gloria says

    July 26, 2008 at 5:21 pm

    Kevin I really love spices and the smell….so good, xxGloria

    Reply
  23. We Are Never Full says

    July 26, 2008 at 9:23 pm

    thanks for this great post. people forget that these so-called ‘exotic’ sounding spices (ie: garam masala and ras el hanout) are nothing more than a bunch of spices many people may already have in their homes blended together! i’m keeping this one… thanks for this!

    Reply
  24. Alexa says

    July 26, 2008 at 10:38 pm

    Hi Kevin,
    Did you purchase a coffee grinder for that purpose? Someone once told me that to clean it out in between grinding different spice mixtures, you put in 1 tbsp of rice and grind it for 30 seconds. It seems to work really well. I love indian spices and your pictures are beautiful. I look forward to seeing what you make with it.

    Reply
  25. Kevin says

    July 26, 2008 at 10:48 pm

    Alexa: Yes I got the coffee grinder for spices. The rice tip is a good one! I have used it and it works well.

    Reply
  26. Clumbsy Cookie says

    July 26, 2008 at 10:52 pm

    Wow Kevin! I also want to make my own! I can’t wait to see all you cook with it! I guess I could do it since I have all the spices, but I’ll just wait for your ideias! I love the photo!

    Reply
  27. meeso says

    July 27, 2008 at 12:23 am

    Mmmmm, Indian food is gooooood! Your Garam Masala looks awesome, enjoy!

    Reply
  28. Pam says

    July 27, 2008 at 1:25 am

    I don’t like the premade garam masala all that much, but I bet your fresh made is excellent!

    Reply
  29. redmenace says

    July 28, 2008 at 2:36 am

    The asparagus looks so good and I love the pics. I have an Indian cookbook and EVERY recipes calls for this spice. You’re off to a good start!

    Reply
  30. Mrs Ergül says

    July 28, 2008 at 3:31 am

    grinding your own spices is such a big level up! you sure make it look simple!

    Reply
  31. Deborah says

    July 28, 2008 at 4:38 pm

    I would love to experiment with Indian cuisine, but my husband doesn’t care for it. I’ll have to experiment when he’s not hungry!

    Reply
  32. Pearlsofeast says

    August 8, 2008 at 12:34 am

    Wow excellent masala recipe.Bookmarked and nutmeg adds a distinct flavour.

    Reply
  33. Anonymous says

    August 9, 2008 at 11:43 am

    just a tip instead of putting the nutmeg into the spice grinder you could grate it. i got a nutmeg grinder in Crate and barrell a few years ago. the grater was cliped onto a small container and all the shavings fell into it.

    Reply
  34. Nirvana says

    February 4, 2009 at 9:00 am

    I’ve always wanted to make my own garam masala but have been too overwhelmed with all the different variations so just used the store bought variety… You have inspired me to give it a try 🙂

    Reply
  35. She'll be apples says

    April 30, 2009 at 6:37 am

    Thank you for this post… I’ve been looking for garam masala, but then with this recipe, I can make my own 🙂

    Reply
  36. msmeanie says

    February 18, 2010 at 10:40 pm

    Hi Kevin, Thank you for this recipe! This spice is used so often in Indian dishes, it is really nice to know how to make it. I linked to your recipe from my blog. Thanks again!

    Reply
  37. Amrita says

    September 9, 2010 at 2:23 pm

    Hey,

    I really enjoyed your blog being a foodie 🙂
    Well, just a suggestion here regarding garam masala.
    In India, generally we use black cardamom for garam masala powder which is used in curries tandoors etc. Whereas green cardamom is used for desserts mostly.
    Another tip, in curries/gravies requiring garam masala you can add 1-2 whole bay leaf when the oil is hot before putting any other ingredients. Similarly garam masala can be put whole along with bay leaves in the begining (of course not nutmeg which can be added as powder) instead of using powdered garam masala.

    Best

    Reply

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