Growing up watching my mother cook in the kitchen was always interesting to me. I never quite understood all the roasting and grinding of various spices. "What was the difference?" I always thought.
Then one day all her explaining made sense - it was when I had to cook my very first Biryani, I was 19 Years old.
Somph or Fennel, featured very prominently in the mix.
Other ingredients are Bay Leaves, cinnamon sticks, elaichi (Cardamom - The green ones or white ones AND the huge black one), some cloves and Star Aniseed. I have noticed that the pack I have bought, does not include the big black cardamom nor does it include cloves. I will have to add those ingredients before making my own Garam Masala.
These days, one can buy the Garam Masala already ground, but the problem I have, is that it isn't quite like the one made at home. I do with Garam Masala what my mum and her mother used to do.
I do the roasting of two of my other spices in the same way eg. Jeera seeds (Cumin), Dhaniya seeds (Coriander). I always keep whole roasted Jeera and Somph (Fennel seeds) for use in curries as well as Biryanis.
Happy Roasting :-)
Then one day all her explaining made sense - it was when I had to cook my very first Biryani, I was 19 Years old.
Somph or Fennel, featured very prominently in the mix.
Other ingredients are Bay Leaves, cinnamon sticks, elaichi (Cardamom - The green ones or white ones AND the huge black one), some cloves and Star Aniseed. I have noticed that the pack I have bought, does not include the big black cardamom nor does it include cloves. I will have to add those ingredients before making my own Garam Masala.
These days, one can buy the Garam Masala already ground, but the problem I have, is that it isn't quite like the one made at home. I do with Garam Masala what my mum and her mother used to do.
- First pre-heat the oven to 120 deg Celsius alternatively place ingredients in a large frying pan (the problem with roasting the ingredients in the pan is that it takes a lot of time to continuously stir the ingredients to avoid burning. Roasting in the oven is by far the best way.)
- Empty the whole ingredients into a roasting pan
- Evenly distribute the ingredients to cover the base of the pan
- Place the pan with the ingredients into the oven
- Allow to roast for 20(twenty) minutes.
- Ensure that the ingredients do not burn - keep an eye out and stir if necessary.
- Remove from oven and then allow the ingredients to cool.
- Using a coffee grinder, gradually grind all ingredients, as the coffee grinder can only take a couple tablespoons of ingredients at a time and then store in an air tight container for use as required.
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| The label of the Garam Masala in my Late Mom's hand writing. Don't have the heart to re label it. |
I do the roasting of two of my other spices in the same way eg. Jeera seeds (Cumin), Dhaniya seeds (Coriander). I always keep whole roasted Jeera and Somph (Fennel seeds) for use in curries as well as Biryanis.
Happy Roasting :-)
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