RCP: Garam Masala (several different recipes)

Here are a bunch of different recipes for the Indian dried, ground spice mixture garam masala (which means "hot spice mixture"). There are as many recipes for this as there are cooks. Several constants apply:

- Except where noted, whole spices are preferred.

- The whole spices should be dry-fried in an ungreased small skillet or saucepan for a minute or so, until fragrant. Whatever you do, be careful not to burn the spices.

- break up cinnamon sticks into small pieces before dry-frying

- Where black and green cardamom pods are involved, lightly crush the pods to break the skin before dry-frying, then afterward remove and discard the skins and only use the seeds inside.

- Dried green peppercorns are hard to find. Substitute black peppercorns if you can't get them.

- In the end, everything is ground together to a fine powder. Traditionally of course this was done in a mortar and pestle. But unless you like pointless manual labor, a coffee or spice grinder is ideal for this, or use a food processor. I have a Brun coffee grinder dedicated to spice-grinding.

- Garam masala keeps for months if kept in a glass jar or sealed plastic bag, away from heat, light, and excess air.

These recipes are from Yamuna Devi's excellent vegetarian Indian cookbook Lord Krishna's Cuisine--The Art of Indian Vegetarian Cooking. Ms. Devi presents several regional styles of garam masala, along with her personal recipe:

Rajasthani-style Garam Masala

3 dried whole chile pods
4 black cardamom pods
1 1/2 cups cumin seeds
1/2 cup coriander seeds
1 tsp ajawain (bishop's weed) seeds

Delhi-style Garam Masala

1/3 cup whole cloves
five 3-inch cinnamon sticks
1/2 cup green cardamom pods (substitute white [bleached] cardamom pods)
1 cup cumin seeds
3/4 cup coriander seeds

Punjabi-style Garam Masala

6 cloves whole mace
1/4 cup black peppercorns
3 TBS whole cloves
four 3-inch cinnamon sticks
1/3 cup green cardamom pods
1/2 cup cumin seeds
2/3 cup coriander seeds
1/2 tsp ajwain seeds
12 tsp ground dried ginger
2 TBS ground nutmeg
2 cassia or bay leaves

Maharastra-style Garam Masala

4 dried whole chile pods
2 TBS sesame seeds
1 1/2 TBS green peppercorns
1 1/2 TBS white peppercorns
1/4 cup whole cloves
four 3-inch cinnamon sticks
22 black cardamom pods
2/3 cup cumin seeds
1/4 cup coriander seeds
2 cassia or bay leaves
1 TSP ground ginger
2 TBS ground nutmeg

Bengali-style Garam Masala

3-4 dried whole chile pods
3 TBS sesame seeds
2 TBS green peppercorns
2 TBS black peppercorns
2 TBS white peppercorns
1 TBS whole cloves
three 3-inch cinnamon sticks
20 green cardamom pods
1/4 cup cumin seeds
3/4 cup coriander seeds
3 cassia or bay leaves
1 tsp ground ginger

Uttar Pradesh-style Garam Masala

3 dried whole chile pods
2 TBS pomegranate seeds
1/8 tsp saffron threads
5 cloves of mace
2 TBS green peppercorns
2 TBS black peppercorns
2 TBS white peppercorns
2 TBS whole cloves
1/3 cup cumin seeds
2/3 cup coriander seeds
1 TBS fennel seeds
2 cassia or bay leaves
1 TBS ground nutmeg

Gujarati-style Garam Masala

3 TBS grated coconut
1 TBS sesame seeds
2 TBS black mustard seeds
1/4 tsp saffron threads
1/4 cup green peppercorns
1/4 cup white peppercorns
2/3 cup green cardamom pods
3/4 cup cumin seeds
1/4 cup ground nutmeg

Yamuni Devi's Version of Garam Masala

1 dried whole chile pod
1/2 tsp saffron threads
5 cloves of mace
1/4 cup whole cloves
three 3-inch cinnamon sticks
15 black cardamom pods
1/2 cup cumin seeds
2/3 cup coriander seeds
1/4 cup fennel seeds
1 1/2 TBS ground nutmeg

The following garam masala recipes are from Neelam Batra's cookbook 1000 Indian Recipes. Again, Ms. Batra presents recipes from various regional traditions, starting with a simple, generic one.

Garam Masala

1/3 cup ground cinnamon (preferably sticks dry-fried and then ground to produce this amount)
1/3 cup black peppercorns
1/4 cup black cardamom pods
1/4 cup whole cloves
3 TBS green cardamom pods

Hyderabadi Garam Masala

2 tsp saffron threads
1/4 cup black peppercorns
1/4 cup black cumin seeds (shah jeera)
1/4 cup whole cloves
1/4 cup ground cinnamon (preferably sticks to make this amount)
1/4 cup green cardamom pods

This next is my (Paul Winalski's) personal favorite.

Mughlai Garam Masala

1 TBS saffron threads
1/4 cup black peppercorns
1/4 cup cumin seeds
2 TBS black cumin seeds (shah jeera)
2 TBS ground cinnamon (preferably sticks to make this amount)
2 TBS whole cloves
2 TBS seeds from green cardamom pods (discard the pods)
2 TBS seeds from black cardamom pods (discard the pods)
2 TBS ground ginger
1 TBS bay leaves
1 tsp mace (whole preferred)
1 tsp ground nutmeg

Parsi Garam Masala

1/3 cup green cardamom pods
1/4 cup ground cinnamon (preferably sticks to make this amount)
1/4 cup black peppercorns
1/4 cup cumin seeds
4 whole star anise (32 individual cloves; 3 TBS ground)
2 TBS whole cloves

Kashmiri Garam Masala

1/2 cup fennel seeds
1/4 cup black cumin seeds (shah jeera)
1/4 cup black peppercorns
2 TBS green cardamom seeds (discard the pods)
1 tsp saffron threads
1 TBS ground cinnamon (preferably sticks to make this amount)
1 TBS ground ginger
1 tsp mace (preferably blades)
1 tsp ground nutmeg


Regional variations in spicing really show through here. The ornate court cuisine of the Moghul Empire shows in some of the northern mixtures that involve saffron, mace, and nutmeg. Contrasting with this are the mixtures from Bengal in the East and Rajasthan in the West. The Gujarati and Hydarabadi are representative of the South. The Parsis are a religious (Zoroastrian) minority who were originally refugees from Iran, and who brought some unique culinary elements with them.

As noted above, I personally use Neelam Batra's Mughlai recipe. But they're all good, and they provide endless opportunity to experiment.

-Paul W.

Well done, Paul. Thx.
But, one question, how do you know which spice mix to use with which type of recipes. I assume this book also has recipes calling for the specific spice mixes? Thx. Well done.

Great stuff, Paul!! Thanks very much for that.

Jo Ann,

Typically each Indian recipe will have its own spice mixture (masala) of fresh (e.g., ginger, garlic, onions, coconut) and dried spices. Usually the masala ingredients are ground together into a paste or slurry and added at the appropriate stage of the dish. The recipe may call for garam masala as one of the dry "spices" that form the dish's overall masala. Or it may specify a teaspoon of garam masala be sprinkled as a garnish over the finished dish. Or both.

Every Indian cook has their own recipe for garam masala, very often passed down within the family and then tweaked to personal taste. As you can see in the recipes I posted, there are regional differences based on the spicing patterns of each region's cuisine. I suspect that, for example, a Gujarati cook making a Bengali dish will just throw in a Gujarati-style garam masala when the recipe says "one tablespoon garam masala". This is what I do--I happen to like the Mughlai formulation and so that's what I use everywhere when the dish calls for garam masala. For absolute authenticity it probably would be better to use the appropriate regional formulation (Gujarati for Gujarati dishes, Kashmiri for Kashmiri dishes, and so on), but it's not practical for me to keep all of these on hand, so I just picked one and go with it.

-Paul W.

Parsi Garam Masala

1/3 cup green cardamom pods
1/4 cup ground cinnamon (preferably sticks to make this amount)
1/4 cup black peppercorns
1/4 cup cumin seeds
4 whole star anise (32 individual cloves; 3 TBS ground)
2 TBS whole cloves

Interesting, Paul. Parsi means Persian in the Persian language, so this is Persian-style spice mixture from the name (pedantic sidenote: Farsi is the Arabic rendering of the name [Arabic lacks a P sound] and Persia is the Hellenic rendering of the name Pars). I'm surprised that there's no saffron in it as there is in Yamuni Devi's.

Mark Lipton

Mark,

The Parsis in India are a community of Iranian Zoroastrians who fled to the Indian subcontinent centuries ago to escape religious persecution. They brought with them the Persian style of cooking. Parsi cuisine is distinctive in India to this day. You can see this in the inclusion of star anise, which doesn't occur much elsewhere in Indian cuisine.

Saffron certainly is not uncommon in Persian cooking. I suspect it doesn't occur in Neelam Bahtra's Parsi garam masala because saffron is so expensive--too costly for an everyday spice mix such as garam masala. But we do see it in the Mughlai version because that is the court cuisine of the emperor, which is rich and extravagant. Yamuna Devi was the personal chef for Swami Prabhupada, the founder of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (aka Hare Krishnas). A lot of her recipes are taken from temple kitchens or the personal kitchens of rich Brahmins with whom Swami Prabhupada stayed as an honored guest. So we see more saffron in Yamuna Devi's garam masala mixes.

-Paul W.

Mark,

The Parsis in India are a community of Iranian Zoroastrians who fled to the Indian subcontinent centuries ago to escape religious prosecution. They brought with them the Persian style of cooking. Parsi cuisine is distinctive in India to this day. You can see this in the inclusion of star anise, which doesn't occur much elsewhere in Indian cuisine.

Thanks for that information, Paul. I'd never heard of this particular subgroup in the Asian subcontinent, but that's really no surprise considering the richness and complexity of culture in those parts. Star anise I think of as more of an East Asian spice, not something that I'm accustomed to finding in Persian cooking.

Saffron certainly is not uncommon in Persian cooking. I suspect it doesn't occur in Neelam Bahtra's Parsi garam masala because saffron is so expensive--too costly for an everyday spice mix such as garam masala. But we do see it in the Mughlai version because that is the court cuisine of the emperor, which is rich and extravagant. Yamuna Devi was the personal chef for Swami Prabhupada, the founder of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (aka Hare Krishnas). A lot of her recipes are taken from temple kitchens or the personal kitchens of rich Brahmins with whom Swami Prabhupada stayed as an honored guest. So we see more saffron in Yamuna Devi's garam masala mixes.

That makes good sense. In fact, I don't really see the value of saffron in garam masala given the aromatic character of the other spices. Saffron, while fairly aromatic in its own right, would likely be overwhelmed in the mixture.

Mark Lipton

Paul,

Thank you so much for posting this information and also sharing your considerable knowledge behind the recipes. Much appreciated, and I obviously have to hang out on this forum more often. Lots to learn and be inspired from

Simon

PBS had a show about India last night. One of the topics, of course, was the different foods. And garam masala was definitely mentioned. Very interesting show.