On a cooking course weekend with Reza Mahammad at African Relish, the celebrity chef explained to us that we shouldn’t be buying store-bought spice mixes as they don’t have nearly as much flavour as freshly-ground spices. Here’s his recipe for homemade garam masala.
Reza says: ‘Although the term ‘garam masala’ means hot spices, it is actually a combination of several aromatically warming spices which have been dry roasted into a fine powder.’
Ingredients
- 8 bay leaves, dried
- 6-9 (5cm) cinnamon sticks
- 50g coriander seeds
- 50g cumin seeds
- 1 tbsp fennel seeds
- 1 tbsp black peppercorns
- 1 tbsp cloves
- 2 tbsp green cardamom pods
- 4-6 whole black cardamom pods
- 4-6 star anise
- 8-10 blades mace
- 1-2 tbsp dried pink rose petals
Dry roast all the spices in a wide pad for 5-7 minutes, then allow to cool. Grind in a coffee grinder to a very fine powder. Store in an airtight container in a dark place.
Recipe by Reza Mahammad
Photo by FotoosVanRobin
