Garam masala,Dilli Haat!

Is very impotent spice blend in my kitchen and in the kitchen of my mom tooo. As far as my grandmaa is concerned i never ever seen any spice tin in her kitchen. Her spices were red chilly, haldi,jeera, namak (coarse un grounded) no dhaniya even, but all were grounded/ pounded at home...by hand with pastle and morter or chakki using her own hands.and her preparation was heavenly in taste cooked/simmered on open fire and cow-dung cakes.

Any how the aromatic, floral and powerful, blend of little varied spices adds a zig to my dishes. I have been making my own garam masala for a long. Once i got the recipe from my punjabi friend late....Bimla (custom officer, may her soul be in rest and piece..all her children are doing well. Her husband, a principal in school is a gentleman. He used to do all the jobs of their kids when she was alive, later he brought all three of them single handedly).

Bimla was a great cook. The proportion she described me(i noted it down on paper there and then) was so accurate for the flavour, taste and what else is required for making dishes fragrant.it is indeed very simple to make and a little goes along way. In fact the quantity mentioned below as given by my friend is really amazing..

This is also a versatile bled. But each individual have his/her own favorite spices, not-so-favored spices and cannot-stand-spices. My son for instance hates black peppers, my daughter for instance cannot take too much cardamom.. But this version of the gram masala remains the same all the time. I am in the habit of individual grounded version of some of the spices,like toasted and grounded black- pepper, jeera, cardamom, cinamin, jaiphal in my kitchen!!.

As per me home made garam masala should be used almost at the very end of the cooking process; overcooked spices sort of smell acrid and i hate it. Most store brought varieties withstand rigorous cooking because they are more of a c-cumin...
Also Garam Masala especially the home made kinds should be used almost at the very end of the cooking process;overcooked spices sort of smell acrid and I hate it. Most store brought varieties withstand rigorous cooking because they are more of a coriander-cumin mixture than a combination of delicate floral spices.

This makes about a few tablespoon fulls. But it does last a long time. I store it in a tiny glass jar with a tight fitting lid. In fact the lib is so tight that when I open it there is a whiff of all wonderful spices seducing my nose !!!

Pepper corns 15 grams1/2 tbsp

Cardamom pods 25 grams1 tbsp
Cloves 50 grams2 tbsp
Cinnamon 50 gm2 tbsp
Cumin 25 gms1 tsp

Star Anaise 1
Maratha Moggu 1

Method:

• Heat a small pan. Toast the cardamom pods till fragrant. Set aside to cool
• Toast all the other spices one by one till fragrant. Set aside to cool.
• Shell the cardamom and separate the seeds. Discard the shells.
• Combine all the spices in a coffee blender and blend till the mixture resembles the texture of fine sooji. I prefer mine to be on the coarse, Somehow when the spices are ground very fine, they somehow tend to loose their aroma.

Store it in a small jar with a tight fitting lid.
Enjoy

I bet it smells heavenly..cinnamon is one of my favorite smells there is. It looks so nice too. I did a dried apple garland years ago like that..much more simple...yours is beautiful. Hmmmm maybe I will have to do one this year. You have inspired me once again!!
Have a fun weekend~!

Dilli Haat!

I took this photo of my daughter at a shop at Dilli hat

At Dili Hat last week the scene of cheering up Giant Dancing Dolls with the back ground music from Hemant Kumar’s Bees Saal Baad, A common scene as far as i stumbled upon.

At Janpath we stroll over several shops for tit-bits।

Happy Day!!!