Mamta's Kitchen - A Family Cookbook





Garam masala maturity

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On 05/03/2020 02:03pm, Helen Bach wrote:

Does your garam masala mature in flavour?

I was making some ras el hanout Maroccan spice mix last night by grinding some whole spices I bought in Morocco, and today it seemed to have matured in flavour, deeper and more rounded. It is far more complex than GM, and one could not substitute one for the other.

I admit to using only mace, green cardamom, cloves and cassia bark in my GM, and cannot see any chemistry that is likely to change. If coriander and cumin seed is used, then these will change. But I only use GM at the start of cooking (with meat), and never at the end.

On 06/03/2020 04:03pm, Mamta wrote:

Hello Helen

From my experience, I can?t say that Garam masala matures in flavour. older it gets, less flavour it has.

My GM has what my mother and most of my family have in theirs; large brown cardamoms, cassia bark, bay leaves, cloves and black peppers. I occasionally add green cardamoms too. I don?t add coriander and cumin to it. They dilute the aroma. My family and all the other people I know in India, keep and add these two separately. Mace is also not something I have seen people in my part of India add to GM.

I use whole GM at the start of a recipe, I add it to the hot oil/ ghee, along with cumin/mustard/carom/nigella/fennel/fenugreek seeds. I add ground GM at the end of cooking, just turn the heat off, sprinkle GM on top and close the lid allowing flavours to develop and infuse. I am sure you will understand the chemistry of it better than most, but this is the traditional way I have always done it.

Mamta

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