Yesterday someone gave me a jar of what they claim to be traditional garam masala. It is made from equal parts of green and brown cardamoms, cloves and cassia bark and that is it! As you can imagine it is really potent stuff. Do you think I could add some ground cumin or something to it so it's not quite as potent? Where I might normally add a teaspoon of gram masala, with this stuff I would only need a pinch.

Sid

Perhaps the "industrial" trick of adding copious amounts of cumin and coriander seeds would tone it down!

Adding nutmeg and bay leaves could make it more traditional.

Mum's recipe also includes black pepper and she says you can optionally add nutmeg.

That sounds quite strong. If it is very potent, which freshly made garam masala usually is, why do you need to use a tsp. when only a 1/4 will do?

You can mix fillers like cumin and coriander with it to make it less potent, but I don't. This is because these ingredients are usually already there in the dishes I would generally use garam masala for.

Equal amount of cloves, cassia and cardamom...do you think that it contains too much cloves? When I make GM the ratio of cloves is less than a lot of the other ingredients. I haven't tried using it yet, so maybe I should give it a try first and ask questions later.

For me, it sounds a bit overpowering sid, but it is not for me to say how someone else likes it. I make mine roughly like this; Garam Masala. I very seldom measure ingredients.

the potency will depend on the spices used, their age, variety, growing conditions, etc. so mixing a blend on amounts alone (weight or volume) will only ever be rough. I tend to blend by smell, but admit to soon getting 'overloaded' as I, too, just use cardamom, cloves, cassia and mace (black pepper added from the grinder, fresh, as it 'goes off' quite quickly).

As I use GM only at the start of coking, and do not sprinkle on food ubiquiously, the potency can be managed well.

It's always wisr to go easy on the cloves.

My usual GM is made from cassia bark, cloves, brown cardamom, green cardamom, black pepper corns, bay leaves, mace and black cumin seeds. I only make small batches at one time. I agree with you, Phil, I only ever add a small amount of cloves to my mix. The stuff I was given recently is too strong for me due to the amount of cloves. I have kept hold of it and I was thinking about adding a teaspoon of it to my usual mixture each time I make a fresh batch, that way it won't go to waste.

Sid

Meanwhile, keep it in a freezer sid, will keep fresh longer.

You've mention about keeping spices in the freezer before, Mamta, but I've never tried that - I will give it a try!! I have some plastic beakers with airtight screw on tops...I'll put it into one of those.

Sid

my brother keeps his spice and even the coffee in the frezer

Steve

While we are on the subject of freezing stuff, I would like to know if Mamta's karela bhaji recipe (the one with tamarind) is suitable for freezing? I bought 6 large karela yesterday evening and made a batch of the bhaji...I finished the rest off this morning for breakfast. I'm thinking of buying a load of the stuff and making a huge batch up if it will freeze. I looked at the recipe but I couldn't see anything about freezing it.

Sid

"I would like to know if Mamta's karela bhaji recipe (the one with tamarind) is suitable for freezing?"

Yes, it freezes well. I freeze it in portion sizes (for two), in zip-lock bags or small plastic containers or even small jam jars. Spices also survive well in good zip-lock bags or jam jars or plastic jars. I never buy jars, they are the empty ones from whatever I have used up. I have added it to the recipe now. By the way, I love that karela bhaji, more than the traditional one which uses green magoes or mango powder!