Traditionally, we use many herbs, and spice mixes to cook our everyday meals. There is no home in India without a masala box, the most essential element of our kitchens.
Every family has a recipe for garam masala handed down through generations. This dry spice mix comes in handy without the need to roast and pound the ingredients while cooking.
Making fresh masalas every day is challenging in the present times. To make the cooking processes easier, here are some masala recipes to help you whip delicious meals quickly. All the ingredients are from your kitchen and there is no need to explore the market
1. Basic Gravy Masala
With this blend you can make any kind of curried vegetables like matar paneer, aloo gobi, kofte and more. Just sauté the masala add the required vegetables/dumplings, other ingredients and cook.
Ingredients:
7 onions diced
8 tomatoes diced
½ cup ginger garlic paste
¼ cup coriander powder
2 tsp cumin powder
½ tsp cinnamon and black cardamom powder each
1 tsp turmeric powder
2.5 tsp Kashmiri red chilli powder
1 tsp salt
2.5 tbsp oil
Method
Heat oil. Add the onions and fry until golden brown. Add the tomatoes and cook. Once the mixture becomes homogenous, add the ginger garlic paste. Cook for a few minutes. Add all the powders. Keep stirring until the oil separates. Store in the fridge and use as required. Can be stored for a week depending on the weather.
2. Khatta Masala
This spice mix comes in handy while making bhindi, karela, khatti dal or khatta Chana masala. You can even mix it with water, add some jaggery and make a khatti chutney for chaat dishes.
Ingredients
6 tbsp of coriander seeds
3 tsp of cumin seeds
2 tsp of carrom seeds
1.5 tsp of peppercorns
1 tsp of anardana powder
2 tbsp of amchur powder
1 tsp of black salt
Method
Roast cumin, coriander, carrom seeds and peppercorns. Grind finely. Let it cool. Add the rest of the ingredients and mix well. Store in the fridge.
3. Milk/Kheer Masala
This blend saves time while making sweet dishes. This can also be added to milkshakes/ lassi.
Ingredients
7-8 Green Cardamoms
20 almonds
20 pistachios
½ cup chironji (charoli)
1/2 tsp nutmeg powder
A few saffron threads
Method
Roast green cardamoms with skin. Cool and grind finely. Dry roast almonds, pistachios and chironji on a slow flame. Grind into a fine powder when cool. Roast saffron threads carefully until crisp and powder with hands. Blend cardamom finely. Mix everything and store it in the fridge.
This post has originally been written for QuintFit. You can read the rest of the post here
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