My Spice -- Garam Masala, Bhaja Masla & more...

Bengali Garam Masala is actually a very simple mix of 4 spices: Cloves, Cardamom, Cinnamon and Tej Patta. The Tej Patta as I have seen is abandoned many times in favor of the others. My Ma however loved it and used it whenever the recipe called for garam mashla as phoron (i.e. tempering the food by spicing the oil)

Whole Garam masala

She would sun the above spices and in our stainless steel jarred Bajaj Mixer make a dry powder of them and store it as a guro Garam Mashla or as we say in English Garam Masala powder

I take a step ahead and put more stuff in my Garam Masala powder. I also dry roast the spices instead of just sunning them which is the norm. My version is NOT the standard bengali version. The Bengali version usually does not have Red Chilli or Mace

Spices I use to make my Garam masala powder

My Garam Masala Powder

Dry Roast 20 Green Cardamom/Elaichi, 10 Clove/Laung, a 2" stick of cinnamon, 3-4 Dry Red Chilli for the slightest heat, 2-3 small barks of mace/javetri and a small Tej-Patta. Note: What I have here is a Bay Leaf but a small Tej Patta(Indian Bay Leaf) works better. Also you can substitute red chili with black peppercorns. You can dry roast either on the stove top or pop them in the oven at 250F for 5-8 minutes. The roasting is done only to warm the spices which have been lying around for a while. Instead you can sun them and then grind.

Grind to a fine powder in your coffee grinder.

Store in an air-tight container for future use

Lately I have been a sucker for home made spices. I cleared the pantry of all Shan masalas and barring the Kitchen King, Kasoori Methi and Amchoor I have no other store bought spice powder. Oh, wait I have a packet of Deggi Mirch which is used sparingly by us and and indulged on by the nanny.

So anyway without all the Shaan masala I was kind of stranded in no-spice land when I wanted to make a Kofta Pualo some time back. Luckily I remembered the Biryani Masala at Mallugirl's. I love that masala and use it for not only making Biryanis but in various other dishes.

Here is how I make Biryani Masala based on this recipe. I reduce the carraways seeds and increase the fennel as I like the sweetness of fennel and find cararway seeds too spicy. Also I forgo the star anise and add nutmeg powder instead of the whole.

Biryani Masala Powder

Dry Roast 8-10 Green Cardamom/Elaichi, 8-10 Cloves/Laung, 2" stick of cinnamon, 1 small Bay leaf, 5-6 small bark of mace/javethri, 2 tsp of Fennel seeds, 1 tsp of Carraway seeds/Shah Jeera

Put all of the above in a coffee grinder jar along with 1 tsp of nutmeg powder

Grind to a smooth powder and store in an air tight jar

Use this masala for loads of stuff from adding a pinch to your pualo to spicing up the marinade for fish, from adding to biryani to your chicken curry. I use this masala alternately with Garam Masala but when using this, use a smaller quantity.


And then there is the Bhaja Mashla(Roasted Masala) my Ma makes for sprinkling over most chutneys and also in vegetable chops. I had blogged about it here in my Baked Beet Roll recipe. The Bhaja Masala is called so because the spices here are dry roasted and then ground. This spice mix has been blogged about in detail in my later post Bhaja Masla.

Bhaja Mashla

To make this Dry Roast 1 tbsp each of Jeera (Cumin Seeds), Dhania (Corriander seeds), Saunf (Fennel Seeds), 6/7 Laung (cloves) , 6/7 Elaichi (Cardamom), 3/4 TejPata(Bay leaves), an inch & half of cinnamon stick and peppercorns according to desired hotness.Then just dry grind it to a powder. Note: This was last made by my Ma and so measures are approximate

Punjabi Garam Masala

The recipe of Punjabi Garam Masala is from Anita of Mad Tea Party. Original recipe is here. I think her recipe asks for more of the black cardamom but I used about 15. Also I used the seeds and discarded the skin

I did it this way. To make this sun or gently warm on tawa 1 tbsp Cumin seeds, 1/2 tbsp Clove, 1/2 tbsp Peppercorn, a 1" stick of cinnamon, 1 tejpatta and around 15 black cardamom. Dry grind to a powder.

Check out other spices in this series in the left hand column

This weekend our kitchen floor is getting a makeover and so the kitchen will be closed for weekend. I am shacking up at a friend's place, kids in tow and the friend has promised to make a Patha'r Mangsho'r jhol for lunch tomorrow. She cooks delicious food and you know what I am looking forward to.


Wishing all Moms a Very Happy Mothers Day. There is a Mother Day event going on at Desi Momz Club. All moms, member or not please feel free to contribute.

Olkopir Dalna

I always thought Olkopi or KohlRabi is a veggie popular only in Eastern India, because we had it in Bihar and Bengal but somehow never noticed it in Bangalore. So I thought it was going to be a surprise veggie for most of you and I could blog about it and yell SURPRISEEEE !!! But that was not to be, you foodies surprise me all the time. Laksmik already introduced it and there is even a South Indian Name for it, Noolkol (see the "ol" in every language ?)

This is known as Kohlrabi here in the US and as Lakshmi pointed out till date I have seen it only at the Asian Stores, the Indian stores don’t carry it.

Interesting facts about KohlRabi from Wiki
Kohlrabi (Brassica oleracea Gongylodes Group) is a low, stout cultivar of the cabbage which has been selected for its swollen, nearly spherical, Sputnik-like shape. The name comes from the German kohl (cabbage) plus rabi (turnip), because the swollen stem resembles the latter. Kohlrabi has been created by artificial selection for lateral meristem growth; its origin in nature is the wild mustard plant
They are a good source of Potassium and Vitamin C

In Bengal we have different kinds of gravies and classifying all of them as curry would be shameful so though this is a curry based dish I am not calling it so. "Dalna" in Bengali means a thick gravy based dish as opposite to a “Jhol” which is a very light gravy more on the liquid side. Olkopir Dalna or “KohlRabi in a Gravy” is a spicy gravy of cubed kohlrabi, potatoes and peas thrown in. The gravy is tempered with methi(fenugreek) seeds and whole garam masala and spiced up with ginger, tomatoes and cumin and corriander powder. Though Kohlrabi resembles the turnip , when cooked this way it tastes more like a squash.

Read more...

OlKopir Dalna

What You Need

Olkopi/Kohlrabi ~ 1 peeled and cut into small cubes. Be careful not to buy the older ones as they get a little tough.
Potato ~ 1 cut into small cubes. You can forego this if you want
Green peas ~ 1/2 cup frsh or frozen
Tomato ~ I used 2/3 tomatoes from a can of peeled whole tomatoes with 2tbsp of the tomato juice
If using fresh tomatoes blanch them for better results
Ginger paste ~ 1 and 1/2 tsp

For Masala

Jeera or Cumin Powder ~ 1 tsp
Dhone or Corriander Powder ~ 1 tsp
Red Chili Powder ~ to taste
Kichen king masala ~ 2 tsp . This is a masala I thing adds that zing, if you don't have it use something else like garam masala powder
Yogurt ~ 1 tbsp
Maggi Hot & Sweet Tomato ketchup ~ 2 tsp . Use any other suitable alternative or skip

For Phoron or Tempering

TejPata or Bay leaves ~ 3
Elaichi or Cardamom ~ 2 pods
Laung or Clove ~ 2
Darchini or Cinnamon sticks ~ a small 1/2" stick
Methi or fenugreek seeds ~ 1/2 tsp
Salt
Oil

How I Did It

Chop the Kolrabi and the potatoes. Peel the outer skin of kohlrabi and then chop
Steam the KolRabi and the potatoes. I have a Futura pressure cooker where I cook it for 3 minutes. You need to steam them a little more than potatoes
Heat oil in kadai/Fryimng pan
Add the methis seeds, bay leaves, cardamom, clove and cinnamon
Add the tomatoes when the fragrance of the methi engulfs you
Cook the tomatoes well till you see the oil separating.
Add the ginger paste and saute
Add the steamed kolrabi and the potatoes
Saute or as in bengali we say "koshano" till the veggies take on a little colour
Mix the dry masala(cumin, corriander & red chili powder) with 2 tsp of yogurt and add
Saute till the masala coats the veggies well. Fry for a couple of minutes.
Add 2 tsp of tomato ketchup and salt to taste
Add about 2 cups of water and cover and cook till veggies are done. The dish usually has a little gravy so adjust the thickness according to your taste level. The kohlrabi has a slight crunch and I like it that way.

Enjoy with Rice or Roti

I am sending this dish to talented Kalyn the WHB creator from Kalyn's Kitchen for this weeks WHB



Trivia: Hamburg, Michigan has titled itself the "Kohlrabi Capital of the World" and at one time had a kohlrabi festival which drew 600 people at its peak in 1985

MySpice -- Garam Masala

Whole Garam Masla for me consists of the following spices, Elaichi or Cardamom, Laung or Cloves, Tej Pata or Bay Leaves, Darchini or Cinnamon and in some cases mace and peppercorns
In North Indian and Bengali cuisine Whole Garam Masala and Ground Garam Masala play an important role. If you have paid any attention to my recipes till date you will find in most I use Cardamom, Cloves, Bay Leaves and Cinnamon or whole Jeera for tempering. This is in sharp contrast to the cuisine from South of India where the spices for everyday tempering is Mustard seeds and Curry leaves. The different spices used for tempering lend a different flavor to the oil and hence the food.
While Whole Garam Masala is used for tempering, ground garam masala is mixed with the food at the last stage of cooking to lend a flavor and aroma and peps up the dish. I use the Ground Garam masala mostly for meat dishes and if I want to make a dish rich & spicy.
Ground Garam Masala is sold at stores in several varieties. But most of the time I dry roast the above whole spices and then grind them in a spice or coffee grinder to make the powder. In many regions the Bay Leaves might be omitted while grinding.
Though "Garam" means hot, this hot is not the same "hotness" as in peppers. This masala helps increasing the body temperature and so makes it "garam".

So in this cold winter spice up your life with Garam Masala