From nospam2bryan.wallwork@btopenworld.com Tue Jul 26 16:02:25 2005 Date: Mon, 25 Jul 2005 09:59:40 +0000 (UTC) From: Wazza Newsgroups: uk.food+drink.indian Subject: Re: preferred G masala mix "Niall Smyth" wrote in message news:C81Fe.2895$R5.558@news.indigo.ie... : hi all : : the "50 curries" book says that commercial Garam masala is : full of cheap fillers (cumin, coriander) and a good GM : should be black card, cloves, cinammon, and peppercorns only. : : I made it up from fresh and its far more fragrant : than the whole TRS GM mix, but I havent used it much yet : : which do you guys use, does it make a difference? : : I have found in the past that the suggested amounts of G masala tends : to overpower a currys other flavours. : I would concur that making your own is the way to go, not only do you have complete control, but the product is sooo much more aromatic, especially freshly ground, and you use much less of it. Commercial GM does contain a lot of (cheaper) spices, and is a waste of money (IMHO) as you have probably already added most of the cheap spices to your curry. Also, these cheaper spices need a little cooking out to obtain a satisfactory flavour, if you 'sprinkle' the gm on your food at the end of cooking (as seems to be the trend now on all 'modern recipes', like the ubiquitous chopped coriander leaf) then the results won't be that good. If you use just those spices mentioned below, then you will get a wonderful fagrance. I know 'pandamonium' likes to add green cardamom at the end of cooking. Now a word of caution. The aromatics in the gm are derived from well characterised chemical compounds. Those in gm spices are very soluble in oil/fat, but not very soluble in water. If you use these spices, you need to extract them into oil during the cooking process: in good recipes, they are usually added just before or after the onions are properly cooked (to golden). This transfers the aromatics to the oil/fat, where they have a better chance of remaining. If added at the stage when there is much water present, they will tend to be lost by volatilization from the general millieu, and if the gravy is boiled, lost as aerosols as the bubbles burst and carry the flavour into the atmosphere. This is fundamental physical chemistry. I use many different gm's, but would offer these two for many situations: general gm green cardamom, cassia, cloves, mace. The amounts will vary depending on use, and aromaticity of each: there should be a blending of smells, with no one too prominent. I like to add black pepper freshly cracked from the mill. North Indian gm black cardamom, black cumin, cassia, cloves, mace, and freshly ground black pepper separately. Hope this helps cheers Wazza