Monday, August 11, 2008

The Bengali garam masala: Simple, yet elegant

Garam masala is perhaps as common in Indian cuisine as curry. But, there are several blends available in the market; even home-made ones vary from region to region or from home to home. The Bengali garam masala is a simple mixture or blend (often whole ingredients are used rather than ground) of three spices: cardamom, cloves, and cinnamon. Other garam masala blends usually contain at least two of these in addition to several spices, like cumin, coriander, and black pepper.

The Bengali garam masala has a sweet and nutty flavor because of the presence of cinnamon and cardamom and because of the absence of any minty or fennel-like flavors. A common way to add the garam masala to a dish is to sauté a mixture of the whole spices in oil or ghee at the beginning or to dry-roast the mixture, grind it, and sprinkle it on the dish as a finishing touch. Dry-roasting (on stovetop or oven) brings out the flavor, adding a nutty touch to it, and makes it easier to powder the mixture.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Hi Anghsuman,

I'm Alisha from Wowzio, and I'm excited to tell you about our new widget platform that helps bloggers increase readership by providing engaging widgets containing your blog's rich content. You can check out widgets customized for your blog here:

Wowzio Widgets for your Blog

I wanted to reach out to you to ask for your feedback on these widgets (feel free to install them on your blog, if you feel they are a good fit). I'm sorry for leaving this message via a comment, it's not at all our intent to spam you ( which is why i'm leaving this comment on an older post and you can always remove this comment ). Again, we would love to hear your feedback.

Thanks,
Alisha Wright
alisha.wright1@gmail.com