Garam Masala is an aromatic mixture of spices like cardamom, cloves and cinnamon, which are supposed to ‘heat’ the body. For years, I have used Mixture #1 by Madhur Jaffrey below in my baked goods to replace some or all of the cinnamon, nutmeg or allspice.
*Prep time included shelling about 25 grams of green coriander pods to find enough to make seeds up a tablespoon of seeds that were black. Don’t use the brown ones, they’re dried up.
Mixture #1
Prep time – 45 minutes, yield – 3 tablespoons
Ingredients
1 tablespoon cardamom seeds*
1-inch stick of cinnamon or use one tsp ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon whole black cumin (use regular whole cumin as a substitute)
1 teaspoon whole cloves
1 teaspoon black peppercorns
About 1/3 of an average-sized nutmeg
I get the best results when putting the cardamom seeds, cloves, cumin and black pepper corns in a clean coffee grinder, grating the nutmeg with a micro zester. If using ground cinnamon, add to the mixture at the end.
Alternately, place all the spices in the container of an electric coffee grinder. Grind until the spices are powdery.
Mixture #2
Yield: 3 1/2 tablespoons.
There is another lightly tarter garam masala, called “multani garam masala,” used in an area that is now northwestern Pakistan, that has sour pomegranate seeds in it.
Ingredients
1 1/2 teaspoons whole black cumin seeds
1 1/2 teaspoons cardamom seeds
1 1/2 teaspoons black peppercorns
2 teaspoons anardana (dried pomegranate seeds)
1 1/2 inch stick of cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon of whole cloves into the container of na electric coffee grinder.
I get the best results when putting the cardamom seeds, cloves, cumin and black pepper corns in a clean coffee grinder, grating the nutmeg with a micro zester. If using ground cinnamon, add to the mixture at the end.
Alternately, place all the spices in the container of an electric coffee grinder. Grind until the spices are powdery.
Store the mixtures in a tightly lidded jar, away from heat and sunlight.
Source: World-of-the-East Vegetarian Cooking, by Madhur Jaffrey