I’ve been having a blast playing with all my new spices!
I dragged out my masala dabba, which I bought a couple of years ago but never got around to using. It’s a traditional Indian spice box, made of stainless steel…
It has an inner lid to lock in freshness, and a small spoon…
I filled mine with (clockwise) : Kashmiri chilli powder, coriander powder, black mustard seed, turmeric, cumin powder and fennel seeds, with cinnamon, green cardamon and star anise in the middle.
I made garam masala, following this recipe from Mamta’s Kitchen.
Into a grinder went:
- 1 tablespoon black Sarawak pepper
- 1 teaspoon whole cloves
- 4 whole black cardamon pods
- 4 whole green cardamon pods
- 2 teaspoons whole cumin seeds
- 5 broken dried bay leaves (a gift from the Spice Girl)
- 10cm cinnamon stick, broken up
After blitzing, the mix was sifted to remove any fibrous bits.
I used the garam masala in Mamta’s chickpea curry (Channa curry) following the recipe here.
A tip from the lovely Barbara at Harkola – dried chickpeas can be soaked and frozen before boiling. They can then be boiled from frozen as required.
When I made this curry, I simply took the container out of the freezer and emptied it straight into a pot of cold water, brought it to the boil and simmered it until the chickpeas were soft.
Finally, I used my homemade curry powder to make a Malaysian style chicken and potato curry. It was a hearty feed on a cold winter’s night!
Fig Jam and Lime Cordial 
Absolutely awesome! Loved the spice container, very stylish. My spice drawer(s) situation is getting pretty pathetic, at some point I need to get serious about organizing it.
Never made curry powder, or any other type of spice mix myself, that’s something to try at some point
Great post, Celia!
Thanks Sally! I have a spice shelf with jars, but there’s also still stuff in little plastic bags, which seem to go everywhere. I must get them organised! :)
Wow those are beautiful spice boxes you have. And now I can see how you are a master of spices in your kitchen :)
Tes, thank you! I’m sure there must be an amazing array of spice boxes to choose from in India! Do you have one?
I am serching for one of those spice boxes…I am a gadget freak….I also bought garbazo beans yesterday and I like what you did with yours…..
Norma, I bought mine from the Indian spice store – from memory it was quite economical – maybe $15? Mamta’s chickpea curry was absolutely delicious, and not very hot, so everyone could eat it.
Love your spice box- love your spices- LOVE Garam Marsala- And chickpeas!
And I love this post!
And you, of course!
Maybe I will make garam marsala again. Your recipe didn’t call for you to bake the spices first?
Heidi, you’re so sweet, love you too…
Mamta’s recipe for garam masala has the option to be pre-roasted or not, but she doesn’t roast them – this is what she says..
“Personally, I don’t pre-roast them. I feel that the flavour is released and then lost, well before you come to use it. My mum and others in my family do not roast them either. Remember that in most instances garam masala is sprinkled on top of a hot dish, which is enough to release flavours.”
Drool drool, it may be an oppressively hot afternoon here, (by English standards) but I would much rather you cooked dinner for me tonight. A bowl of your curry and a little rice and I would be extremely happy :) I’ve always fancied one of those spice containers, I see them being used on Indian cookery programmes, just haven’t got anywhere to put it. I am in the process of de-gadgeting my drawers, so maybe I will get one when I have made some space :)
I would love nothing better than to have you over for dinner! :)
The masala dabba really isn’t all that practical for my kitchen. The little containers don’t hold the full quantity of each spice, so I still need jars to hold the remainders, plus they’re probably going to go stale a bit faster as they’re not airtight.
BUT…it’s absolutely gorgeous, and makes me happy to look at, and I have now used it while making a couple of curries! :)
Love that spice tin, I bet it smells fantastic when you open it. Just finished of the last of my home made garam masala, so will try your recipe next. Haven’t used bay leaves in the mix before. Great tip on freezing chickpeas and I guess other spices. Can boil up a whole batch and freeze portions for later use – who needs tins ;-)
Choc, I’ve never made garam masala before, so this was a great experiment. I never realised before that GM is actually a spiced pepper, added at the very end of the dish much as we would grate black pepper over a finished plate.
The chickpeas are great – I soak a whole kilo bag overnight, then drain them and package them into boxes for the freezer. Whenever I need them, I can just boil them from frozen – no need for any further soaking. I haven’t bought tinned chickpeas since!
I have soaked and boiled them up before, then frozen them, but I find it doesn’t give quite as good a finished result in the final dish.
That spice tin has got to be one of the neatest things ever! And I *love* garam masala…yummy dinner! =)
Abby, I hope you can find one! I wish I had a few to fill with all different sorts of treasure – buttons, craft items etc.. :)
The variety of colors in your spice tin is very pleasing to look at. I bet you admire it alot. What a wonderful collection of spices!! I’m definitely going to try the chickpea curry for one of my meatless nights here. I will just have to leave out or sub for a couple items I know I can’t get here. I will have to try the soak and then freeze idea for the chickpeas on my counter also. Is that just so you can have the chickpeas ready to go in a snap when you want to use them? Thanks for a neat post Celia!
Mel, that’s exactly right – I like to pull the frozen pre-soaked chickpeas out and boil them up for moghrabieh or curry or soup – it only takes about half an hour from frozen for them to be tender!
As I mentioned to Jo above, the spice box probably isn’t practical, but it is just so pretty to look at and play with! :)
Mmmm…yum. Almost makes me wish I wasn’t just about to have bacon and eggs for breafast. Almost. Perhaps my saturday night theme should be Indian.
Lee, thank you – if my boys had their way, every night would be curry night here! ;-)
I love that spice container – that’s serious. I have never made my own spices -perhaps I should try it.
Deb, serious but not particularly expensive! You should get one! :)
Yum. I can almost smell it through the screen Celia :-)
Thanks Brydie! :)
How yummy Celia, the spices certainly make for lovely colourful photos too.
I think one of those tins would be great for all sorts of bits and pieces… like, oh different flavoured salts? Smoked, pink, celery, black, flakes, lemon….that way you could mix and match as you sprinkle! Or pepper- white, kibbled, mountain, sichuan, fine black…. Or sugars- fancy some sugar on your cereal? White, rapadura, brown, maple, palm…
I could use those tins for just about anything in the kitchen!
The sad thing is I have all the many types of each of those ingredients!
Becca, I think the masala dabba would be a magnificent way to store salts! That’s a fantastic idea…thank you!
Ooh, I am very covetous of your masala dabba – it is dead stylish! My spice storage system leaves much to be desired, but I just can’t seem to get on top of it.
Amanda, I think you’d have a lot of fun with one, but I don’t think it really counts as a spice storage solution, at least not for me – I have waay to many spices. We use glass jam jars!
I’m shocked! I thought you were a mortar and pestle devotee, what’s this blitzing stuff ;-)
Great shots, spent a bit of time in a spice warehouse myself on the weekend.
I have to say, some of that stuff is a right bugger to grind to a powder with a mortar and pestle. I thought about trying it…for two seconds, then I came to my senses. :)
Wow Celia, love it! My spice collection is so small since my move, I have the lovely curries you sent me and a couple of basics. Hmmmmm…. Yes I must get myself a spice tin. Gorgeous pictures. Hope your having a lovely week, and staying warm.
Anna, you’ll have to stock up again now you’ve moved! Hope it’s all going well! :)
Oh my, that Chickpea Curry looks so good, and to think it was made with fresh ground Garam Masala.
It’s been awhile but I think I’ll have to make a chickpea curry, even with some basic spices. Thankyou,
Craig
Craig, as you know I love a chickpea curry, and this one was really very nice! Hope you enjoy it – it makes a big batch, so you’ll have dinner for at least a couple of nights! :)
what a great post! thank you celia for everything great-small wonderful culinary information that you kindly share with us! i try to keep up with all this info! or i’d better have my spices organised ! kisses! :)
Thanks Gina! I hope all is well in Greece! :)
I love the masala dabba! I would need about 10 for all my spices :)
Tandy, you’d need more than 10 – each little cup doesn’t hold very much.. ;-)
Goodness me where do you keep all of your trinkets and spices and foods? The masala dabba is very cool!
I will take a pic and ‘show off’ my drawer of spices!
Aaah, I’m fortunate, I have a well organised husband.. :)
One year, for Christmas I gave a bunch of my friends masala dabbas filled with spices and a label that read “No Hurry Curry” I didn’t have the metal inserts so I made paper triangle shaped boxes to hold the spices. Great fun!
Maz
Maz, now that’s a gift I would have been excited to receive!!
I have spice-tin envy – doesn’t it look gorgeous and your curries do look so good Celia. Friday night is curry night at our place and I’m currently working hard on my naan breads – I love them with nigella seeds (kaloongi I think is the other name) – whatever, they’re called I end up with them all over the floor.
Jan, thank you! I have the same problem with poppyseeds, whenever I use them, they haunt the kitchen in every crack and crevice for weeks afterwards.. :)
Mum’s chickpea curry is one of my favourites, very simple too…
So glad you’re having fun with your spices!
x x x
Kavey, please thank your mum for us – we loved this dish!
The spice container is cool. I love using spices in meals.
Susan, I’ve managed to use it twice already! :) Although I’m going to keep the bulk of my spices in airtight jars…