Factory-made spice mixes and masalas may be convenient, but making your own homemade versions can provide notable benefits. Mass-produced seasonings often contain preservatives, anti-caking agents, and other chemicals. Homemade spice blends allow you to control exactly what goes into the mix, using pure, natural ingredients like whole spices, herbs, salts, and sugars. Blending your own unique spice mixes at home also enables you to customise them to suit your personal tastes and culinary preferences.
You can adjust the proportions of different spices, experiment with global flavour profiles, and even tailor blends for specific dishes. You can avoid unnecessary additives and take your cooking to the next level by exploring recipes for making your own spice blends and masalas at home. A little kitchen time is a small price to pay for enhanced taste and health.
Homemade Garam Masala
Garam masala is a staple in Indian cuisine that adds warmth and depth of flavour to dishes. It contains cinnamon, cloves, cardamom and other spices that infuse curries, pulao, and other recipes with fragrance. The complexity of garam masala comes from carefully balancing sweet spices like nutmeg with more pungent ones like black pepper. When toasted, the spices release their essential oils to permeate the entire dish. Garam masala is the key to unlocking the layered flavours that make Indian food so craveable. It's an essential ingredient in many meat dishes, adding flavour to curries and tandoori chicken. Garam masala is also used to season vegetarian dishes like dals, vegetable curries like aloo gobi, and potato dishes like dum aloo.
Sambar Masala
Sambar masala is a blend of whole spices used in South Indian sambar stew. The mix typically contains coriander, cumin, mustard, fenugreek seeds, curry leaves, dried chillies, and asafoetida. When added during cooking or as a garnish, the masala provides a complex spicy, sweet and savoury flavour. To make sambar masala at home, dry roast the spices separately. Let cool and grind to a powder. Store in an airtight container. Add to lentil and vegetable stew or use as needed in cooking.
Image credit: Freepik
Pav Bhaji Masala
Pav bhaji is a popular Indian street food made by mashing potatoes, tomatoes, onions, peas, and spices. The complex blend of cumin, coriander, chilli powder, and other aromatic spices gives it incredible flavour and aroma. To make pav bhaji masala at home, dry roast and grind coriander, cumin, cinnamon, cloves, pepper, chilli, and amchur. Mix with the mashed veggies and simmer. Top with butter and cilantro. Enjoy with soft pav bread.
Image credit: Freepik
Fish Curry Masala
To add a punch of flavour to your fish curries, try this homemade fish curry masala. It has a blend of spices like chilli powder, coriander, cumin, fenugreek, turmeric, ginger, and garlic. This homemade spice mix will enhance the taste of the dish. This masala can be used with any type of fish, be it rohu, katla, surmai, or bangda.
Image credit: Freepik
Chicken Curry Masala
A flavourful chicken curry masala starts with blending the perfect blend of spices and herbs. Common ingredients include coriander, cumin, turmeric, cinnamon, cardamom, chilli powder, garlic, and ginger. This homemade masala spice blend is perfect for chicken curry to new make it more delicious. The blend of aromatic spices like coriander, cumin, and turmeric infuses the chicken with a complex, earthy taste profile. When mixed into the curry sauce, the masala permeates each bite with its flavours. Beyond curries, this versatile spice mix can also be used as a dry rub on meats before grilling or incorporated into veggie fritters and cutlets to add a punch of flavour.
Image credit: Freepik
Chaat Masala
Chaat masala is a beloved spice mix used to add complex flavour to a variety of Indian street foods and snacks. With its tangy, tart, spicy, sour, and faintly sweet taste, chaat masala packs a flavourful punch that livens up salads, chaats, kebabs, or tangy drinks. The blend commonly contains amchoor powder, which adds a pleasant sourness, along with aromatic spices like cumin, coriander, ginger, and chilli powder for heat. Other ingredients may include black salt for sulfuric pungency, citric acid for tartness, ground dried mango for sweetness, and mint for freshness.
Image credit: Freepik
Biryani Masala
The popular South Asian rice dish, biryani, gets its signature taste, aromatic smell, and exquisite flavours from the mix of spices like cloves, cinnamon, rose petals, cardamom, and mace. Even a small amount of this specially grounded spice mix can elevate the flavours of your preparation.
Also read: Thandai With Homemade Thandai Masala Recipe
Meat Masala
Meat Masala Powder is a versatile spice blend that infuses non-vegetarian and vegetarian dishes with bold, complex flavours. This aromatic homemade masala mix contains a medley of whole spices like coriander, cumin, black pepper, cinnamon, cloves, bay leaves and nutmeg.
Image credit: Freepik
When dry roasted and ground together, these spices release their essential oils and combine to create a rich, earthy taste profile. This homemade meat masala can be added to rogan josh, mutton curry masala, bunna gosht and handi mutton masala. This masala gives the flavour a much need push to make it even more delicious.