An Invitation to Indian Cooking - Madhur Jaffrey [13]
⅓ cup whole cumin seeds
¼ cup whole coriander seeds
3 sticks of cinnamon, each about 3 inches long
4–6 whole cloves
Combine all ingredients and grind very fine, using an electric blender or a coffee grinder. (If you want to make your garam masala less hot, decrease the amount of black peppercorns and increase the cumin proportionately.) Store in a tightly covered container, away from sunlight and dampness. If carefully stored, this garam masala can be kept for a couple of months.
GHEE Ghee is the cooking medium used in many parts of India. There are two kinds of ghee. Usli ghee or clarified butter is used rarely, partly because of its expense and partly because many Indians consider it “heavy.” The more commonly used ghee resembles American shortening and is a mixture of various vegetable oils. See the Introduction. I tend to use unsaturated oils for most of ßmy cooking. Many Indians use peanut oil or mustard oil. Use whatever you prefer. If you wish to make usli ghee or clarified butter, here is how you do it: Melt butter. Pour off the clear liquid, discarding the milky residue. Store, covered, in the refrigerator.
GINGER This is a tan-skinned, knobbly rhizome with a sharp, pungent taste, available in Indian and Chinese food stores. Some specialty food stores carry it as well. It is used for making meat dishes, vegetables, and chutneys. Ginger is generally peeled and then grated or ground. It is easier to grate it if you don’t break off the needed section but rather grate it off the whole piece instead. To grind it, chop it coarsely and place in electric blender with a little water. To store ginger, cover it well with plastic wrap and keep in the refrigerator. It is good until it begins to mold. Another way to keep it is to plant it (bury it) in sandy soil. Water it infrequently. It not only stays fresh this way but also sprouts fresh knobs. Cut off what you need and put the rest back in the soil. Dried ginger “root” (called so mistakenly) is bottled and put out by major spice companies. This can be used as a second-best substitute. It is preferable to powdered ginger, which in India is considered to be so different from fresh ginger that it is called by another name altogether. Follow the instructions on the bottle for presoaking, which must be done a few hours before you plan to cook.
GREEN CHILIES Fresh, hot green peppers or chilies are available in some Chinese, Indian, Spanish, and Italian stores. Since chilies vary in their strength, caution must be exercised in using them. The hottest part of the chilies is their seeds, and there are more seeds near the stem. Ideally, each chili should be sampled before being used. You can cut it in half and take the tiniest bite from its center. If it is hot use it sparingly. Most Indians can generally gauge the hotness of a chili by breaking it in two and just smelling it. As a substitute, canned Mexican jalapenos or cayenne pepper can be used. Neither has the taste of a green chili, but both are hot. (See instructions for substitutions in individual recipes.)
KALONJI These are black onion seeds which are used occasionally for meat dishes and often for vegetables. If you can’t find them, leave them out of the recipe.
MUSTARD SEEDS We generally use black mustard seeds, but if you cannot find them, yellow mustard seeds may be substituted. For some recipes, mustard seeds need to be crushed. This is best done with a heavy mortar and pestle or a heavy grinding stone.
NUTMEG Buy whole nutmeg and store it in a tightly closed jar. Use a nutmeg grater and grate whenever needed.
POPPY SEEDS We use the white poppy seeds. They are generally ground before being cooked. To facilitate grinding, roast them first. Place them in a heavy skillet (iron is best) over a medium flame. Stir them around for 3 to 4 minutes. Now they can be ground with an Indian grinding stone or crushed with a mortar and pestle. If white poppy seeds cannot be found, do without them.
SAFFRON This very expensive stigma of the crocus flower is used in Moghlai meat and rice dishes as well as in desserts. Ideally,