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Started By
Message
re: Spice of the Fortnight (SOTF) #1: Garam Masala (beg. Sep. 18)
Posted on 9/16/17 at 1:28 pm to RedStickBR
Posted on 9/16/17 at 1:28 pm to RedStickBR
A long time ago, I ended up with a few of my roommate's spices who moved out and left them. One was Garam Masala. I'd never heard of it. I took a whiff and it smelled like really good authentic Indian food that I'd tasted before. I can't remember my first application, but when I was running out, I couldn't find it on the shelves of any grocery store. The GM I was using was by McCormick, so I fully expected it to be easy to find, but it isn't, so I turned to amazon.
Rani (small bottle on the right) was my replacement for McCormick. I was able to taste them side by side and Rani blew away McCormick. I then began running low on Rani and bumped into Natco at World Market. There's a stark difference between those two. For instance, I like Rani in smothered chicken, while I use Natco for my cauliflower. I prefer Rani far more than Natco.
Since Garam Masala is not a spice, but rather a spice blend, I'll list the ingredients in each one and where you can find them so that the folks who want to participate know where to find GM.
Here are the entries with the ingredients listed most to least...
Let's start with Deep, which is the top bag. I found this at Desi Bazaar in Lafayette.
Ingredients: Coriander, Sichuan pepper, anistar, fennel seeds, cumin seeds, cloves, kalpasi, pepper, chili, black cardamom, bay leaves, cinnamon, sugar.
Moving on to Swad, also found at Desi Bazaar in Lafayette.
Ingredients: Coriander, red chili, clove, cinnamon, curry leaves, dry mango, bay leaves, cumin, fennel, salt, black pepper, anistar, sodium sulfite.
Next is the Spice House blend. I was turned on to the Spice House with my time in Chicago and Milwaukee, and there was nothing like the smell of walking into their store. They have a fantastic spice website that I would recommend. Alton Brown loves it so much that he has (or had) a link on his website.
Ingredients: Corriander, cardamom, tellicherry pepper, cinnamon, kalonji, caraway, cloves, ginger, nutmeg.
Natco ingredients (found at World Market): Coriander, cumin, ginger, cassia, black pepper, cloves.
Rani ingredients (found on Amazon): Coriander, Cumin, Cinnamon, Black Pepper, Cloves, Ginger, Mace, Green Cardamom, Black Cardamom, Nutmeg, Bay Leaves.
Interesting. Not all contain the same ingredients. Some have ginger, one even has mango.
The bulk bags are ridiculously cheaper from my Indian grocer than the others. A larger size of Rani from Amazon is also more cost effective.
I'm looking forward to tasting all five side by side and will report back.
Rani (small bottle on the right) was my replacement for McCormick. I was able to taste them side by side and Rani blew away McCormick. I then began running low on Rani and bumped into Natco at World Market. There's a stark difference between those two. For instance, I like Rani in smothered chicken, while I use Natco for my cauliflower. I prefer Rani far more than Natco.
Since Garam Masala is not a spice, but rather a spice blend, I'll list the ingredients in each one and where you can find them so that the folks who want to participate know where to find GM.
Here are the entries with the ingredients listed most to least...
Let's start with Deep, which is the top bag. I found this at Desi Bazaar in Lafayette.
Ingredients: Coriander, Sichuan pepper, anistar, fennel seeds, cumin seeds, cloves, kalpasi, pepper, chili, black cardamom, bay leaves, cinnamon, sugar.
Moving on to Swad, also found at Desi Bazaar in Lafayette.
Ingredients: Coriander, red chili, clove, cinnamon, curry leaves, dry mango, bay leaves, cumin, fennel, salt, black pepper, anistar, sodium sulfite.
Next is the Spice House blend. I was turned on to the Spice House with my time in Chicago and Milwaukee, and there was nothing like the smell of walking into their store. They have a fantastic spice website that I would recommend. Alton Brown loves it so much that he has (or had) a link on his website.
Ingredients: Corriander, cardamom, tellicherry pepper, cinnamon, kalonji, caraway, cloves, ginger, nutmeg.
Natco ingredients (found at World Market): Coriander, cumin, ginger, cassia, black pepper, cloves.
Rani ingredients (found on Amazon): Coriander, Cumin, Cinnamon, Black Pepper, Cloves, Ginger, Mace, Green Cardamom, Black Cardamom, Nutmeg, Bay Leaves.
Interesting. Not all contain the same ingredients. Some have ginger, one even has mango.
The bulk bags are ridiculously cheaper from my Indian grocer than the others. A larger size of Rani from Amazon is also more cost effective.
I'm looking forward to tasting all five side by side and will report back.
2
Posted on 9/16/17 at 1:42 pm to Degas
Fascinating. I've been doing some reading on GM and, as you say, there are as many varieties as there are households in India. The Swad would have served my dish well with the addition of dried mango, but the Deep looks like a flavor explosion. Good stuff.
Posted on 9/16/17 at 2:34 pm to RedStickBR
Notice that with all of them, coriander is the main ingredient.
Posted on 9/16/17 at 6:05 pm to Degas
quote:
Next is the Spice House blend. I was turned on to the Spice House with my time in Chicago and Milwaukee, and there was nothing like the smell of walking into their store. They have a fantastic spice website that I would recommend.
Spice House is great, everything I've bought from them has been fantastic. I would love to go to their store.
Thanks to this thread, I went to order Garam Masala and ended up ordering a lot of stuff I "needed".
Posted on 9/17/17 at 2:06 pm to RedStickBR
Posted on 9/17/17 at 7:56 pm to MeridianDog
That looks really, really good. Extra points for one of the more unique dishes I've come across.
Posted on 9/17/17 at 9:41 pm to MeridianDog
Going to add that one to the list. Currently doing a 24-hour marinade for some butter chicken tomorrow night. Beautiful color so far.
Posted on 9/18/17 at 7:35 pm to RedStickBR
Garam Masala is a BOLD spice, but not as BOLD as the statement I'm about to make: this butter chicken may be one of the best meals I've had. Simply magical. Here we go:
We start by browning our chicken pieces that have been getting all kinds of intimate with our marinade the past 24 hours (plain Greek yogurt, lemon juice, ginger, garlic, turmeric, garam masala, cumin, coriander, olive oil, salt & black pepper). This marinade is simply all consuming. Like hot lava permeating even the smallest of cracks, it soaked into the chicken absolutely delightfully. I have to think it was the lemon juice that really helped integrate things a good bit.
Getting brown y'all. Cooked it for another five minutes or so beyond this point.
Time to add our coconut milk (the real kind that comes in a can; not the kind made for drinking) and tomato sauce.
Starting to get that buttery chicken color. As a hat tip to our thread here, a couple more teaspoons of masala should be nice.
Mix, mix, mix, and mix some more. There you go - talk saucy to me, baby. We didn't add any thickening agent, but a toddler's pinch of arrowroot is conceivable.
Serve over cauliflower rice and top with some herbs du jour.
Don't forget the wine, now. A bold, earthy cab was a nice complement.
It's go time ...
Unbelievable ... an absolute volcano of flavor. If I saw anything even remotely resembling the gherkin building, I'd be right back in London. RSBR household hall of fame.
We start by browning our chicken pieces that have been getting all kinds of intimate with our marinade the past 24 hours (plain Greek yogurt, lemon juice, ginger, garlic, turmeric, garam masala, cumin, coriander, olive oil, salt & black pepper). This marinade is simply all consuming. Like hot lava permeating even the smallest of cracks, it soaked into the chicken absolutely delightfully. I have to think it was the lemon juice that really helped integrate things a good bit.
Getting brown y'all. Cooked it for another five minutes or so beyond this point.
Time to add our coconut milk (the real kind that comes in a can; not the kind made for drinking) and tomato sauce.
Starting to get that buttery chicken color. As a hat tip to our thread here, a couple more teaspoons of masala should be nice.
Mix, mix, mix, and mix some more. There you go - talk saucy to me, baby. We didn't add any thickening agent, but a toddler's pinch of arrowroot is conceivable.
Serve over cauliflower rice and top with some herbs du jour.
Don't forget the wine, now. A bold, earthy cab was a nice complement.
It's go time ...
Unbelievable ... an absolute volcano of flavor. If I saw anything even remotely resembling the gherkin building, I'd be right back in London. RSBR household hall of fame.
This post was edited on 9/18/17 at 7:40 pm
Posted on 9/18/17 at 8:37 pm to RedStickBR
IWEI
Posted on 9/18/17 at 9:33 pm to MeridianDog
Thank you, good sir. Certainly a compliment coming from you.
Posted on 9/19/17 at 8:16 am to RedStickBR
Butter Chicken and Tikka Masala are two in the rotation at our house. My daughter went vegan for a while (I know). Anyway, we really enjoyed this: Spicy Chickpea Potato Curry.
Posted on 9/19/17 at 8:19 am to Aubie Spr96
Heavy on the cayenne, curry and GM. I like it
Posted on 9/19/17 at 8:56 pm to RedStickBR
So we're definitely having fun now. Here are some garam masala scallops topped with a mango salsa:
We started by drying our scallops then coating them on both sides with garam masala (3/4) and a little Chinese five spice (1/4), as I've torn through my GM mix:
Got our mangoes and veggies chopped and ready to go. What you see here are diced onions, diced mangoes, a small amount of fresh cayenne and some purple bell pepper. Not shown here are some diced tomatoes as well.
Sautéing our onions, along with some garlic, in olive oil and ghee:
We've set aside our garlic/onions and added our scallops to the same pan:
We'll flip them when they start to brown. We like em cooked throughout, so we cooked each side on Med-High heat for three minutes:
Now we've removed our scallops and lined them in a serving dish. We've returned our garlic/onions to the pan and added our mangoes/veggies/tomatoes. We've also added some black pepper, Cajun mix, and Italian seasoning just to diversify our flavors a bit consistent with the fusion nature of the dish:
We'll mix and cook the above now until it starts to look like salsa:
We'll add our salsa to our serving dish and make sure our scallops are still exposed:
Photo finish. We went with an oaky Park Lane Pinot tonight, which served the dish quite nicely:
Another one makes the recipe book. I've not cooked with mangoes much but was pleasantly surprised with how well they meshed with the veggies. I may even add some to my next ratatouille. Curious to see how they turn out when they've had a chance to cook down some more.
We started by drying our scallops then coating them on both sides with garam masala (3/4) and a little Chinese five spice (1/4), as I've torn through my GM mix:
Got our mangoes and veggies chopped and ready to go. What you see here are diced onions, diced mangoes, a small amount of fresh cayenne and some purple bell pepper. Not shown here are some diced tomatoes as well.
Sautéing our onions, along with some garlic, in olive oil and ghee:
We've set aside our garlic/onions and added our scallops to the same pan:
We'll flip them when they start to brown. We like em cooked throughout, so we cooked each side on Med-High heat for three minutes:
Now we've removed our scallops and lined them in a serving dish. We've returned our garlic/onions to the pan and added our mangoes/veggies/tomatoes. We've also added some black pepper, Cajun mix, and Italian seasoning just to diversify our flavors a bit consistent with the fusion nature of the dish:
We'll mix and cook the above now until it starts to look like salsa:
We'll add our salsa to our serving dish and make sure our scallops are still exposed:
Photo finish. We went with an oaky Park Lane Pinot tonight, which served the dish quite nicely:
Another one makes the recipe book. I've not cooked with mangoes much but was pleasantly surprised with how well they meshed with the veggies. I may even add some to my next ratatouille. Curious to see how they turn out when they've had a chance to cook down some more.
Posted on 9/24/17 at 1:05 pm to RedStickBR
Y'all are doing a wonderful job of documenting the processes and procedures and recipes. I apologize in advance for half-assing it.
Yesterday I bought the ingredients for butter chicken, and last night I used most of the chicken for something else. In the upcoming week I will be out of the house for every meal and won't have time to cook, so this morning, I took what was left of the chicken and a few flash frozen tenders and almost followed a recipe for Keto Garam Masala Chicken (I know this will annoy some people. So be it.)
The recipe includes a recipe for making your own garam masala, but says to use 2 1/2 Tbsp of commercially prepared product if you don't want to make your own,
and I didn't.
(The recipe doesn't call for ginger, but since I bought some yesterday for the butter chicken I was going to make, I used some in this dish.)
The heavy cream mixed with more garam masala is added to the chicken which is in the baking dish (I wish I'd had a slightly smaller baking dish.)
My plan was to serve it with cauliflower rice, but so far all I've done is taste the chicken and the sauce all by itself and it's good!
Yesterday I bought the ingredients for butter chicken, and last night I used most of the chicken for something else. In the upcoming week I will be out of the house for every meal and won't have time to cook, so this morning, I took what was left of the chicken and a few flash frozen tenders and almost followed a recipe for Keto Garam Masala Chicken (I know this will annoy some people. So be it.)
The recipe includes a recipe for making your own garam masala, but says to use 2 1/2 Tbsp of commercially prepared product if you don't want to make your own,
and I didn't.
(The recipe doesn't call for ginger, but since I bought some yesterday for the butter chicken I was going to make, I used some in this dish.)
The heavy cream mixed with more garam masala is added to the chicken which is in the baking dish (I wish I'd had a slightly smaller baking dish.)
My plan was to serve it with cauliflower rice, but so far all I've done is taste the chicken and the sauce all by itself and it's good!
This post was edited on 9/24/17 at 6:52 pm
Posted on 9/24/17 at 2:37 pm to RedStickBR
Where is the link to that fine looking butter chicken? I need recipe details
Posted on 9/24/17 at 3:26 pm to burgeman
Here is the recipe with my mods below in bold:
Creamy Indian Butter Chicken
Serves 4
2 lbs boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut into 1 1/2 inch cubes
1 cup plain Greek yogurt
Juice of 1/2 lemon
1 tablespoon minced fresh ginger
4 cloves minced garlic
1/2 tablespoon ground turmeric
2 tablespoons garam masala
1 tablespoon ground cumin
1 tablespoon ground coriander
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil + 2 tablespoons for cooking
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
2 cups white or brown basmati rice
1/2 cup unsalted butter (4 ounces)
1 cup tomato puree or tomato sauce
1/2 tablespoon kosher salt
1 tablespoon granulated sugar
1 teaspoon garam masala
1/2 cup heavy whipping cream
Minced fresh cilantro, for garnish, optional
Place the cubed chicken in a large dish or ziplock bag. Add the yogurt, lemon juice, ginger, garlic, turmeric, 2 tablespoons garam masala, cumin, coriander, 1/4 cup olive oil, 1 teaspoon salt, and 1/2 teaspoon pepper. Use your hands to toss the chicken and coat evenly with the marinade. Wash your hands well with soap and warm water, cover the dish or close the bag and place the chicken mixture in the fridge to marinate overnight.
The next day, when you’re ready to make dinner, put the rice in a rice cooker or saucepan and cover with 4 cups of water. Cook in the rice cooker or according to package directions on the stove while you prepare the chicken.
Add 2 tablespoons of olive oil to a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add the chicken to the pan and cook, stirring occasionally, until golden brown on all sides and cooked through, about 12 minutes. Note: Exact time will vary based on the strength of your stove & size and thickness of your pan. Cook the chicken until it is golden, no matter how long it takes, since this is where the base flavor of the dish is developed.
When the chicken is golden, reduce the heat to low and add the butter. Cook, stirring constantly, until the butter is melted but not browned. Add the tomato puree, salt, and sugar and stir to combine. Let simmer for 5 minutes until warmed. Turn down the heat and stir in the heavy cream and garam masala. Cook on low until warm. Serve right away over rice and sprinkled with cilantro, if desired.
I used coconut milk instead of heavy cream, left out the butter, and used store-bought cauliflower rice instead of basmati rice. I also left out the sugar.
I highly recommend marinating for 12-24 hours (we marinated for around 24).
Creamy Indian Butter Chicken
Serves 4
2 lbs boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut into 1 1/2 inch cubes
1 cup plain Greek yogurt
Juice of 1/2 lemon
1 tablespoon minced fresh ginger
4 cloves minced garlic
1/2 tablespoon ground turmeric
2 tablespoons garam masala
1 tablespoon ground cumin
1 tablespoon ground coriander
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil + 2 tablespoons for cooking
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
2 cups white or brown basmati rice
1/2 cup unsalted butter (4 ounces)
1 cup tomato puree or tomato sauce
1/2 tablespoon kosher salt
1 tablespoon granulated sugar
1 teaspoon garam masala
1/2 cup heavy whipping cream
Minced fresh cilantro, for garnish, optional
Place the cubed chicken in a large dish or ziplock bag. Add the yogurt, lemon juice, ginger, garlic, turmeric, 2 tablespoons garam masala, cumin, coriander, 1/4 cup olive oil, 1 teaspoon salt, and 1/2 teaspoon pepper. Use your hands to toss the chicken and coat evenly with the marinade. Wash your hands well with soap and warm water, cover the dish or close the bag and place the chicken mixture in the fridge to marinate overnight.
The next day, when you’re ready to make dinner, put the rice in a rice cooker or saucepan and cover with 4 cups of water. Cook in the rice cooker or according to package directions on the stove while you prepare the chicken.
Add 2 tablespoons of olive oil to a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add the chicken to the pan and cook, stirring occasionally, until golden brown on all sides and cooked through, about 12 minutes. Note: Exact time will vary based on the strength of your stove & size and thickness of your pan. Cook the chicken until it is golden, no matter how long it takes, since this is where the base flavor of the dish is developed.
When the chicken is golden, reduce the heat to low and add the butter. Cook, stirring constantly, until the butter is melted but not browned. Add the tomato puree, salt, and sugar and stir to combine. Let simmer for 5 minutes until warmed. Turn down the heat and stir in the heavy cream and garam masala. Cook on low until warm. Serve right away over rice and sprinkled with cilantro, if desired.
I used coconut milk instead of heavy cream, left out the butter, and used store-bought cauliflower rice instead of basmati rice. I also left out the sugar.
I highly recommend marinating for 12-24 hours (we marinated for around 24).
This post was edited on 9/24/17 at 3:36 pm
Posted on 9/24/17 at 3:32 pm to Darla Hood
That looks great. Nice and garam masala-y (yes, I made that up). Keep us posted on how the final product turns out and thanks for your input!
Posted on 9/24/17 at 4:32 pm to RedStickBR
Thanks. I've added a few more pictures and will add in one more a little later. I'm surprised how much I like the flavors and in the cream sauce it is divine!
Posted on 9/24/17 at 4:59 pm to Darla Hood
Kudos on the fresh ginger and what appears to be an authentic GM mix.
Posted on 9/24/17 at 5:05 pm to RedStickBR
I see that you used coconut milk. The recipe I used said it was a good option and I almost went with it. Next time!
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