On Mon 05 May 2008 08:29:53p, kalanamak told us...

> TammyM wrote:
>
>>
>> Could you post your garam masala recipe again? Love that stuff....
>>
>> best wishes,
>> TammyM
>>
>>
>
> Ajmer's Garam Masala
> Basic recipe:
> 2 C whole coriander
> 1 cup cumin
> 3 inches fat cinnamon
> 3 heaping teas of whole clove
> 5 teas. whole black pepper
> scant single teas. of ajwain (optional)
> 7-8 whole green cardamon pods
>
> For small portions, reduce while keeping in ratio and use one of those
> Braun-style coffee grinders. If you use yours for coffee, clean it with
> a cloth and then grind white rice, then clean again. Repeat this after
> grinding the masala unless you don't mind flavoured coffee (could be
> worse).
> For the above size, grinds best in a small Kerr or Ball jar (not wide
> mouth) screwed into the base of an oster blender and ground on HIGH.
> For larger (double, triple), grind the coriander and cumin ONLY in a
> cuisinart as fine as the old cuiney can get it, then move over to the
> oster method. Grind all the other ingredients in the Oster cup. To put
> clove and black pepper into a cuisinart is asking for a 'frosted' work
> bowl (guess how I know).
> Sift your grindings through a mesh that is 25/inch. A tamais gives you
> good sides to slosh the masala back and forth in. Anything that doesn't
> fall through, grind again. You will eventually get to an amount of
> rather flavourless tough, granular stuff (it comes from the coriander
> and a bit from the cumin). Toss this. It is all chew and no bite, and I
> could only get it through the tamais by hand cranking it through my
> German bolt-on-counter grain grinder which I use for crushing caraway
> and grinding those-spices-that murder-electric-grinders (e.g. allspice),
> only to find it had less flavour than human hair.
> And need I say...start with good spice. Penzey's sells good stuff by the
> pound. A pound of coriander is 6 cups, and a pound of cumin is 3.
> To store, seal tightly in a jar and stick in the freezer, leaving out
> only that which you'll use in a week. Keeps very well this way.
>
> This GM has more cumin and coriander than, say, the one used by Madhur
> Jaffrey. If you use this for a recipe like hers, leave out the extra
> cumin she adds.
>
> kalanamak
> still remembering her "weekend with Tammy"
>

Wow, what a "keeper" of a recipe!

So glad you posted it.

--
Wayne Boatwright
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Monday, 05(V)/05(V)/08(MMVIII)
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Countdown till Memorial Day
2wks 6dys 3hrs 30mins
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42! Is that all you've got to show for
7 and a 1/2 million yrs' work?
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