Homemade Garam Masala Indian Spice Blend Recipe

Garam means hot and Masala means spice mix. It’s a common description for an infinite number of Indian spice recipes. You can buy pre-made ground Garam Masala, but the flavor is a mere shadow of a freshly homemade mixture.

Many Indian spice blend recipes roast whole spices before grinding them into a powder. This brings our deeper flavors that you'll appreciate in your meals. This is no exception. Fresh ground Garam Masala is more flavorful and more complex than pre-ground spice blends you can purchase. You can count on this fresh flavor for at least a month when you store your masala in a tightly sealed container and out of the light and away from heat. 

This Garam Masala recipe is pungent and a medium heat. You can add more red chilis if you want a hotter blend. With our youngest son still warming up to spicy foods (pun intended), we keep a jar of powdered red chilis in the cupboard that the heat lovers in our family add to our meals while we reserve a well-spice, but less hot serving for our 6-year-old. 

If you look in your spice cupboard and see that you don't have all the whole spices you need to make this, you can substitute a powdered spice or two, but increase the amount for the recipe by 50%.

Use this to flavor our Vegan Instant Pot 3 Lentil Dal, Creamy Coconut Vegan Dal, Indian Roasted Potatoes, Sunrise Vegetable Curry Samosas, Savory Vegan Crepes, Vegan Savory Scones, breads, vegetables…

Jump to Homemade Garam Masala Indian Spice Blend Grocery List

Homemade Garam Masala Indian Spice Blend Recipe

Prep

•  10 minutes prep
• Suggested equipment: saucepan, spice grinder or mortar and pestle

Ingredients

• ¼ cup cumin seeds
• 2 Tbsp coriander seeds
• 2 Tbsp green cardamom seeds
• ½ cinnamon stick
• 1 tsp cloves 
• 2 tsp black peppercorns
• 1 dried red chili pepper

• 1 Tbsp ground ginger

Instructions

1. Place the cumin, coriander and cardamom seeds, cinnamon, cloves, black peppercorns, and dried red chili in a small pan over medium heat. Stir occasionally, roasting the spices until they're fragrant and the chili pepper is turning dark. Remove from heat.
2. Place the roasted spices in a mortar and pestle or electric spice grinder (we love our Shardor coffee grinder as a dedicated spice grinder because of its easy-to-clean stainless steel grinding cup).
3. Grind until smooth. Add the ground ginger and stir.
4. Store in a glass container. Use within a month to enjoy the maximum flavor.

Chef's Notes 

This recipe is mildly hot. If you want more heat, add another dried red chili or two.

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Written by Your Vegan Family 

Stacy and Markus live an adventurous vegan lifestyle and write articles about their experiences cooking global vegan cuisine, creating businesses, raising vegan kids, and traveling through more than 65 countries. They earned degrees in molecular biology and acupuncture, consulted over decades for healthcare companies and individuals, created businesses in Asian medicine, eco-tourism, cultural immersion, and taught yoga in myriad venues.

We’ve learned a lot from eating a plant-based diet for 25 years and are eager to share more with you. Learn more on our About Us page.

Homemade Vegan Garam Masala Indian Spice Blend Recipe Grocery List: 

• cumin seeds
• coriander seeds
• green cardamom seeds
• cinnamon stick
• cloves
• black peppercorns
• dried red chili pepper
• ground ginger

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