The very name of garam masala reveals its simplicity, with the words garam and masala meaning “hot” and “spices” respectively. It’s important to note that, in this context, the term “hot” refers more to warmth than a fiery flavor blaze on your tongue. Creating your own blend at home accomplishes a few crucial things: It allows control over the exact flavor combination, lets you coax out extra flavor by toasting the spices, and takes dishes like chicken, shrimp, or paneer tikka masala to the next level of fresh deliciousness. And, it’s surprisingly easy to make using the eight core spices.
The individual spices each reach their full flavor potential with some extra attention, specifically dry-toasting the whole spices, seeds, and pods. Just place the cumin seeds, star anise pods, cardamom seeds, black peppercorns, and cloves in a stovetop pan, heat to medium-high, and toast them for up to three minutes. Then, pop them into a food processor or spice grinder along with the pre-ground spices, and let-er-rip. Once it becomes a fine powder, you miraculously have a homemade garam masala.
You have the option of cranking up the heat level using dried chili peppers or cayenne powder or even smokey paprika for a shrimp tikka masala recipe. However, a good practice is to make the basic garam masala mix and then gradually add zingier spices at the end — or even keep them separate and sprinkle them in for specific dishes.
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