Garam masala

Winter is the time when you see lovely produce from the squash family. I love to cook butternut squash and pumpkin and experiment. I had a small pumpkin sitting on the kitchen window sill for some time and I couldn't make up my mind what to do with it. Back home my mom uses a masala that is really spicy with major notes of garlic and onion, trust me this is not for the faint hearted. This masala clubbed with any meat or veg can leave its taste lingering for quite some time. I found myself looking up a recipe for the masala to cook the pumpkin! I say, it was worth it. I googled for a lot of recipes but all sounded very complicated. Igot the essence of what goes in the masala and decided to make my own simpler version of it. A cheats version really, purists like my mom will not tolerate this. It tastes as good with half the effort and I could enjoy my curry for lunch. Cant get a better deal than that :-) Here is your shopping basket if you would like to give it a go. I am using a cup measure. Take any cup of bowl you like and follow the measure, it will still taste the same.

1. Garam Masala (Home made - refer to my garam masala blog if you would like to make your own, or store bought anything is fine) - 1 Cup
2. Red hot Chilli Powder - 1/4 the cup
3. Sesame Seeds - 1/4th cup
4. Dessicated coconut - 1/2 cup
5. 1 large onion
6. 4 fat cloves of garlic
7. salt to taste
8. oil for frying.

Lets crack on :)

1. Dry Roast sesame seeds, use a non stick pan for ease.
2. Dry roast coconut
3. Dice the onion finely and fry it with little oil. Keep frying till the onion turns golden brown, make sure it does not burn.
4. Make a fine past of garlic with salt
5. Dry roast chilli powder. This is the hard bit, please make sure your nose is covered and there is enough ventilation in the kitchen. Turn the flame on sim and roast the chilli powder for some seconds till it stars turning darker and lets off some smoke. 
6. Grind the items lsited in 1 to 4 individually in the order listed above.
7. Tip the ground, Sesame seeds, Coconut, Garlic Paste, Onion and Chilli powder in a bowl. Mix thoroughly.  
8. Add the garam masala to the mix.
9. Blend the whole mix one more time to make sure everything is combined well. If you think the masala looks dry add some oil to it.
10. Pack the masala in an air tight container, this will keep for atleast 6 months.

This Onion Garlic masala also famously known as Kanda Lasoon Chatni goes well with any veg or meat. Add more or less depending on the heat you would like in your dish :-)

I hope this inspires you to try your own, do let me know if you do:)