Many of you asked me for a garam masala recipe. Frankly, I have used many different recipes for this popular spice blend. Some I liked, some not so much. After a while, I just started using store bought one. Then I really started liking garam masala that my friend Pallavi uses. I asked her recipe, she said her mom makes it for her. It is from a Marathi book called Annapurna by Mangala Burve. I borrowed the book and got the recipe. I changed it a bit to decrease the amounts of some ingredients and so far I really like this garam masala. It is quite different from any I have tried so far. This has lot more ingredients than any I have tried, but I like the aroma of it. It brightens up any dish with a unique aroma. I leave out the black cardamom, no one at home likes the strong aroma of this spice. I am sure it is a acquired taste, so far we are not able to get used to it.
Some other garam masala recipes that I like – Anita’s Punjabi garam masala, Ashwini’s garam masala.

Garam Masala
Ingredients
- 100 gms coriander seeds
- 10 gms cloves
- 10 gms cinnamon
- 1 tea spn shah jeera
- 5 gms white peppercorn
- 10 gms fennel seeds badishep
- 10 gms poppy seeds khus khus
- 1 whole nutmeg jayphal
- 3-4 mace japatri
Instructions
- Heat a very little oil and fry all the ingredients on a low flame till a nice aroma comes out, take care not to burn any spices.
- Cool to room temperature and grind to a smooth powder. Store in air tight container.
Hi Shilpa..this is a goan version of garam masala -4parts of red chillies,1 part of coriander seeds,equal quantities(1 tspn) of cloves,black peppercorns,cinnamon,mace,nutmeg,cumin seeds,fennel seeds,mustard seeds and a quarter spoon of haldi powder.This masala can be used in any gravy items(what we call tonak in konkani :))
Thanks Jyoti. I will try your recipe sometime.
Hi Shilpa,
Thank You very much for the recipe now I can make tasty Home made garam masala recipes.
Kavita
What’s the english name of Shah Jeera? Thanks
They are called caraway seeds in English.
Hi Shilpa, made this masala. I’ve never put fennel seeds in the masala before. This came real good. Thanks, Preethi.
question:
“Heat a very little oil and fry all the ingredients on a low flame ”
>> all at the same time or one-by-one?
I usually fry them all together on a low heat for long time. But it is usually advisable to fry one by one
Garam masala recipe looks nice. You can add 2-3 tejpatta or tamalpatra to the abv ingridients for more aroma.
why red chillies are not added while doing garam masala. I put red chillies(dried) …it tastes good !
Very Nice blog . Awesome Pickle recipes. thank you