Monday, October 09, 2006

Dhansak masala powder

When I made garam masala to send as part of my Blogging By Post parcel, I also took the opportunity to make some dhansak masala for myself. The basic recipe is from here but I added a couple or three items extra to the list.

This recipe makes about 6 tbsp of masala powder. Store tightly sealed in a tin or box. Also use this masala sparingly because it is VERY strong. The flavour can be overwhelming if you use a large dollop of it the way one sees non-Indian chefs do it on cookery programmes (at least they do here in the UK). A little of this masala goes a long way. And makes fantastic dhansak, I might add.

(Oh by the way, I'm only going to mention in passing that dhansak is a typically Parsi dish. There's plenty of info about Parsis and their lovely cuisine floating around the Net so I wont bother to go on about it here! There. I'm done.)

Recipe for:
Dhansak masala powder


Ingredients:

8-10 dry red chillies (reduce or even omit if you dont like chillies)
2 tsp cumin seeds
5 tsp coriander seeds
2 tsp mustard seeds
2 dried bay leaves
6 tsp fennel seeds
4" piece cinnamon stick
1 tbsp black peppercorns
1 tsp fenugreek seeds
1/2 tsp cardamom seeds
Seeds of 1 black cardamom
4 cloves
1 tsp sesame seeds
1/2 tsp nutmeg powder

Method:

1. Dry roast all the items (minus the nutmeg powder) one by one on a medium flame till they become aromatic.

2. Let them all cool down, then grind to as fine a powder as possible. Store in a tightly sealed jar for maximum freshness.

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hi Shammi, dhansak is one dish I have wanted to make but have not tried yet -- maybe your homemade masala will give me the push. Thanks :)

Anonymous said...

wow Shammi! I'm impressed! I've never tried to make any kind of masala powder at home. Dhansak powder sounds delicious.

cheers!

Saleem Pothiwala said...

I use to love Dhansak at one of my Parsi friends house... i will give this masala a try and let you know how it came out :-)

zlamushka said...

Hi stranger ;-)

I love your dhansak masala recipe, it is very very close to the one I made at my blog. Yet I received a comment from a true Parsee last nite (under comments) saying, this is way off the original one. Do you have any intake on that?

Anonymous said...

hi there i tried the dhansak masala powder recipe it was a success way to go girl thanks

Anonymous said...

Hi there. Very impressed with your home made dhansak masala powder.I did not know it was a spice until it was in a recipe book.I was suprised that a lot of the asin shops and Indian restaurants has never heard of it. Any way thank the stars above for Internet and dhansak masala powder

Unknown said...

Hi there this isvgr8

Sonal said...

Hey Shammi, I have now reached a stage where I am embarrassed to request / force / beg my Parsi friends to have me and my family over for a Dhansak and Brown Rice meal. I bumped into your blog by chance. Now that I have the masala recipe, I am for sure trying out Dhansak over the weekend. Will keep you posted with the outcome. Thanks girl, and happy posting!!1

Sonal said...

Hi Shammi,
As promised, i did cook the Dhansak and it turned out absolutely YUMMY!! My toddler son enjoyed it the most and my teen daughter still dreams of it. Thank you once again.

Shammi said...

Hi Sonal, I'm so pleased that the dhansak came out well :) Always good to have good feedback!