Garam Masala85g
A finishing blend, not a base. Add it in the last few minutes so the star anise and black cardamom survive the pan. Works on curries, stews, marinades and roasts. Blended in small batches in the UK.
Ingredients
Ground black pepper, ground cinnamon, ground cloves, ground black cardamom, ground star aniseed, ground coriander, ground cumin, red chilli powder, ground bay leaf
May contain traces of tree nuts, milk, peanuts, mustard and gluten due to manufacturing processes.
Nutrition (per 100g)
- Energy
- 1171 kJ / 282 kcal
- Fat
- 6.2g
- of which saturates
- 3.6g
- Carbohydrate
- 68.1g
- of which sugars
- 2.1g
- Fibre
- 41.8g
- Protein
- 9.6g
- Salt
- 0.2g
Shelf & Storage
Store in a cool, dry place away from direct sunlight. Best within 12 months of opening. Suitable for all dietary lifestyles: vegetarian and vegan.
Pack size: 85g.
Garam masala is the finish line, not the starting point. A whisper of star anise and black cardamom over a dish in its last minutes, and everything suddenly smells like it came from a kitchen that knows what it's doing. This is the blend that does that, for curries, stews, marinades and roasts alike.
Every spice rack in the country has a garam masala in it somewhere, usually stale, usually shy. This one is neither.
How to use garam masala
Most packets never explain the rule: garam masala goes in at the end. The aromatics that make it special, the star anise, the cardamom, the cinnamon, are volatile, which is a chef's way of saying they escape. Add them at the start and an hour of simmering boils the magic off. Add them in the last few minutes, or straight onto the finished dish, and the heat blooms them open instead. Think of it less like an ingredient and more like cracked pepper: the final word, not the opening argument.
That one rule makes it endlessly versatile. A pinch over a curry just before serving. Stirred through a beef stew in the last ten minutes, where it does quiet, remarkable things to very British cooking. Worked into a yogurt marinade for chicken that's headed for a hot oven. Dusted over roast potatoes or roasted veg with the last turn of the tray. Same blend, four different dinners.
What's in it
Black pepper, cinnamon, cloves, black cardamom, star anise, coriander, cumin, a little chilli, bay. Warmth, not heat, the kind of spicing that deepens a dish rather than picking a fight with it. There's no salt in it and no fillers, so a small tin's worth goes a very long way, a pinch or a teaspoon at a time.
One question worth answering straight: no, it isn't a substitute for curry powder, and it isn't trying to be. A curry base builds the dish from the bottom, that's Basaar's job. Garam masala arrives at the end and finishes it. Different tools, and the dishes that use both, one early, one late, are the ones people ask about.
Its showcase is the Lamb Pilau recipe, where it seasons the dish twice, once into the stock and once over the finished rice, and you can taste exactly why the timing matters.
Not sure where to start?
Every Roosma blend is built around a recipe. We've written it out step by step, so the guesswork is already done.