[Sca-cooks] Intro and question

[CorwynWdwd at aol.com]

In a message dated 3/30/2002 5:55:24 PM Eastern Standard Time,
LordAelfhelm at netscape.net writes:

> my Lady wife wanted to know what a certain spice is, and where it can be
> obtained.
>
>  She said how helpful all on this list were -
>
>  The spice is for East Indian cooking, and is "Chat Masala".

Actually, it's a spice mixture, as I suspected when I heard the term
"Masala", and here is the recipe copied from the page at:

http://www.bawarchi.com/cookbook/masala7.html

Ingredients
Coriander Seeds - 1 tbsp
Dry Red Chillies - 1 tbsp
Cumin Seeds - 1 tbsp
Amchur Powder (dry mango) - 1 tbsp
Black Pepper - 2 tbsp
Black Salt (rock form) - 1 tsp

Method

Slight roast dhania and cumin seeds separately. Grind all ingredients
together. Store as general.

My experience is with masalas (masales?? masalii?) is that fresh made is
better, so small batches are best. In fact, in most cooking freshest is best,
go figure...

The black salt is a mineral salt that's more gray that actual black, it's
supposed to have a smoky flavor, but I've never used it. The other spices
should be fairly easy to find, except maybe the amchur powder. If there are
Indian groceries near you you might ask there, if not, try online. Maybe you
could get dried mango and grind your own. Some good sites to look are at:

http://www.sweetmart.co.uk/bristol-sweet-mart/

http://www.ethnicgrocer.com/eg/hm/eg.jsp

http://www.thecmccompany.com/indian.htm

https://secure.nexet.net/spicesetc/ecommerce/index.cfm

Best of luck and Welcome to the List!

Corwyn

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