This is very different from what I normally expect a masala to be. It is also incredibly delicious. Acidic, pungent, spicy... full of garlic! It is goodness in a jar that you can add to all your favourite dishes to kick them up a notch. (Okay, maybe don't add it to your trifle, but you get the idea.)

Balchao Masala

From 660 Curries by Raghavan Iyer

Ingredients

• 1/2 c. cider or malt vinegar
• 1 tsp. tamarind concentrate
• 1 c. dried red Thai, arbol, cayenne, or Kashmiri¹ chilies
• 1 Tbsp. cumin seeds
• 1 tsp. black pappercorns
• 1/2 tsp. whole cloves
• 1/2 tsp. ground turmeric
• 12-14 cloves garlic
• 2 (6cm by 2.5cm by 3mm) slices of ginger or 2 Tbsp. ginger paste
• 2 (7.5cm) cinnamon sticks, broken into pieces²

Directions

1. Pour the vinegar into a blender jar.
2. Add all the remaining ingredients to the blender.
3. Purée, scraping down as needed, until a paste is formed.
4. Store in a sealed container in the fridge. (Iyer says it'll only keep in the fridge for 2 weeks; in my experience it's gone long before you have to worry about it going off!)

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¹ Iyer only mentions Thai and cayenne chilies in his recipe. I really like Kashmiri chilies thoug, so I opted to use a mix of arbol and Kashmiri chilies for my masala. I am extremely happy with the results! ^Back
2Our blender is not good at fully reducing the cinnamon sticks in this environment; it would probably be a good idea to run them through the spice grinder first, to reduce the prevalence of cinnamon chunks in the final paste. ^Back