Step 1

Cleaning spices is an important step as it increases the shelf life of your garam masala. So Clean the bay leaf and inner part of cinnamon stick with a dry or damp cloth to remove dirt.

Step 2

Break open the nutmeg and check for worms.

Step 3

Pick and discard stones and debris from all the spices.

Step 4

Heat a pan & add cardamoms, bay leaf, star anise, nutmeg, mace, cinnamon, cloves and pepper.

Step 5

Roast them on a low to medium heat without burning until they begin to smell good. Transfer to a plate.

Step 6

Then add coriander seeds and roast until they smell good. Transfer this as well to the plate.

Step 7

Then add fennel seeds, roast for 30 seconds then add cumin. Repeat roasting until cumin begins to smell good.

Step 8

Transfer to the same plate and cool completely.

Step 9

Add all of these spices to a spice grinder jar. Powder finely.

Step 10

Sieve and powder the coarse spices again. Then repeat the sieve.

Step 11

Store this garam masala powder in an air tight dry glass jar. You can use up the coarse bits of spices to make your masala tea.