The Essential 'Masalas'

These three items you see here - constitute the very heart of our hyderabadi cuisine. These three are required in almost every curry dish we make. Passed on to me by my mother in law, who happens to be one of THE BEST cooks EVER, MashAllah!!!!! Therefore, I hold the compositions of these masalas very dear to me. Even my mom uses these very masalas to make some special curries. We prepare them in advance and store them for about a month.

These are Red Chilli Masala (the red stuff obviously), Ginger-Garlic paste (the yellow stuff) and Coriander-garam masala (the brown stuff).

As we progress and I show you scrumptious meals in the future, I will be referring to these very masalas in my recipes. As of now, what you need to know is what these are:

Khas-khas (poppy seeds)

Methi, Zeera, Rai
(fenugreek, cummin, mustard seeds)

Here's the coriander powder with khas khas freshly grounded, looks more like martian land though. :) Would't it be nice to have a mini buggy ride here for fun? Yeah, we have to be the size of a pea for that. Crazy!

Anyway, it's not as complex as it seems. When we come down to making meals, I'll guide you as to how to make them as tasty as the way my mother in law makes it. (who happens to be, yes, one of the BEST cooks ever!) . We use a combination of these ingredients and some other stuff to grind up the masalas. However, there is no way to beat freshly ground masalas and add them to the dishes as and when you are cooking, and THAT is the method I will, InshAllah, incorporate into the cooking procedures that I will share with you in the future. So look forward to some seriously finger-licking recipes coming your way.