India, the land where the Mughals ruled for over 200 years, it is but natural that they have left a stamp of their food habits and their recipes on Indian cuisine. Hakim Mughlai Masala is a blend of spices that is most suitable for cooking meat in Mughlai style.
Our Masala Ingredients - Coriander, Cumin, Fennel, Sesame, Chilly, Coriander, Onion, Mustard, Cinnamon, Black cardamom, Bay leaves, Fenugreek, Mace, Salt.
Unlike Western cooking wherein the emphasis is on retaining the original flavour of the meat or vegetables in a dish, in Indian cuisine, it is the aroma, taste, and colour of a spice mix or "masala" that dominates most dishes.
Masalas are prepared by blending a number of pure spices (sometimes more than 30) like chilli, turmeric, coriander, pepper, cardamom, cumin, clove, etc in precise proportions to give a blend (called a "masala") that imparts a distinct colour, aroma, and taste to a dish.
Given the diversity of India's consumers, blending a masala is both, a science and an art. It has to achieve a taste that meets the specific taste demanded by a particular ethnic or regional group.
Spices known for their colouring, thickening, souring, and pungency properties are often added to achieve masala blends that are specific to specific tastes of communities from various regions and ethnic groups. Further, many herbs, pulses and fresh spices are also added for their "cooling" and "nutritive" properties to masalas.
It is this complex blending of many spices that distinguishes Indian cuisine from others.
The most basic form of an Indian masala is "Garam Masala". The word "Garam" means hot or pungent in Hindi language. This is a blend of Cinnamon, Pepper, Clove, and Cardamom.
