Karahi Masala
Karahi masala is the spice blend behind a Pakistani karahi: coriander and cumin lead, black pepper and dried red chilli bring the heat, and cardamom, cinnamon and cloves add warmth. Make one batch and it seasons any karahi-style dish you cook with it.
What is in the blend
- Coriander seeds
- Cumin seeds
- Black peppercorns
- Dried red chillies
- Green cardamom
- Cinnamon
- Cloves
- Bay leaf
- Dried fenugreek leaves (kasuri methi)
- Dried ginger
This blend has no single canonical ratio: the recipes on this site each season with their own measured spices, and no single blend ratio has been published yet. What is fixed is the method. Toast the whole spices — coriander and cumin seeds, peppercorns, chillies, cardamom, cinnamon, cloves and bay — in a dry pan over medium heat until fragrant, cool them completely, then grind them fine with the dried fenugreek leaves and dried ginger. Grind only what you will use within a few weeks: a fresh blend loses its aroma far faster than the whole spices it came from.
Packet-masala substitution
No homemade blend to hand? A shop-bought karahi masala packet works in its place — use the packet in the same step of the recipe where the homemade blend goes in, and hold back any extra salt until you have tasted, since packets are usually salted.
Use the packet measure-for-measure where a recipe names a quantity of homemade blend, and otherwise follow the packet's own serving guidance rather than guessing a ratio per kilogram of chicken or meat — no packet brand has been compared here, and no brand is recommended. Taste before adding more salt or chilli: packets vary widely in both, and the homemade blend above is unsalted by design.
Recipes that use karahi masala
No recipe in this first set of twenty names karahi masala as an ingredient — the curries here season with their own measured spices. The blend will be linked here when a recipe uses it.
The blend also sits in the Desi pantry, and the technique behind the dishes it seasons is bhuna.