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Goda Masala

The Quirky Foodster Team

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About 1 cup
Servings

Ingredients

  • coriander seed, sesame seed, dry coconut (copra), cloves, cinnamon, bay leaf, stone flower (dagad phool, a lichen used in Maharashtrian cooking), and a specific dark-fried onion/garlic component in some versions — notably sweeter and more aromatic than most North Indian garam masalas due to the coconut and sesame

Method

  1. Toast the coriander, sesame, coconut, and whole spices separately to their appropriate degrees, cool, then grind together.
  2. Essential and involved, with the dry coconut requiring careful toasting to golden (not burnt) for the blend's characteristic sweetness.

Origin: Maharashtra, western India.

Use: A defining spice of Maharashtrian cuisine, added during the cooking of various dals and vegetable dishes.

Classic Dishes: Maharashtrian dal; various vegetable preparations specific to the region.

Storage: Keeps 2-3 months sealed and dark, somewhat shorter-lived than pure whole-spice blends given the coconut content’s oil.

Variations: Distinguished from virtually every other South Asian blend in this list by its sweet, coconut-and-sesame-forward profile rather than a purely warming-spice character.

Substitutions: No close substitute given its distinctive coconut-sesame-spice combination; garam masala plus toasted desiccated coconut and sesame as a rough approximation.